Cheap From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money (DVD) (Scott Spiegel) Price

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Customer Reviews of From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money

This would have been a better film if it was not a sequel
To try and be fair, "From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money" might have fared better with viewers if it was a tacky sequel to the audacious spaghetti vampire film concocted by Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino. But this direct-to-video flick is an attempt to capitalize on the gory cult success of the original despite the fact that outside of the vampires south of the border idea and the high octane violence, the only real connections with the original "From Dusk Till Dawn" is a brief stop at that bar (the name cannot be mentioned in polite or reviewing company) where Danny Trejo is still tending bar; he is the only cast member back from the first go around (although most of the characters have good excuses).

Actually, the idea of a group of career criminals plotting a bank robbery being turned into vampires but go ahead with the idea of robbing the bank is a decent idea and if this film did not invite comparisons to the style and wit of the original it could have picked up another star. Instead, it must invariabley suffer in comparison. Robert Patrick as Buck, the would be bank robber who finds he is in things way over his head, does a decent job all thing considered, but the rest of the cast engages in mondo scenery chewing (both, after, or even without the transition into bloodsucking fiends). Bo Hopkins plays Sheriff Lawson, the lawman in pursuit of Buck and his playmates, but he does nothing special with the role. Director Scott Spiegel certainly gets into the spirit of things, repeatedly finding interesting places to put the camera for some truly weird shots, but you can not really count such things as great artistry.

The bottom line is that "Texas Blood Money" is a gory little B-movie that besmirches the legacy of its unforgettable predecessor (assuming you could stomach sitting through that film in the first place). But you know things are not going well when the movie the bad guys are watching on the tube, where Bruce Campbell and Tiffani-Amber Thiessen have a close encounter of the bat kind in a office building elevator. All in all, this film is pretty much summed up by Buck at a moment during the film when he is in police custody and things suddenly turn dark regarding his chances for survival. When you hear the line just nod your head in agreement and go right on munching your popcorn.

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A fun waste of time.
This one is not serious, not for a bit. There's gory slaugther, there are cool characters and there's not even a little tiny piece of a story that isn't forgotten after half the movie.

Still I liked it. I liked the wacky camerawork that reminds me of Sam Raimi (Evil Dead) when he is in his most playful mood. I liked the actors interaction (before they became vampires) and I liked the ending scene.

What I didn't like was the second half of the movie where there was only fighting, and not interesting fighting. Four criminal vampires just slaughtering polices can be fun for a bit, but not for too long. If you want a stupid movie with high budget where crazy vampires tries to kill other people with no thought of consequences or really no thoughts at all, this is a film for you.

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Vampire Bank Robbers
This is a sequel to From Dusk Till Dawn but it could just as easily be set before the first film. This one involves a bank robbery South of the border. The team is put together and they all head for a motel near the target. But one member is a little late and runs afoul of a vampire.

As a vampire, he joins the rest of the team and starts converting them to vampires. For some reason they continue with the bank robbery. This is not really explained and is not like the vampire mobsters in Innocent Blood.

In the end we have a final showdown when hordes of police arrive including one policeman who has a vendetta against the one thief not to get converted. Some of this action is rather interesting. At one point in the film there is a convenient solar eclipse. This one is odd as it totally blocks out the sun and the corona and then it lasts way too long. It would have been better to leave this one out.

Although this one is not quite as good as the original it is a rather good film. The characters are really quite interesting (both good guys and bad guys) and the film wraps up in a satisfying way (even if it has been used in countless films).