CALLERI: Clooney and Tarantino horror movie coming to the Transit Drive-in – Niagara Gazette

moviecolumn@gmail.com

A genuine cult movie classic from 1996 comes to the Transit Drive-in as part of an outdoor summertime edition of Thursday Night Terrors, the robustly successful screening of horror movies that runs indoors at the Amherst Theatre. From Dusk Till Dawn, directed by Robert Rodriguez, written by Quentin Tarantino, and starring George Clooney, will be the focus of an upcoming special showing of double features, which will include three other popular horror films.

But first some background.

In 1994, actor George Clooney was in the middle of his 109-episode run as Dr. Doug Ross on the hit NBC television series, ER. He was becoming a major TV star and would be years away from scoring big as a movie star.

However, Clooney definitely wanted to shift his focus to films. His early movie roles were negligible efforts in such features as Return To Horror High and Return Of The Killer Tomatoes.

ER gave Clooney some clout and in the summer of 1995, he filmed the horror classic, From Dusk Till Dawn, which was a box office hit and has spawned a number of media follow-ups, including the Netflix streaming series and a video game. The movie has achieved cult status.

From Dusk Till Dawn opened nationwide on Jan. 19, 1996 one week after the east coast was struck by a major blizzard. The snowstorm brought New York City to a standstill. In a wonderful bit of serendipity, Buffalo-Niagara didnt receive any snow from Jan. 6 through 8, 1996, but I was in Manhattan for Buffalos WIVB-TV interviewing stars during a motion picture junket for a different feature. The regions three airports were closed. For days, no one could leave town. Some MTA subway lines ran, but many couldnt because they traveled above ground. Forget buses, cars, and taxis.

One highlight was my being able to see the rare snowbound edition of a taping of The Late Show With David Letterman. A fellow entertainment reporter from Texas, with whom I was friends, had a pair of tickets, and he was also on the junket.

The snow had stopped early in the morning of Monday the 8th, and obviously, many people who had tickets couldnt make it to the Ed Sullivan Theatre. However, some did. Of course, there were others who were stranded in town and a lot of people stood outside the Ed Sullivan on Broadway hoping to get in.

Letterman, and many of his staff members, as well as Paul Shaffer and the orchestra, who lived in the city, were available, and the show went on. Dave did a comedy bit at the beginning with the very small group of fans, myself included, who had tickets. The show started with just us, and after about 10 minutes, Letterman decided to allow other folks in from the cold and snow.

It was warmer in Los Angeles in December, 1995, when the press junket was held for From Dusk Till Dawn. I interviewed Clooney and Tarantino, who also had a major role, and others associated with the film.

The story is about the Gecko brothers, Clooney as Seth and Tarantino as Richie, two exceedingly dangerous bank robbers who are on a maniacal crime spree. They kidnap a father and his two children and head south to a seedy Mexican bar to hide out. Eventually, they realize its no ordinary bar. The place is teeming with frantic vampires. The ultra-violent movie is pitch-perfect in its stylistic mayhem.

After introducing myself to Clooney, he began our one-on-one chat by mentioning that for a brief period in 1994, his father, newsman Nicholas Clooney, had been an anchorman at WGRZ-TV in Buffalo. I said that I had met his dad around town and had chatted with him as television colleagues do, even if theyre from different stations.

Clooney told me he was especially excited to have worked with writer-actor Tarantino and director Rodriguez. I loved the freedom we had to do scenes differently once we had performed them as written, said the actor. Some of the things we did were really wild, especially with Quentin coming up with crazy ideas that actually worked well in front of the camera. Robert was a joy. Utterly mellow and amazingly talented. Clooney would follow-up From Dusk Till Dawn with Batman & Robin and The Peacemaker, two films I find entertaining, regardless of their uninspired reputations.

Tarantino stated that he loved the characters and enjoyed writing them for the movie. So many are unique. He continued saying, I was thrilled that with George, Robert, and others, we could break a lot of the conventional crime spree, horror movie rules.

The others in the star-studded cast include Harvey Keitel, Juliette Lewis, Cheech Marin, Fred Williamson, Salma Hayek, Danny Trejo, Michael Parks, John Saxon, Kelly Preston, and John Hawkes. From Dusk Till Dawn was banned in Ireland for its excessive bloodletting.

Peter Vullo, the Buffalo mastermind behind Thursday Night Terrors, said that taking Terrors to the Transit Drive-in is an exciting new chapter for the series. Horror movies and drive-ins have a long history together. Theyre staples of the American summer. I look forward to exploring that history with a modern twist.

The full schedule for the special presentation of Thursday Night Terrors at the Transit Drive-in is: July 14, Tremors (1990) and The Blob (1988). July 28, From Dusk Till Dawn and Demon Knight (1995). The gates open at 8:00 p.m. both days.

Michael Calleri reviews films for the Niagara Gazette and the CNHI news network. Contact him at moviecolumn@gmail.com.

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CALLERI: Clooney and Tarantino horror movie coming to the Transit Drive-in - Niagara Gazette

Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero