Every week with Revisiting the Reviled, Sean looks at a film that was meant to appeal to geeks and failed, often miserably.
In 1996, Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez were just beginning to find their footing as the new auteurs of the ‘90s independent film explosion. Tarantino, of course, had just set the cinema world on fire with Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs, slowly cementing his status as the next big filmmaker. On the other hand, Rodriguez found success with El Mariachi and its bigger sequel Desperado. The two would work together on the omnibus film Four Rooms, which had a lukewarm reception from critics and audiences alike. But before Tarantino would continue his ascent into the pantheon of modern cinema and Rodriguez would settle in as a purveyor of low budgeted, low quality kids and action films, the duo would work together on From Dusk Till Dawn, a hybrid of a horror and crime film. The film was a modest success with the crime element being far more interesting than the horror, but boasting some solid performances from George Clooney and Harvey Keitel. As happens with horror films, From Dusk Till Dawn would get a vastly inferior sequel.
In 1999, From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money would be released straight-to-video, never even sniffing a theatrical run. From Dusk Till Dawn 2 would try to mix the criminal and horrific like its predecessor, but invariably goes for the least interesting option at every available turn. This is low budget filmmaking at its most dismal, as moronic as it is cheap. The film is directed by Scott Spiegel, who co-wrote the legendary Evil Dead 2 with Sam Raimi, from a story co-written with Boaz Yakin and screenplay co-written by Duane Whitaker. The three writers combine to fill From Dusk Till Dawn 2 with an assortment of half-baked characters in undercooked situations, never feeling half as dangerous or exciting as its predecessor.
The film opens with Bruce Campbell and Tiffani Amber Thiessen in an elevator before they’re attacked by ravenous bats. Aside from expending all of its dim star power early, this sequence is just a non sequitur tossed in as a movie within a movie. The real movie is about Buck (Robert Patrick), a hard luck criminal, and his fugitive friend Luther (co-writer Duane Whitaker) attempting to pull off a major bank robbery. Hot on Luther’s trail is Otis (Bo Hopkins), a Texas Ranger. Buck assembles a team of misfits to pull off the heist – C.W. Niles (Muse Watson), a down on his luck rodeo clown; Jesus Draven (Raymond Cruz), a hothead Mexican tough guy; and Ray Bob (Brett Harrelson), a meek convict trying to make good in the world. On the way to meet up with the gang at the rundown El Coyote Hotel in Mexico, Luther stops off at the Titty Twister, the vampire strip club from the first film, where he encounters Razor Eddie (Danny Trejo), who later turns him into a vampire. Before long, all of Buck’s crew is turned and Buck must team up with Otis to defeat the vampires and survive the night.
As far as the story is concerned, the film could’ve tried to make the film a much more interesting contrast between the heroes and villains, but it’s never concerned with going anywhere near that. With the exception of Buck, all of the criminals are quickly turned into vampires – a fact that audience frustratingly knows while the character remains ignorant – and quickly turns into cops and criminal vs. vampires. There’s no attempt to play with the audience or the characters about who has been turned, a central distrust that might actually be able to coax some tension from its premise.
While the special effects of the ’96 original aren’t by any means groundbreaking, they were competent and provided the film with a spooky aesthetic. For the sequel, however, it would seem as if most of the creature effects were purchased at a discount Halloween store. It’s a minor miracle that the string which suspends the cheap little bats aren’t visible when they’re attacking their helpless actors. Anytime a swarm of bats appears, it’s no different than watching a child being pelted with an assortment of stuffed animals, horrific for all the wrong reasons.
Of all the things that don’t work in From Dusk Till Dawn 2, none is more glaring the assortment of confounding directorial decisions from Scott Spiegel. In many regards, one could see Spiegel trying to get some fantastical shots in a manner similar to his friend Sam Raimi, but all Spiegel really does is affix his camera to a number of random objects. If you want a shot from the POV of a shotgun, it’s there. If you want to see what a scene would look like from the perspective of a telephone cord, it’s there. If you ever wanted the camera rocking up and down as a character does push-ups, it’s there. From the odd – telephone cord – to the mundane – a table fan – Spiegel will give you the point-of-view of anything he can possibly affix his camera to.
If the varied and numerous POV shots didn’t properly distort you, then there’s little else by way of suspense in From Dusk Till Dawn 2. In one particular scene, a young woman (played by Maria Checa) enters the shower before being attacked by a vampire bat. As the water begins to run in the shower, it immediately hit me that this is going to be the film’s homage to Psycho. Lo and behold, Spiegel tries so hard to mimic this classic scene from a classic movie yet one can’t help but be distracted at the simple fact that this woman is screaming in terror at being attacked with something with all the verisimilitude of Fozzie Bear.
Crime films don’t always get unnecessary sequels, but horror films often do. Unfortunately, From Dusk Till Dawn’s horror side got the straight-to-video sequels before being revitalized as a television series on the El Rey Network. But From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money isn’t even bad enough to find a bit of pleasure from its Ed Wood-level special effects or bafflingly odd direction from Scott Spiegel. This is a film devoid of wit and purpose, a cheap cash grab that didn’t even have much ability at grabbing cash. Of course, the characters in From Dusk Till Dawn 2 aren’t even adept at grabbing cash themselves. I think the only person who came out ahead from the film is the owner of that Halloween shop.