Thought a case could be made for most of the characters, Dakota’s story line throughout the film has likely been the harshest. Robert Rodriguez described it as “the worst night of her life” as the evening just got continually worse for Dakota. And it’s not even over yet!

To this point, she’s had:
- The viral epidemic (obviously)
- Her lover’s brains taken out
- Her husband attempted to murder her
- Her husband then kept her prisoner in a closet
- Jumped from a 2-story window into medical waste (needles)
- Her wrist broken

This was another John Carpenter homage, the main character in chains in the doorway – the audience still unknowing if he’s good or bad.

Now we understand that Bill truly is psychotic. He deconstructs here and loses his cool. He becomes completely irrational and is about to take his wife’s life.

The severity of this scene is that now Dakota’s fear of Bill knowing what she’s doing has come true. On top of her lover being dead, including the added horror of her not knowing the fate of her son Tony, who was supposed to be safe with Tammy.

Robert Rodriguez says that before Joel Siegel passed away, who was a film critic, told him that the line “no brainer” was one of the funniest lines he had ever heard from a movie.

Though, a few moments earlier JT says “I’m not callin' my brother, I’m callin' the Sheriff”, this is really the moment when we learn that these two have a history and that they’re rivals. JT and Hague are brothers, Hague being the Sheriff and the one that owns the land JT’s restaurant is on; JT being the better cook of the two.

Texas BBQ is a lot like Texas football. It’s extremely competitive and people get desperate for success. Hague wants JT’s recipes, JT refuses, claiming he’ll take them to his grave. The consequence is that Hague raises JT’s rent.

Robert Rodriguez included this subplot in the movie because he always found it humorous of all the big BBQ family’s in Texas and their storied rivalries.

Robert Rodriguez had explained that one of his major influences in film making was John Carpenter, a famous horror movie creator.

This shot was Rodriguez’s homage to Carpenter. The two bad guys standing perfectly still in the distance with dim lighting and smoke/fog swirling around them. A lot of the smoke and fog used through the movie were Rodriguez’s appreciation from Carpenter’s movies, like Escape from New York and Assault on Precinct 13.

When Sheriff Hague walked in, we got the “hero shot” of him being a strong presence. Now he’s speaking directly to our lead protagonist here, who we haven’t learned all that much about yet, just assumptions. During this portion of the scene you’ll notice that it’s shot from below, allowing Sheriff Hague to tower over Wray, implying that he’s stronger.

The camera angle is shot low, from the ground looking up. It’s meant to serve as the “hero shot”. The strong or badass one of the group is leading the guys, who all have the same uniform, except that the leader, in this case Sheriff Hague (Michael Biehn), is also wearing a tough looking jacket with the fur on the collar.

This “eye opening” was an homage to the beginning of the 1989 horrorr film Dead Calm featuring Nicole Kidman. Graeme Revell scored Dead Calm and Robert Rodriguez had him come in briefly for Planet Terror to do the music for this scene. Rodriguez has said that Dead Calm was one of his favorite movies.