Review of From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money (1999) by Jason D — 08 Jun 2010

It's no surprise that Robert Rodriguez's original From Dusk Till Dawn film caught everyone by surprise, making it one of the top cult classics to come out of the 90's. And so, it was no surprise that the greedy studio that owned the rights to the film wanted to capitalize fast.

..and apparently very cheaply. The end result was this direct-to-video low budgeter that has a group of five, cliched criminals led by Duane Whitaker (Pulp Fiction) and Robert Patrick (Terminator 2) and including Raymond Cruz (Alien Resurrection), Brett Harrelson (Strangeland), and Muse Watson (I Know What You Did Last Summer 1 & 2) coming together for one big score at a bank in Mexico.

While four come together and hole up in a seedy motel, Whitaker follows shortly behind only to have his car stall due to bat problems, finding himself in the iconic Titty Twister bar (only for a minute unfortunately) and getting assistance from Danny Trejo (another small link to the superior original) who attacks Whitaker and turns him.

Now, Whitaker joins the group and proceeds to pull off the perfect bank heist, using all of his newly acquired superhuman bat skills, all while slowly turning each member of the gang, leaving slightly heart-of-gold Patrick to fend himself.

The movie does provide a couple of particularly gory moments (thanks to returning EFX crew KNB EFX) and one big bloody battle involving the cops that surround the bank. Unfortunately, this film has a low level of awesomeness in comparison to the original.

Not even a quirky movie within the movie at the beginning starring the infamous Bruce Campbell and Tiffani-Amber Thiessen does little to entertain. There's also Bo Hopkins, an American sheriff hot on the gang's trail who has a couple of good moments, not to mention James Parks, son of Michael Parks, playing the son of his dead daddy (Sheriff Earl McGraw) from the original film in an amusing role.

As far as low-budget, direct-to-video horror goes, From Dusk Till Dawn 2 actually gets the job done and manages to be quick, simple entertainment. As far as a being a sequel to such an amazing film, it fails big time.