Review of From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money (1999) by Miranda P — 13 Jan 2009

I really enjoyed this, even though the first From Dusk Till Dawn is in my top twenty movies list so it had a lot to live up to. The script is by no means in the same ballpark as Tarantino's, but the director clearly had a vision which elevates it above most straight to video sequels. There is a lot of crazy camerawork in here, like point of view fang shots as they bite down on human flesh, and a camera panning with a rotating fan to catch characters walking around a room. It's gimmicky and shlocky but it kept me pretty entertained.

I also enjoyed the Bruce Campbell cameo, and the Pulp Fiction-esque surf rock score was cool. I found it interesting because I think it's kind of happening at the same time as the first movie, not really being a prequel or a sequel. Danny Trejo's character, the barman at the Titty Twister, is alive in this one but he died at the end of the first (not to mention the bar is in tact here but it was burned down in the first movie). But it's not a prequel because one character mentions that the Gecko brothers (Clooney and Tarantino from the first one) murdered the old sheriff (which happened at the beginning of the first one). So this story exists somewhere in the middle of the Gecko brothers' adventure, which is kinda cool.

My biggest criticism is the minimalistic vampire makeup this time around and a reliance on transforming into fake CGI bats, which really doesn't work as well. A lot of people got killed by a little bat nipping at them constantly, which was kind of lame. But still, the world of FDTD is cool and unique amongst other vampire movies, so I'm keen to watch the third when I can find it.