From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money (1999)
Scott Spiegel
Really Stupid and Really Cool
The worst thing one can do is to compare this to the original FDTD. It is unfair to this ``sequel'' because if there is anything this film isn't, it is a sequel. This is a B movie, with all entailing consequences: incredible ``uncontrolled freak'' camera work, campy dialogue, atrocious (for the most part) acting, at least one gorgeous slut, and no more than a passing familiarity with the script on the account of sense.
Having said that, I also have to accept the inevitable consequence: this movie is unbelievably entertaining. As any B-trash fan will tell you, profundity ain't something you'd expect from such a flick. There's no pretense to deliver anything but pure rush, mixed with lots of fun. In this, FDTD2 is superb, it just isn't a serious film, that's all.
Scott Spiegel (some folks may have heard of him -- it's the dude that taught Sam Raimi everything he (the dude, not Sam) knew) delivers an ultra-fast gory flick that basically is a show-off for the director (let's see how in how many bizarre ways one can shoot a scene). Many, plenty more than you can come up with. This is clearly one of the strengths of the movie: inventive shooting. Same cannot be said about the script unless you also want to claim ``The Blair Witch Project'' was original and good. It isn't. This one at least does not pretend to be.
From the very beginning, with Bruce getting convincingly scratched to death in an elevator with Tiffani-Amber Thiessen (not by her, you idiot -- by vampire bats! duh!), we know we're off to a great start. It even gets better -- she dies too. Then there's some unmotivated running around by the actors until the premise gets established and we suddenly find ourselves watching a gang of white (and latino) southern trash attempting a bank heist down in Mexico. The catch: some of them are vampires, and the others don't even know it. Some hilarious mess ensues, in which the coolest thing was how imaginative all these vampires are when it comes to seeing various forms of crosses. Plenty of fake shemps die impaled, severed, bitten, eaten, shot, stabbed, drained, beaten, and subjected to various assorted forms of cinematographic killing. Red paint flows a-plenty, enough gore to put ``Evil Dead'' to shame (more money in this one), and all the time Robert Patrick manages to deliver a truly cool performance.
This movie is fun, but one must be careful (or careless) to approach it with the proper expectations. Don't expect a sequel to FDTD, or a remake. Short of sporting the same bar in the desert and one repeat actor (didn't the bartender get wasted in the first one?), the movie has nothing to do with FDTD except shared rubber bats and vampires. Also, do not expect a serious thinker's movie (an oxymoron, I hear ya). The best way to see this movie is to MST3K it with your friends. Serious entertainment for serious people determined to have serious fun. 7 out of 10.
December 4, 1999. BLS