10 Horror Movie Villains KILLED Before The End

2. Santanico Pandemonium - From Dusk Till Dawn

From Dusk Till Dawn Salma Hayek
Miramax

From Dusk Till Dawn is nothing if not a horror film packed full of surprises; first and foremost, that it's a horror film at all.

The first hour of Robert Rodriguez's cult classic unfolds more in the vein of a neo-noir crime thriller, but shortly after outlaws the Gecko Brothers (George Clooney and Quentin Tarantino) and their hostages take refuge in the remote strip club The Titty Twister, all hell breaks loose.

After being treated to a sexy dance from exotic dancer Santanico Pandemonium (Salma Hayek), it's revealed that the strip club plays hosts to a fleet of vampires, including Santanico herself, who happens to be the leader of the group.

Between this and the lady vamp in question being played by Salma Hayek, there's a pretty reasonable expectation that she'll be sticking around until the end of the movie. But in another amusing subversion of expectations, before we've even gotten over the fact we're now watching a damn vampire movie, Seth Gecko (Clooney) shoots a chandelier which falls on Santanico, killing her.

Barely five minutes after she was introduced, and before the third act has even started, the apparent main antagonist is dead, which even Santanico herself seems pretty damn shocked about.

The rest of the movie sees the heroes fending off the remnants of the vampire horde, with only Seth and hostage Kate (Juliette Lewis) making it out alive.

Contributor
Contributor

Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.