From Dusk Till Dawn (5 Stars)

"From Dusk Till Dawn" is a film that practically splits itself in half; a crime thriller mutates into a vampire siege, and the clash between its two central families sits right at the heart of that transformation.

On one side we have the Gecko brothers, Seth and Richie; criminals defined by chaos, instinct and a complete absence of moral restraint. George Clooney plays Seth as cool and calculating, a man who understands violence as a tool, while Quentin Tarantino makes Richie something far more disturbing; impulsive, erratic, and barely tethered to reality. Their family bond is real, but it's warped; loyalty exists, yet it's rooted in survival rather than care.

In stark contrast stands the Fuller family; a broken but fundamentally decent unit led by Jacob, a former preacher struggling with his faith after personal tragedy. Harvey Keitel gives Jacob a weary gravity, a man trying to hold his children together even as his beliefs crumble. Kate and Scott represent a more recognisable familial dynamic; tension, grief and affection all coexisting in an uneasy balance. Where the Geckos are united by crime, the Fullers are held together by something more fragile; the remnants of love and moral responsibility.

The early part of the film thrives on this contrast. The Geckos dominate through fear, forcing the Fullers into submission, yet there's a quiet sense that the balance could shift at any moment. The Fullers' decency becomes a kind of resistance; they endure rather than retaliate, and that endurance gives them a moral strength that the Geckos lack.

When the film pivots into horror at the Titty Twister, the dynamic evolves rather than disappears. Faced with a supernatural threat, the distinction between the families begins to blur. Survival becomes the common ground; Seth's ruthlessness suddenly has value, while Jacob's moral compass regains purpose. The Geckos' amorality and the Fullers' ethics, once opposed, now function as complementary traits in a fight neither family could survive alone.

What makes "From Dusk Till Dawn" compelling isn't just its genre switch; it's how that shift forces both families to confront what defines them. The Geckos, stripped of control, reveal flickers of reluctant cooperation, while the Fullers, pushed to extremes, discover a capacity for violence they would never have chosen.

By the end, the film suggests that family is less about moral purity and more about what people are willing to do for one another under pressure. The Geckos start as predators and the Fullers as victims, but the night reduces everyone to the same basic instinct; survive, protect, endure. It's in that levelling that the film finds its strange, blood-soaked unity.

Success Rate:  + 1.1

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Dead In Tombstone (4 Stars)

For me Danny Trejo is the ultimate B-Movie actor. He's rough, he's tough, and his gritty face instils fear whenever he walks into the room. Is he a good actor? I don't know, but I don't care. If he were any different he wouldn't be Danny Trejo.

In this film he plays Guerrero de la Cruz, the head of the ruthless Blackwater Gang. The film introduces them with their wanted posters. dead or alive, they're wanted for huge sums of money. They're told about a large amount of gold stored in the bank at Edendale, Colorado. It comes from a newly discovered thick vein, but it's being held until a legal dispute about the ownership is settled. That's not a problem for Guerrero or his men. If it doesn't belong to anyone, they can take it for themselves.

When they break into the bank they get a shock. It's much more gold than they expected, piled up on the floor, too much for them to carry. Guerrero is practical. He says they should pick up as much as they can carry and ride off. His gang mutiny. They don't want to leave any gold behind. Apart from the gold in the bank, the gold mine is still active, so they say they want to stay and take over the town. Guerrero's brother Red appoints himself the new sheriff on the spot. Guerrero protests, so Red and the other gang members shoot him on the spot. The next day they rename the town Tombstone.

So Guerrero is dead? Yes. He wakes up in Hell, where he's being tortured by the Devil, who's played by Mickey Rourke. How many actors have played the Devil? At the moment I can only think of Gabriel Byrne and Will Smith, but there must be many, many more. Guerrero makes a deal with the Devil. He promises to kill all six gang members if the Devil will bring him back to life. The Devil agrees, adding his own conditions. Guerrero comes back to life on the first anniversary of his death, and he has to kill the six men within 24 hours.

Unfortunately, Guerrero isn't equipped with any super strength or immortality. He's just a man, and he can be killed again.

It's a dark, brutal film. It isn't just one man against six. His previous gang members have hired dozens of men to back them up.

The film was released direct-to-video in October 2013. Despite the poor reviews, I think it's a good film. Danny Trejo meets the Devil in the Wild West? What else does anyone want?

