People Love From Dusk Till Dawn And Grindhouse, But An Anthology Film First Brought Tarantino And Rodriguez Together

Who doesn't love the Robert Rodriguez/Quentin Tarantino collabo that is From Dusk Till Dawn? On the internet, lots of people even tend to believe that 2025's Sinners is actually a rip-off of the 1996 film (I disagree, but whatever).

Anyway, many people tend to think of movies like FDTD, Grindhouse, and Sin City when considering movies that the two directors have worked on together, but not as many people tend to bring up the actual first movie they collaborated on, that being the 1995 anthology film, Four Rooms.

Somewhat savaged at the time (especially for Madonna's acting), Four Rooms is admittedly a lopsided film. That said, the good (such as the GOAT, Robert Rodriguez's segment) is really good. So, let's talk.

Four Rooms Tells Four Interconnected Stories From Four Interesting Directors

I adore anthology series like the V/H/S franchise, and it's mostly because I love seeing different directors take on a similar genre. In the case of V/H/S, it's horror, and in the case of Four Rooms, it's oddball comedy.

Now, two of the directors - Allison Anders and Alexandre Rockwell - I had never heard of before, and to be honest, I don’t really know any of their later movies, either. That said, I want to speak to their two short segments first because I think they’re really interesting in the broader sense of the film. The first segment, “The Missing Ingredient,” is Anders’s contribution, and this is the one that features Madonna (Who won a Raspberry Award for her troubles).

The story itself is interesting, though, as it concerns a coven of witches who want to counteract a spell on their goddess, and they need one last ingredient, that ingredient being…well, semen. Thankfully, Tim Roth (Who I’ll get into soon) can provide said ingredient, and it involves some kinky activity in a cauldron. So, yeah, a weird beginning, which leads into Rockwell’s contribution, “The Wrong Man”.

In this segment, Tim Roth is held hostage by a man who thinks he slept with his wife since his name is Ted, and the man’s wife apparently slept with a man named Theodore. Tim Roth keeps trying to convince the man (David Proval) that there’s been “a big mistake,” but it all ends in comic fashion, with Tim Roth getting vomited on. Oh, and speaking of Tim Roth…

Tim Roth Is The Glue That Holds It All Together

Man, I love this actor. He’s in my second-favorite Quentin Tarantino movie, The Hateful Eight, and he was really there from the very beginning for Tarantino, as he also starred in his debut picture, Reservoir Dogs. So, any time I get to see Tim Roth in a Tarantino film, I know it’s going to be good.

Well, Tarantino’s segment, “The Man from Hollywood,” appears at the end, so I’ll get to that later. However, Tim Roth is the connective tissue between every segment, as he acts as the go-between for each story. You see, it’s his character, Ted’s, first day on the job, and what a day to start. He’s acting as a replacement bellhop at a hotel on New Year’s Eve, and it’s seriously madness on every floor, it seems.

Tim Roth is really silly, making strange faces and contorting himself in all kinds of weird positions, and he almost acts like the cartoon you see at the beginning of the movie. His bellhop character is charming in a way, but also represents somebody who’s completely out of his depth, so he makes a good guide through the calamity that follows.

I mean, it’s not my favorite Tim Roth performance or anything like that, but it gets the job done, Honey Bunny.

I Like All Of The Segments, But Especially Robert Rodriguez's

Now, even though I enjoy the first two segments, I think the film really picks up with the third segment, “The Misbehavers,” which is directed by Robert Rodriguez. In this segment, Antonio Banderas and Tamlyn Tomita act as parents to two VERY naughty children, played by Lana McKissack and Danny Verduzco. Banderas’s character, simply known as Husband, warns his children not to misbehave, and he tips Ted $500 to watch them.

Throughout his time with the kids, Ted definitely wishes he hadn’t taken that tip, since the kids act like Thing 1 and Thing 2 from The Cat in the Hat, getting into all manner of troubles. They get champagne all over the room, the son smokes, the daughter drinks, they’re watching pornography on TV, and the kids even find a dead sex worker. So, you know, a normal night in paradise.

While this is all happening, Ted is reaching a boiling point, and when the parents get back and ask if the kids misbehaved, the sprinkler system goes off since the room had been on fire.

As a whole, I think this is the best segment in the entire film, and the one I think about the most whenever I remember this movie. Interestingly, this almost acts like a double feature since Tarantino’s segment comes next, just like Death Proof (my least favorite Tarantino movie) followed by Planet Terror when it came to 2007’s Grindhouse.

Tarantino Closes Out The Film In True Tarantino Fashion

The last segment, “The Man from Hollywood,” closes out the film, and just as I alluded to, it’s Tarantino’s contribution. Now, Tarantino has acted on many separate occasions, but much like he acted in The Muppets’ Wizard of Oz (I’m dead serious. See my article on Oz-related movies for more details), he plays an exaggerated version of himself.

But, unlike in The Muppets, where he actually does play himself, in this movie, he acts as a famous director who’s playing a game with some friends. And, they want Ted to participate once he brings them an assortment of bizarre items, including a meat cleaver, a bucket of ice, and a doughnut.

One of the friends makes a bet that one of his little fingers will be chopped off if he can’t produce flame with his lighter ten times in a row, in exchange for another friend’s nice car. Ted is paid to referee, and, well, just like with Chekhov’s gun, the meat cleaver that was introduced earlier gets put to good use.

And, this is very Tarantino-esque. The violence, the reference to something else (The game they’re playing is apparently a homage to an Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode), the jokey nature of it all, truly feels like it could only come from one man, and that man is Tarantino. It’s a nice close to the film, and I just wonder how many Tarantino fans may not have seen it.

Overall, I Feel Like Most People Don't Talk About Four Rooms Anymore, And I Think They Should

In the end, is Four Rooms a great movie? Hmm…maybe not. But, is it an entertaining film and one that I think people should see - especially if they’re fans of Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino? Absolutely!

Because I always see people bringing up movies like True Romance, and Natural Born Killers for their connection to Tarantino, and Alita: Battle Angel for its connection to Robert Rodriguez, but I don’t really ever hear people talking about Four Rooms, and how these two great directors made a movie together before they were completely intertwined when it came to From Dusk Till Dawn.

That said, if you haven’t seen it, just keep in mind that some of it might be better than other parts of it. If you can keep that in your head, then I think you’ll be in for a good time.

Have you ever watched Four Rooms? I’d love to hear your thoughts.