From Dusk til Dawn paired with Heavy Seas Greater Pumpkin Imperial Pumpkin Ale

31 Days of Draughts and Darkness: Volume III

"From Dusk til Dawn" (1996)

This is the story of two villains. And I mean real nasty, awful villains. Criminals, cop-killers, the sort of folks who'd take a whole family hostage for a Twinkie. The kind of low-life you'd expect to face the business-end of Arnold Schwarzenegger's machine gun in any other movie.

But this isn't "any other movie". This is "From Dusk til' Dawn", and here, these villains are about to run afoul of monsters even worse than they are. As bad as these criminals are, their opponents are the sort of worse that legends are made of. So much so, that our villians almost, almost (but not quite), become heroes themselves.

"From Dusk til Dawn" is beyond anti-hero. More like 'hero by default'.

But first, there are a legion of vampires to slay.

The Plot:

Seth and Richie Grecko (George Clooney and Quentin Tarantino) are on the lam and hellbent on getting to Mexico. Wanted bank-robbers, the two have more than a little blood on their hands, and despite all intent to lay low, can't help but attract trouble. Most of this stems from Richie. While Seth is the sort of low-life who follows a code of pseudo-honor, Richie has some serious mental loose-screws. These tend to bring out the underlying psychopath. His latest snap cost the life of their hostage, meaning Seth and Richie must find a new innocent to drag with them as protection.

Enter former-pastor Jake Fuller (Harvey Keitel), who's recently lost both his wife and his faith. Him and his children Scott and Kate are RV'ing their way across the country, only to run afoul of the Grecko brothers. Brutally, the Grecko's kidnap the family and order them to head for the border, where the brothers are set to meet Carlos, a criminal boss offering the wanted men sanctuary. 

Along the way, the group stop at a strip club that's far, far more than meets the eye. An attractant to low-lives and bikers, this particular strip club proudly proclaims to be open from dusk til' dawn, opening its arms to all manner of shady character. What its clientele doesn't realize, however, is that the club is far more dangerous than its thuggish patrons.

Settling down for some debauchery, Seth and Richie, along with the captive Fuller family, soon learn that the strip joint is a sinister front. The staff and dancers are vampires, their club a web designed to attract the sort of people society won't miss. Or come looking after once they've disappeared. As strippers and bartenders begin growing fangs, bikers begin hitting the dirt. And stuck in the middle are two criminals and a terrified family who only want to survive the night.

Let the battle begin.

The Flavor:

"From Dusk til' Dawn" plays out like two entirely different films, both in tone and plot. We begin the tale on a rather brutal criminal journey, with Seth and Richie spilling a lot of innocent blood. Neither brother is portrayed as anything close to heroic. Richie is a quiet powder-keg ready to blow into full-on maniac. The only thing keeping him in line is Seth, who's certainly no saint, but at least claims to only kill when its necessary.

The point is, we're not dealing with good-guys, folks.

The film's early scenes, leading up to the capture of the Fuller family, play out like a grim crime drama. Yes, there are plenty of quirky characters, but the overall tone is harsh. The Grecko brothers are far from the criminals-with-the-heart-of-gold cliche, and director Robert Rodriguez wants us to know that without question. We genuinely worry for the safety of the Fuller family and begin to hate the Grecko's for putting them through such hell.

And then we arrive at the strip club, and everything changes, including the movie itself. A room full of criminals finds themselves confronted by creatures far worse than they. The crime drama morphs into survival horror with a darkly humorous grin, no less, as everyone bands together to fight the toothy menace. It's here that "From Dusk til Dawn" turns into the sort of gory, campy monster movie you can start have fun with. The shift from realistic brutality to splattery vampire movie is jarring, taking a moment to adapt to.

You may find yourself having a hard time accepting Seth and Richie as suddenly "heroic" characters, though I suppose anti-hero is the better term. For as terrible as these people are, they're now up against literal creatures from hell. This is where I find myself asking the question: "Who's meant to the be the monsters here? The literal vampires, or the criminal underbelly they prey on?"

