BY BONNIE DATT
ASH* nil ton on
Chestnuts roasting on an open fire
"Thu thouJd be an interesting
Christmas release — red
blood and green blood."
— Greg Nicotero, From Dusk
Till Dawn Special-effects artist
Jack Frost nipping at pour note
“There's no angst. There's just a
bunch of rat-bat f-iun' monsters."
— Quentin Tarantino
Li we n ro Qlintin
Tarantino and Robert
Rodrigue/ to release
a gory action—horror
movie three d a v s
before ( hristmas. Taranti
no — known tor his
bloody, ultra-violent vet
smart Resnxotr Dogs and
Pulp Fiction — stars in
and executive produces the
first script he was paid to
write. From Dusk Till
Dau n was shelved, but the
Si,500 got him out of
clerking in a video store
and into writing scripts
that would win an Acade
my Award, a Golden
Globe, Cannes’ Palme
d’Or and national and
international acclaim.
Rodriguei — known for hn
bloods, ultra-violent sci funns El
Afa'utEi and /Vipc'arfo directs,
edit!, executive prodiw.es, shoots
Heck. he probably brings the coffee
and doughnut* That! after he
skcuhcs the vampires for the ipe
ciai-effect! people to create And
throw! together unit tike" tmleti
The! re too gorv to get put the rat
ing! board, he sas s But the! keep
the crew excited And expert
menu with lound effect! on hi!
computer at home
! think Robert wai shooting
movie! in hu iait lifetime, lavi
executive producer Lawrence Ben
der “ There i never any sitting
around. OK how are we going to
shoot thu’ Vou see the rehearsal,
and before you know it. there s a
method of how he’s about to go
shoot it Vou got a camera here,
here, here and here, and the lighting
this wav and boom And we ll go
I ce never seen that before 1 don’t
know w ho elie can do it
Anhoe to ashes
By the time the dust was blown
off Dink. 1 arantino and Rodrtguer
had become friends
"It was kind of perfect timing."
explains Bender, who alao produced
Doji and Pulp “Quentin said.
Weil, 1 11 do it it Robert want! to
direct it And that was what made
this whole thing explode “
And explode it doei, in green
momter goo But not right off the
bat ;no pun intended). Come on.
we re talking Tarantino
“It i a straight-on suspense,
gangster, getawav kind of film —
until it turns thu corner,’ Tarantino
savs. “And once it turru that corner,
sou arc in a completely other movie
Qumntln Tmrmntlno gtvmm Omorgm Cloonmy m Hmnti.
Quentin
Tarantino
and Robert
Rodriguez
deliver
a gory
holiday gift
When people fint rend the nript.
thev h*d no idea what it wit. and
then ill of i Hidden, when thrv got
to page ~0 vKiund effeet ol turning
page) — W'i'jl Iht ht,.
Phev were like queuionmg their
own vanity — It thit what » going
on' It bevomet a head-banging
horror him tor the horror-him tana
To a bloody Pulp
I artritino imi Rodrigue/ both
us thev il be happy it rhev onlv
pleate thete horror tarn 'A t it
making a lull-on horror him tor that
crowd, and everyone eite it invited,
all right’" Tarantino tavt The'
don t capevt a Puip phenomenon
"'X c got like 11,12 million dol
lart, which it. uh. thev don t even
thoot comediet tor that thete davt,"
Rodriguei tavt ’He thought it
would be a good wav to keep cre
ative freedom — be able to do what
ever we want becaute we weren't
tpendmg a lot. vet make it look real
ly big and cxpentive ao that we could
do cra/v thing! and get away with it
It you make a bigger movie for a reg
ular ttudio, it hat to be a middle-ot
the-road kind of horror film It hat
to appeal to more people becaute
thev ipend more monev and have to
make back more monev
".Ml we have to do it go after our
horror tarn — people who iu«t like
horror mouct — and if nobodt cite
wanti to tee it. it t all right bevtute
it’ll mil make back enough monev "
But. Tarantino admit!, the Pulp
crowd and the Duik crowd aren t
necetiarilv that different "Thev
would be hanging out on the tame
part of the camput — the tame cor
ner ot the priton vard
Alto hanging out in that vard are
Juliette lewn and Harvev Keitel, no
ttrangeti to Tarantino tcriptt;
Cheevh Marin and tainta Hayek.
no itrangcrt to Rodrigue/ ftlmt;
Tom Savtni. no ttranger to horror
film*; and George Cloonev. um
Cloonev. riding high on hit PM
tuccett. made a good move m doing
a low-budget horror flick. Rodrigue/
tavt "lnttead of doing tome middle
of-the-road. big-budget. American
comedy. where he'd |u*t be part of
rhe decoration, he get* to come in
here and take over, in a low budget
•ituation. where, wor*e to wont, he
can alwav* iuh blame me “
C looney and Tarantino plav the
gang*ter Gecko brother*, who go on
a bloodv vrime *prec culminating in
the kidnapping of the Toiler family
.Keitel plavi the minuter father,
Lewi*. the daughter' In the Fuller
RV. they all head lor the border,
where the Gecko* promne to let the
Fuller* go But at the border u the
Tilt* Twiner bar. which tu*t hap
pen* to be operated bv vampire*
And theic aren i vour average
yampire* Come on, were talking
Rodrigue/
"They re *till the*c ghoulnh
mon»ter» and everything." Taranti
no *av» "But it » great to haye thu
kind of Mexican ilant The movie
never actually *top* to do that, but
vou *ee it in the architecture You
r-3-~
sec it in the Titty Twister, which
used to be this temple tor hundreds
ot sears They lust built this tuts
bar around to disguise it
" I he production designer actu
ills drew this whole subtext — not
the cistern European vampire myth,
but the Mas an Mexican, Artec
without ..hanging anything
The dynamic duo
Water, not stakes and garlic, is
the weapon ot choice against these
monsters — launched with guns,
balloons, condoms
Condoms Well, see art talking
larantino and Rodriguez But still,
a sampirc movie at Christmas’
"Usually I don t go see ans
mosies at C hristmas, Rodriguez
sas s "You get there, everyone s
smiling and happs all the time I
scant to see a real intense movie "
■Ait Bairue £>a;r a*..c: ! he Bonnie
Situation
In Prom Duafc Till Down, moOrnr-t NodriguM
ctlrmotm ttmtm out of holl.