As school starts and the nights get longer, everyone is in search of great TV to stay in for. You could try your luck with network pilots and long-running dramas. But for my money, nothing's better than some horror with a good dash of black comedy — and my pick is "From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series."

Here's why you should check it out.

1. Tarantino fans don’t have to wait for a new movie.

While Quentin Tarantino isn’t involved in this project, his fingerprints are all over it. Fans of the original film will recognize trademark references to film and a deep appreciation for blood and gore. If you’re worn out your "Reservoir Dogs" and your "Hateful Eight" DVDs, you’ve come to the right place.

2. Great FX makeup.

Practical effects are making a fierce comeback with films like "Mad Max: Fury Road" gaining critical praise. "Dusk" follows this tradition with imaginative creature design for all the culebras.

3. Los Hermanos Gecko > Winchester Boys.

"Supernatural" will always have a special place in my heart, but any show that has gone 12 seasons has a right to be a little road weary. At the end of the day, the Gecko brothers are proto-Winchesters with Seth being a more tortured Dean without a repetitive storyline and Sam if he was allowed some moral complexity.

Plus these guys can actually swear like real outlaws.

4. Mesoamerican vampires.

One of the reasons vampires have gotten tired over the years is that they repeat the same mythology over and over. You have the Catholicism, the vague Eastern European-ness and the like.

The beauty of having culebras as the monsters of the story is that you can have a rich mythology that isn’t necessarily already soaked in pop culture, while also allowing to have a much more diverse cast and stories to tell.

5. Moral Complexities.

Look, I called the culebras of the story ‘monsters’ before, but one of the great things about this show is how it looks at the beast in every character. Everyone on the show has done monstrous things, some more gleefully than others.

It’s exploring those gray areas in between the shoot-em-ups that puts this show a cut above.

6. Nuanced female characters.

I never thought I’d say this about the TV adaptation of a film whose most famous scene is a striptease, but here I am. Even the women who aren’t my main two (who I will get to later on) all have emotional responses and motivations that make them real people rather than a prop-up for a man or a particular story.

So much about the story is devoted to making these women free themselves for themselves, and I love it.

7. Santanico Pandemonium.

Ah, my beautiful la diosa. Santanico’s story is much more tragic and complicated than what was shown in the original film, where she was a flat monster, hell-bent on dominating men. Instead, Santanico struggles with her place in the world as someone with immense power who is also kept prisoner.

Her conflict becomes a metaphor that many women struggle with: do I become a symbol for love/sex/light and therefore gain power, or do I remain small and own myself and myself alone?

8. Kate Fuller.

Kate provides a foil to Santanico in many ways, even though they haven’t shared any dialogue (much to my chagrin). She’s young and naïve but also resourceful and curious.

She wants to believe in good even in the face of evil and is never shamed for it. However, like everyone else, she has to bend in ways she never expected to uphold a greater truth.

9. Wilmer Valderrama.

Perhaps one of the only truly despicable characters in the show, Valderrama plays Carlos, middleman for the Geckos and conquistador loyal to Santanico. He’s a delight whenever he’s onscreen.

Who knew the skinny kid from "That ‘70s Show" could play such a menacing villain?

10. The Jokes Land.

This show is not a comedy, but one of the ways the characters become human is how they use humor to ease tension. But since this show doesn’t necessarily set up elaborate jokes, it relies on the delivery and chemistry of its actors to pull it off.

Bottom line: it does.

11. Good ol’ fashioned scare and gore.

If you’re a horror fan, I’m surprised you haven’t heard about this show. But if you haven’t heard or are looking for some scares as the nights get colder, you will not be disappointed. There’s some great spaghetti-western action, and they do not skimp on the blood effects.

So get your fangs out and check out the Season 3 premiere on Sept. 6!