If you intend to watch "From Dusk til' Dawn" solely for the vampire-slaying fun, it's the film's second half you're after. Packed with creative effects work and fantastic action, it's easy to smile at all the horror-flavored chaos of this section. We're clearly meant to have fun with it and begin rooting for characters we hated moments earlier. In that way, "From Dusk til Dawn" hits a "Game of Thrones" sort of vibe.

Best Paired With:

Here, the squeamish viewer has not one, but two thematic elements to avoid. While the vampire scenes of "From Dusk til' Dawn", while gory, are mostly played up for camp, the film's earlier abduction scenes are unsettling on a more realistic level. Like I said, the film's tonal shift at the half-way point is jarring. You may find yourself having a hard time getting used to it. Perhaps that's the point, to illustrate real-world vs. supernatural horror, and which it truly the more terrifying?

Just know, going in, that you're in for more then slasher-style mayhem.

Brew:

So here we have one part pure Halloween vampire-slayin' fun, but coupled alongside some genuinely grim and hard-hitting introductory scenes. How best to capture this in beer form? I'm thinking a pumpkin ale with a much stronger bite than usual.

 Name: The Greater Pumpkin

Brewery: Heavy Seas Uncharted Waters Collection

Where Brewed: Baltimore, Maryland

ABV: 10%

Style: Imperial Pumpkin Ale, Bourbon Barrel-Aged

Color:  With an unabashed haze, Greater Pumpkin primarily casts an opaque orange glow from the center of the glass, with flecks of gold letting light through around the edges.

Aroma: With a boozy-sharp vanilla spike, Great Pumpkin hits the nose with equal parts sweet, spicy, and potent. You can tell from first-sniff that you're in for a heavy-hitter in the ABV department, as the bourbon notes of vanilla carry across strongly. Notes of cinnamon and clove also appear, with perhaps the faint tone of pumpkin twang in the background.

Taste: Considering how strong the aroma profile of Greater Pumpkin was, I expected an equally bold salvo of flavors to strike the tongue. But I was mistaken, for the flavor profile here is the warming sort, where the sweetness takes a backseat to the spices and vanilla rather than vice-versa. The flavor of bourbon-barrel aging is well represented, but the spike of higher alcohol restrained, allowing for more mellow flavors to shine through.

The flavor that benefits most from this is the pumpkin. Often overpowered by stronger malts, spices, and/or sugar, here the pumpkin presence is instead boosted by the other flavors. While the scent component is mild, the overall taste of pumpkin tanginess is quite apparent. Extra points to Heavy Seas for letting this oft-overpowered flavor shine through, and in a bourbon-barrel aged blend, no less!

At the back of each sip, the slight punch of hops mellow out what sweetness existed prior, leaving you with a flavor that's equal parts spiced pumpkin and bourbon. I'm pleased by how the slight bitterness of the hops mimics the burn of actual bourbon, at least taste-wise.

Most imperial pumpkin beers are so sweet and spicy as to get cloying half-way through, but Greater Pumpkin's balance of flavors has so far made the experience enjoyable throughout.

Aftertaste: After sipping, two flavors notes cling most-readily to the back of the tongue. Firstly, and first to fade, is the combo of pumpkin and spices. Of the spices, the cinnamon is the most pronounced. After a moment or two, these flavors dissipate. More long-lasting is the bourbon vanilla-sharpness, which holds onto the tongue a good while longer than its spiced counterpart.

Body: Right from the get-go and just as the brew hits your tongue, you're aware that Greater Pumpkin has a mouth-coating body that demands a snifter glass and slow-sipping. A fine layer of the brew surrounds your tongue and palate with each taste, causing the flavors to cling rather than wash over. With this heavier body, coupled with a higher alcohol content, I'd advise enjoying this brew slowly. Drinking too quickly would only serve to numb the taste buds and likely result in one killer headache the following morning. Barrel-aged beers are meant to be savored, and Greater Pumpkin is no exception.

Pair: With this much sheer flavor on display, most enjoyably the often-overpowered pumpkin, this brew is one to enjoy all by its lonesome.