A Hit George Clooney Horror Movie Had A Canceled Show That Ended Far Too Soon

This post contains spoilers for "From Dusk Till Dawn" and its television adaptation.

Robert Rodriguez's "From Dusk Till Dawn" is a strange, chimera-coded beast. The film opens like an action-heavy crime thriller featuring two charismatic leads, but transitions into a campy vampire B-movie halfway through. Such a drastic tonal shift shouldn't work on paper, but writer Quentin Tarantino (who also plays the psychopathic Richard Gecko in the film) weaves a frenetic story that genre hops with great skill and ease. There's also plenty to love here: a show-stopping Salma Hayek who suddenly transforms into a grotesque creature, the complex two-and-fro between Richard and his more suave brother, Seth (George Clooney), and an all-out gorefest sequence that is a lot of fun.

This half-and-half formula might not work for everyone, but "From Dusk Till Dawn" boasts a distinctive identity that deserves appreciation. The opening sequence alone points towards brilliant worldbuilding — Seth and Richie engage in a tense shootout inside a Texas liquor store, killing two people (including a Texas Ranger) before moving on to their next target. Right off the bat, we are uncomfortably made aware that these brothers are not heroic figures, as their brand of villainy becomes harder to justify as the movie progresses. But this doesn't stop us from rooting for them when they are lumped in a dangerous situation alongside an innocent trucker (Harvey Keitel's Jacob) and his teenage daughter (Juliette Lewis' Kate) inside a seedy strip club. In this world, the only way out is to plunge a stake into a vampire-snake hybrid's heart before they manage to sink their venomous fangs into your skin.

So when Rodriguez returned with an eponymous franchise series on his newly released El Rey network in 2014, folks were excited for this familiar, revamped storyline. New characters, fresh locales, and extensive creature mythology were added to justify the series format, which worked mostly in favor of a show that is an adaptation of a beloved, self-aware B-movie. Did El Rey's "From Dusk Till Dawn" deserve to end with season 3, or did it have something interesting to say beyond its central premise? Let's investigate.

Comparing Rodriguez's 1996 film with his subsequent series is a tad unfair, as the unpredictable energy contained within the 108-minute flick simply does not translate into a traditional multi-season show. If anything, Rodriguez had all the time in the world to develop and flesh out these familiar characters in his series, to the point that they became distinctly different than their movie counterparts (which they do).

For example, Hayek's Santanico Pandemonium is meant to shock us with her vampiric transformation, and this contrast feels especially jarring given the character's initial association with traditional beauty/sensuality. This climactic turning point is radically reframed in the series, as this version of Santanico (Eiza González) has her hopes and dreams laid bare for us, emerging as a complex antagonist in a series rife with horrifying monsters and even more morally dubious human beings.

As for the Geckos, they're much more likable than their movie counterparts, which makes sense from the perspective of a show that seeks to root us in their perspectives. Seth (D.J. Cotrona) is headstrong and protective, but even his most violent tendencies are tempered by his will to protect civilians (this is a more positive interpretation of Clooney's Seth, who eventually aims for redemption in the film). Meanwhile, Richie (Zane Holtz) is not an irredeemable psychopath but a victim of manipulation, which introduces concerning instability to his highly perceptive mind. These moral grey areas allow Rodriguez to swing the story towards some fun, interesting directions — that said, the first season might feel like a bloated rehashing of the film for some viewers, as it offers a mildly amusing reframing of what we already know.

Season 3 is the real game-changer here, as it explores brand new territory that has little to do with the Clooney-Tarantino flick, and has a lot of fun while doing so. For starters, it completely switches gears and abides by a monster-of-the-week format, which fuses perfectly with the overarching storyline that had started to feel stale by the time season 2 rolled around. As expected, these weekly antagonists are as eccentric as they can get, infused with campy dialogue and tongue-in-cheek action extravagance that references the film without mimicking it. Moreover, Holtz and Cotrona share a solid rapport throughout, where this central dynamic helps ground the series and morph it into an exciting, ultraviolent adventure.

While the first two seasons of "From Dusk Till Dawn" promise a sub-par adaptation of a beloved classic (which also has a well-received direct-to-video sequel!), season 3 proves that the show might've benefited from one final season that ended things with a bang. Thankfully, the third season does not end with a cliffhanger, granting "From Dusk Till Dawn" an abrupt, yet satisfying conclusion.