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Minions: The Rise of Gru (4 Stars)

My grandson Oliver is turning into a film fan like me. For the last two weeks he's been begging me to take him to see the new Minions film. Today we finally went. We could have seen it in the original English version, but he said he wanted to watch it in German. I suppose it doesn't make any difference with animated films, because the original version is already dubbed. I'm just curious about one thing: in the German version the Minions all talk with Italian accents. I'm sure the original isn't like that.

After the three Depicable Me films, this is the second standalone Minions film. I haven't seen the first Minions film, but I know that Oliver has watched it in Netflix. I looked over his shoulder a few times, but not long enough to figure out what was happening. I'll have to watch it some time soon. In English, of course.

"The Rise of Gru" takes place in 1976. Gru is still at school, and he tells his class he wants to be a villain when he grows up. They laugh at him and cruelly bully him. Only his loyal Minions can protect him. Gru has already applied to become a member of the world's leading criminal gang, the Vicious Six. They invite him for an interview, but they immediately reject him when they see he's only a child. Before leaving he steals an artefact called the Zodiac Stone from them. He doesn't know what it does, it's just a trophy of his visit, but back home he finds out it's a powerful weapon. It can turn people into any of the animals in the Chinese Zodiac. The Vicious Six pursue him to retrieve the stone. He's also chased by Wild Knuckles, the former leader of the Vicious Six who was betrayed by his colleagues and left for dead.

This is a very amusing film. I enjoyed it, and so did Oliver, who couldn't stop laughing. Maybe he couldn't understand all the humour. There were a lot of jokes about the 1970's. Maybe when he's older he'll understand more. Today he just laughed at the slapstick humour. When he got home he told his mother (my daughter) that he'd had a very good day. That makes the film a success.

From Dusk Till Dawn (5 Stars)

Dancer's Top Films #64

Seth Gecko, played by George Clooney, is in prison for armed robbery. His brother Richie, played by Quentin Tarantino, breaks him out of jail. They rob a bank and head towards the Mexican border to retire with their riches, killing 16 people on the way. Seth is a cold-hearted killer, but he's a professional. He only kills if he has to. Richie is a paranoid psychopath, who hears voices and can't keep his sexual urges under control. Seth is ashamed of his brother, but he still loves him and tries to look after him.

At a motel near the Mexican border the brothers meet Jacob Fuller, who's on holiday with his two children. He used to be a Baptist pastor, but he quit his job after having a disagreement with God. He hasn't completely lost his faith; he still believes that God exists. He just doesn't love God any more, because God allowed his wife to die a slow painful death after a car crash.

These are his children, Scott and Kate. Scott's adopted, in case you couldn't guess. Scott's wearing a T-Shirt that says "Precinct 13". This is a subtle hint that the film is in part based on John Carpenter's "Assault on Precinct 13".

Seth forces Jacob to drive him and his brother across the border. As I've already said, he's very professional and promises to leave Jacob's family unharmed if they do whatever he says. Richie has other plans with Kate, but Seth says he'll keep her safe.

This was the first film in which I saw the actress Juliette Lewis, and I was immediately impressed with her acting abilities. Since then I've seen her in a lot of films. It could be argued that she always plays the same character in her 1990's films: an innocent little girl. But she does it so well! I prefer her 1990's roles to the films that she made later.

Isn't she beautiful? Those eyes!

Could this be her signature role? Possibly.

In Mexico the Gecko brothers and Jacob's family take a break in a biker's bar called the Titty Twister. Ugh! I wouldn't be seen dead in a place like that. The name enough is enough to put me off. And this man welcoming the guests at the door would make me turn and run.

The Titty Twister is the home of a vampire clan. My regular readers know that I have vampire fantasies, but not when they're this ugly. I'll never complain about the ugly vampires in "Buffy" again.

Not all the vampires look so bad. Salma Hayek, whose stage name is Santanico Pandemonium, looks quite delicious.

She seems to have a leading position among the vampires.

And she can dance with a snake!

She has a tempting offer for Seth:

"I'm not gonna drain you completely. You'll be my slave".

"You'll be my footstool, and at my command you'll lick the dog shit from my boot heel".

"Since you'll be my dog, your new name will be Spot".

"Welcome to slavery".

If it had been me, I would have asked for more time to think it over. As it turned out, Seth shot her. That's not cool!

"I don't surrender to vampires! I'm Batman!"

Or is that another film?

"From Dusk Till Dawn" is a brilliant film, written by Quentin Tarantino and directed by Robert Rodriguez. It's a throwback to the Italian horror films of the 1970's, but with modern production values.

I know his name has become unpopular in recent years, but the film would never have been made without the backing of Harvey Weinstein. In fact, none of Quentin Tarantino's films would have been made. The people who criticise Harvey Weinstein don't realise how important he's been in the film industry. He's done more for the advancement of cinema than anyone else in the last 40 years. That's no excuse for the way he's abused women. The "casting couch culture" has been commonplace in Hollywood for a hundred years, and Harvey Weinstein was convicted to set an example. In court he was found innocent of most of the charges against him, but he was sentenced to 23 years in prison for sexual assault and third degree rape.

Was it right to punish Harvey Weinstein so harshly? In my opinion, Yes. I just regret that it had to come to it. He's not the worst offender in the last 100 years. If other directors and producers had been punished for their crimes 50 years ago, Harvey Weinstein would have been too scared to abuse his position.

Success Rate:  + 1.1

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Guns (4 Stars)

This is the fifth film in the Andy Sidaris collection, made in 1990. It was my intention to watch the 12 films in quick succession, but five films in nine months is a miserable performance. I watched the last film, "Savage Beach", in November last year. I can't even promise to speed up, because my main priority at the moment is the countdown of my top 100 films, which I want to complete before Halloween. Maybe I can slip in one or two of Andy's films if I'm ahead of schedule.

I always feel sad when I watch Andy Sidaris' introduction to the films. It's been 14 years since his death, but I still miss him. It's not just about the quality of his films. I used to see him on television being interviewed by Joe Bob Briggs, and he always seemed to be a genuinely nice guy. This is reinforced by seeing him in the extra features on the Blu-ray discs.

I also feel sad when I see the wonderful Julie Strain in the film introductions. For a long time she was called the Queen of B Movies, making over 120 films from 1990 to 2010. After years suffering from dementia she finally died on 10th January 2021. The world is truly a worse place without her.

But let's get to the film itself. An arms dealer is smuggling weapons from China to South America. The planes need to refuel halfway, so he plans to have them land on the island of Molokai in Hawaii. That's the base of the "Agency", so he commits a series of murders to lure the agents to Las Vegas.

Dona Speir returns as Donna Hamilton. Don't mess with her. She has a big gun.

Donna has a new partner called Nicole. You probably recognise her, because she played the bad girl Pantera in "Picasso Trigger". That's one of the few things I don't like about the Andy Sidaris films. Actors are frequently reused in different roles. It makes things confusing.

Another girl with a gun is Cash, played by Devin DeVasquez. She says that she relishes the power to have control over life and death.

Her gun might be smaller than Donna's, but it's just as effective.

She has an almost orgasmic pleasure when she sees a dead body slumped in front of her.

This is the third appearance of Cynthia Brimhall as Edy Stark. She's working undercover as a singer in a Las Vegas hotel. She performs several songs in the film, including the title song, "Guns".

She sings, "Don't play with guns, they ain't no fun".

But she isn't averse to using a gun when she must.

Unlike Cash, she feels no pleasure when she's standing over a dead body. It's just business.

In most of the films Andy Sidaris has a small cameo appearance. Instead of that, in "Guns" he's delegated the cameo to his son, Drew Sidaris.

This film features six former Playmates.

• Dona Spier (Donna) was Playboy's Playmate of the Month in March 1984.
• Roberta Vasquez (Nicole) was Playboy's Playmate of the Month in November 1984.
• Devin DeVasquez (Cash) was Playboy's Playmate of the Month in June 1985.
• Cynthia Brimhall (Edy) was Playboy's Playmate of the Month in October 1985.
• Kym Malin (Kym) was Playboy's Playmate of the Month in May 1982.
• Liv Lindeland (Inga) was Playboy's Playmate of the Month in January 1971.

It's worth watching the film for the beautiful women alone. There are a few gratuitous nude scenes. I like pretty girls, but I'm not so shallow. My preference is girls with guns.

3 From Hell (5 Stars)

This is the 20th film in the Stuttgart Fantasy Film Festival.

When "The Witness" was shown there was a general consensus that it was a good film. It's different with "3 From Hell". I loved the film, but almost everyone I spoke to disagreed with me.

It's a sequel to "The Devil's Rejects", made in 2005. Usually I complain about delayed sequels, but in this case it succeeds, because it's been made by the same writer/director, Rob Zombie. It takes place 10 years after the events of "The Devil's Rejects". The three criminals have been in prison all this time. Otis Driftwood and Captain Spaulding have been sentenced to death. Baby Firefly has been sentenced to life imprisonment with the chance of parole after 10 years.

