‘From Dusk till Dawn’ at 30: the “irresponsible and totally gratuitous” cult classic that was banned for over a decade
Nobody really knew what to expect when From Dusk till Dawn was released in cinemas on January 19th, 1996, although some of the marketing had done a stellar job of spoiling the mid-film twist by revealing that the action thriller had at least something to do with vampires.
Fortunately, the internet was in its infancy at the time, and not many people were scouring the web to have the experience ruined for them. As a result, many audience members went in completely cold and discovered to their delight that what they thought was a conventional R-rated ‘cops and robbers’ caper was actually a deranged splatter flick.
Whether you knew anything about it or not, it was a tantalising picture either way. It was Robert Rodriguez’s first feature since his breakthrough actioner, Desperado, while it was the first screenplay written by Quentin Tarantino to make it to the screen since Pulp Fiction. At the very least, the unexpected was to be expected, but From Dusk till Dawn still managed to upend any expectations the oblivious may have had.
The first half is pure Tarantino, complete with a terrible acting performance from the man himself; two roguish villains commit crimes, leave a trail of bodies in their way, and exchange rapid-fire dialogue, a lot of which is rooted in pop culture. Once the Gecko brothers and their captives pitch up at the Titty Twister, though, all hell literally and figuratively breaks loose.
It was a modest hit at the box office, recouping its $19 million production budget almost three times over, but the key to From Dusk till Dawn‘s longevity was its instant cult status. Unless you lived in Ireland, in which case you had to wait until 2004 to see it in an official capacity.
There have been many more violent action flicks, and many more grisly horror flicks, too, but when it came time for the country’s Censorship of Films Appeals Board to approve or deny the blood-soaked and bonkers movie for a theatrical release, Sheamus Smith did exactly the same thing he’d done for the Tarantino-penned Natural Born Killers and said no.
Decrying the “irresponsible and totally gratuitous” violence on display throughout the 108-minute genre-bender, Smith raised his concerns that, in the wake of gun-related tragedies in Australia’s Port Arthur and Scotland’s Dunblane, he couldn’t in good conscience approve From Dusk till Dawn for a run in cinemas.
“Somebody has to say ‘stop’ to this extraordinary violence on the screen,” he told The Irish Times. “I admire Harvey Keitel and Quentin Tarantino, and I’m not saying everyone in Ireland would be affected by this film. But even if one person were affected, I wouldn’t like to have it on my conscience.”
Just like that, it was impossible to see the film through official channels. The ban would remain in place until February 2004, when a revocation by John Kelleher, Ireland’s Official Censor of Films, declared that he was “of opinion that the said work is fit for viewing,” ending the 12-year blacklisting and ensuring that people could watch From Dusk till Dawn without breaking the law.
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