From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money (1999)

Movie Info

This is why I never use a scrub brush…vampire bats

Luther Heggs (Duane Whitaker) has escaped custody and is setting up a job.  He’s picked Buck Bowers (Robert Patrick) to gather the crew and meet him at a hotel in Mexico.  Buck recruits Jesus Draven (Raymond Cruz), C.W. Niles (Muse Watson), and Ray Bob (Brett Harrelson) to hit the bank, but when Luther’s car breaks down, he ends up at the Titty Twister Bar.  Luther is bitten by a vampire (Danny Trejo), but he realizes that a vampire could be the perfect means to rob a bank.  The job is on, and Luther recruiting his team to the dark side.

Directed by Scott Spiegel, From Dusk Till Dawn 2:  Texas Blood Money is a straight-to-video horror action film.  A sequel to From Dusk Till Dawn in 1996, the film received poor reviews.

From Dusk Till Dawn has some fun moments.  It doesn’t take itself too seriously and the genre blend makes it a bit original (you can debate if it works or not).  You take out the original film’s stellar cast, the genre blending, and a decent script, and you end up with From Dusk Till Dawn 2:  Texas Blood Money…and a really dull horror film.

Hey…neat POV shot…let’s do about 40 more!

The movie crawls.  It falls under an hour and a half, but it feels like a full two hour film.  It meanders through the story of a robbery with little interest and little fun.  The original film’s Titty Twister bar is barely a footnote, and it feels tacked on to a vampire movie that needed a hook.  It is uninspired and not even bad-funny.

I feel pretty bad for Robert Patrick in this film in particular.  He’s done better stuff, and it appears like he’s trying.  Patrick can’t save the movie.  Everyone else is almost a stereotype instead of a develop character.  Danny Trejo appears too briefly, and Muse Watson and Brett Harrelson (Woody’s brother) really aren’t explored.  Raymond Cruz just plays the “hot head” like normal and Bo Hopkins is the typical “bring ’em in cop”.  Possibly the best part of the movie could be the opening with a fake vampire movie with Bruce Campbell and Tiffani Thiessen.

Crosses…your big surprise plan is crosses…way to get inventive

The movie also looks cheap.  From Dusk Till Dawn had style…this movie doesn’t.  Scott Spiegel (who co-wrote the screenplay) is known for his work with Sam Rami and borrows Sam Rami’s POV shots, but overuses them and uses them badly.  It is an attempt to stylize the movie, but it has no style.

From Dusk Till Dawn 2:  Texas Blood Money is a lackluster sequel to a fun film.  The movie drags and limps its way to the unsatisfying and cliché ending.  Vampire horror movies should be fun and in 1999 with all the genre blending horror films (including the first film), From Dusk Till Dawn 2 should have done better.  From Dusk Till Dawn 2:  Texas Blood Money was followed by a prequel film From Dusk Till Dawn 3:  The Hangman’s Daughter in 1999.

Related Links:

From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)

From Dusk Till Dawn 3:  The Hangman’s Daughter (1999)

Full Tilt Boogie (1997)