At the beginning, Captain Spaulding is executed. Otis is freed from prison by his brother, and together they free Baby.

The film runs wild with sex and violence. It's ugly, but the ugliness is fascinating. For me Baby Firefly is the film's main character. She's much more insane than Harley Quinn, a true killer.

Trojan War (3 Stars)

This film has the dubious honour of having the lowest success rate on my blog, so far. Supposedly it earned $309 at the box office after being made with a $15 million budget. I can see that it's no masterpiece, but it didn't deserve to be such a flop.

The film is about a high school student called Brad. For years he's had a crush on his fellow student Brooke. They've hardly ever spoken, but a Biology test is imminent and she asks him to help her study. Brooke's boyfriend Kyle acts like a jerk and accuses her of wanting to do more than study, but she brushes him off.

It really should just have been studying, but all the talk about pollination, insemination and penetration gets Brooke aroused, and she wants to have sex with Brad. Lucky Brad. I used to help girls with Computer Science, but they were never turned on when I talked about loops, arrays and integers. The problem is that Brad doesn't have a condom, so he rushes out to get one, and one calamity after another follows. His car is stolen, he's kidnapped, he gets involved in a car chase, he's arrested, and there are too many other things to list here.

Brad's an idiot. I have to say it. He's fantasised over Brooke for years, but he's never noticed that his best friend Leah is in love with him. In case you're wondering, Brooke is the blonde and Leah is the brunette, played by Jennifer Love Hewitt. They say that gentlemen prefer blondes, but in that case I'm not a gentleman. I would have been fantasising over Leah.

So who do you prefer? Brooke?

Or Leah? As far as I'm concerned, it's no contest.

Leah isn't just beautiful, she's a crazy freak. Perfect! I get the impression that Jennifer Love Hewitt is playing herself. She's the sort of girl who could make me laugh, and that's one of the most important ingredients in a relationship.

The DVD is long out of print. If you're lucky you might be able to pick up a second hand copy on Ebay.

Success Rate:  - 48543.7

Guns (3½ Stars)

This is the fifth film in the Andy Sidaris collection, made in 1990. Despite containing all the elements we know and love in Andy's films, such as fast action and girls with guns, I find it disappointing in comparison with his previous four films. The problem is the plot. I sat through the whole film trying to figure out what was happening and why it was happening, and when the answers finally came it didn't make sense.

Donna is still working for the mysterious Agency on the Hawaiian island Molokai. She now has a different partner, Nicole, played by former Playmate of the Month Roberta Vasquez, who played the villainess Pantera in "Picasso Trigger". The cycle of death and rebirth runs fast in Andy Sidaris' films. At least, it does for the bad guys. The good guys aren't usually killed, so they can return to play the same character.

Someone is killing or attempting to kill Donna's friends. A playing card is found next to every dead body, the Jack of Diamonds, with the words written "For Donna". The pursuit of the clues leads Donna to Arizona and Las Vegas. On the way she also discovers that someone is smuggling guns from China to rebels in South America. Eventually – and I know this is a spoiler – she finds out that the leader of the gun smugglers is the man who killed her father. He's deliberately using Molokai as a halfway base for the smuggling because he wants to take revenge on Donna.

That's what I don't understand. Revenge for what? It was him who harmed Donna's family, not the other way round. Also, he says he knows Donna is a highly proficient agent, so why is he endangering his business by storing weapons on the island where she lives? There are bigger islands in Hawaii which would have been more suitable.

This film marks a change for Rodrigo Obregon. It's the first Andy Sidaris film in which he plays a good guy. I use the word "guy" very loosely. He plays a woman called Marge who helps the Agency track down a pair of transvestite assassins. He's not my type. He should have put a bit more padding under his jumper.

There's one thing that international spies and gun runners should remember: don't attack Donna in the gym. She never does a workout without her guns in her gym bag.

Bang bang! You're dead!

Look at the way she's smiling. That's the best workout she's had all year. Now she needs to hit the shower.

As in all his films, Andy Sidaris gives an introduction while being distracted by the luscious Julie Strain. I don't know how he manages to keep his eyes on the camera. Actually, he doesn't. If you click the picture above you'll see him losing the fight. Julie always wins.

I own the deluxe version of this film which is now out of print. In addition to a full director's commentary there is over an hour of special features, including two interviews with Joe Bob Briggs.

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