1. From Dusk Till Dawn
From Dusk Till Dawn is a bit like Tommy Lee Jones' depiction of Batman villain Two-Face: part classy crook, part monster. Written by Roberto Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino, the film adopts TLJ's villainous form as being insanely split right down the middle: with one half a slick, gun-toting crime movie, and the other a roaring, bloody horror film. A lot of people were pretty p**sed off when the film hit cinemas, bemoaning the unnecessary lurch from gangster to vampire flick. This is perhaps unsurprising given how the first half of From Dusk Till Dawn does seem to have enough about it to hold up for feature length. But if you embrace the unapologetic jolt into the horror genre, you can have a hell of a good time with this film. George Clooney swapped his shift at the ER for this big-screen debut, and he makes for a convincing crook who, along with Tarantino, capture a family of three (with Harvey Keitel as the mild-mannered father) to smuggle their way across the Mexican border. It's foul-mouthed and it's violent, but From Dusk Till Dawn continues to remain a resolute crime thriller until they reach their destination in Mexico: a rowdy, dangerous dive bar. As part of the evening entertainment, a voluptuous dancer played by Salma Hayek exotically grooves her way across stage, before inexplicably morphing into a revolting vampire. The bar staff and dancers also contort into malevolent undead monsters, and just like that, From Dusk Till Dawn becomes a terrifying horror film. Much of the character development is ripped to shreds as the leads become different people in the face of supernatural horror. It's easy to see why many viewers felt the genre-shift like a slap in the face. But whichever way you look at it, From Dusk Till Dawn is deliriously original. For once, we are as surprised to see vampires as the characters on-screen are.