Day 114: From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money

From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money

The blood money comes from the paying audience

Sequels are a complicated thing. Sometimes there is clearly a need for future movies, such as with comic book characters or a series. Other times, it's a cash grab after some unexpected success from the first movie. And something more common in today's crowded market is the direct-to-video, almost completely unrelated sequel. Welcome to From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money.

From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money is a direct-to-video vampire moving starring Robert Patrick (Terminator 2: Judgement Day, The Sopranos) as criminal Buck. Buck finds out that his old partner, Luther (Duane Whitaker, Tales From The Hood, Feast) has escaped from prison. He is being pursued by Texas ranger Otis Lawson (Bo Hopkins, American Graffiti, Radioland Murders) who pays a visit to Buck to see if he knows Luther's whereabouts. Luther gets in touch with Buck and they bring together their old gang for one last bank robbery south of the border. The group gets a motel room while Luther goes to scout out the place they are planning on robbing. While driving, Luther accidentally hits and kills bat that flies in front of his car. His car won't start, so he heads to a local bar, The Titty Twister, where calls to tell Buck he's getting a ride from the bartender, Razor Eddie (Danny Trejo, From Dusk Till Dawn, Machete). Razor Eddie finds the dead bat, which turns out to be his vampire friend, and Eddie bites Luther in revenge. The gang heads to the bank with the now undead Luther, who slowly turns each member of the gang into vampires. The break into the vault when Otis finally catches up to them and has the place surrounded. Will Buck, the only gang member still human, be able to fight the vampires with Otis and avoid being arrested?

Machete don't text

This movie has very little to do with the first From Dusk Till Dawn. With the exception of Danny Trejo, the Titty Twister, Mexico, and vampires, Texas Blood Money has nothing to do with it's predecessor. At least they made a half-assed effort with the inclusion of Danny Trejo, but why not have him be a bigger part of the movie? You can tell that it was written as a separate vampire movie that just happened to get “From Dusk Till Dawn” tacked on to the name, similar to the Steven Seagal movie, Under Siege 2: Dark Territory. Everything about the movie is half-hearted. The acting is phoned-in, the humor from the first movie is seriously lacking, and the plot is far too simplistic. The violence is decent, particularly the final scenes of the movie with a good amount of blood.

Another thing that seriously bothered me is that the movie was advertised as starring Bruce Campbell and Tiffani-Amber Thiessen. Don't worry, they are actually in the movie...for about the first 5 minutes. It's wrong of the movie to lure in people thinking Bruce Campbell is going to be a big part of this movie when he is barely in it. It's not false advertising, but its definitely deceptive. It just acts as a reminder that the movie could have been fun, but comes off as a mediocre B-movie with a weak connection to the original movie. There's also a third movie, which acts as a prequel to the first movie and rumors of a fourth movie being made. Maybe those will have a stronger connection than this one.

Taken from the DVD's perspective in the $5 bin

From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money isn't deserving of the moniker. It's name and mention of Bruce Campbell lure horror fans into purchasing or watching the movie in hopes of seeing something great. While the movie is ok with some good violence, it just doesn't live up to the hype. If you don't have high hopes and want to watch some vampires in the desert, this movie isn't half bad. If you loved the first From Dusk Till Dawn, you're going to be severely disappointed. Especially because there is no Salma Hayek.

5/10

Day 15: Death Row

Death Row

Murder was the case that they gave me

Prisons are inherently a scary place. Being surrounded by criminals and having your freedom taken away is an unspeakable horror for most people. Throw in some ghosts and you're in for some serious nightmares. Heck, throwing in a Play-Doh set into a prison would be terrifying.

Death Row follows 2 separate parties converging on the site of the infamous Isla de la Roca maximum-security prison. The first is a group of diamond thieves led by Marco (Jake Busey). The second is a group of college kids shooting a documentary on the old prison. The haunting begins as the combined groups are slowly picked off one by one. Brutal killings and spooky possessions terrorize the group and reveal the sordid past of the prison. They must find out why this is all happening, how it is connected to Marco and how they can escape the island. in one piece.

Meth Row

Death Row knows that it is a small-screen horror movie. More at home on the SyFy channel and used horror movie bin than the big screen, it focuses more on the fun kills than on a good script or great dialogue. And boy do they have fun with the killing. Excellent horror movie makeup and creative deaths keep the viewer thoroughly entertained. Plenty of blood and entrails for the avid gore fan. The special effects are good for a small-screen horror movie, but when the ghosts themselves appear, they look like they have a fog machine stuck under their clothes.

Jake Busey (Starship Troopers, Idenity) channeling his inner Nicholas Cage, is front and center in Death Row. Usually relegated to a supporting cast, Busey cranks his weirdness to 11. It's entertaining for the most part, but sometimes it almost too over the top. Stacy Keach (Titus, American History X) and Danny Trejo (Machete, Anchorman) are great, but its dissapointing they weren't given larger roles. The rest of the cast does a fine job with only one or two weak links. They do their best with a mediocre script. The characters fall in to the typical horror movie trap of being very stupid; always wanting to split up, going off on their own etc. I know there wouldn't be much of a story if everyone just stayed in one place and thought things through, but still, these people do some stupid things.

All this for an overdue book?!

Death Row is one of those movies that you watch when nothing else is on, but still manage to enjoy yourself. Better than the average SyFy channel movie (Ice Spiders, Sharktopus anyone?), this movie keeps the fun kills coming despite a simple script with more holes than a hunk of swiss cheese. Light on the horror, but heavy on the gore, non horror fans with strong stomachs would enjoy this as well. Death Row is a fun watch if you don't think about it too much.

6/10