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Review by E.C. McMullen Jr. |
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USA Release: Jan. 18, 2000 Los Hooligans / Dimension Films Rated: Australia, USA: R / Belgium: KNT / Finland: K-18 / France, Iceland, Netherlands: 16 / Germany, Norway, Spain, UK: 18 / Ireland: BANNED / Italy: VM18 / Portugal: M/16 / Sweden: 15 |
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So it seems that back in the early 1913, when most people in the U.S. still got around on horse and buggy, famed satirical Horror writer, Ambrose Bierce, decided to leave the big city, fame, and fortune, and join up with Pancho Villa to fight the good fight.
He was 70 years old.
Ambrose was last heard of in Chihuahua, Mexico, in December of that year, and nobody knows what happened to him after that.
But let's say he saw a botched hanging, the prisoner escape on horseback with the Hangman's daughter, and he went about his business by getting on a stagecoach with two young Christian preachers, man and wife.
So here we have the Atheist Ambrose Bierce (Michael Parks: FROM DUSK TILL DAWN, KILL BILL [all], GRINDHOUSE), riding along with uber Christian bible-thumper John Newlie (Lennie Loftin: SE7EN, THE SUM OF ALL FEARS, DAREDEVIL) and his even more uptight wife Mary (Rebecca Gayheart: SCREAM 2, URBAN LEGEND).
Could have made for ripping good dialogue, but oh well.
Meanwhile, escaped executionee, Johnny Madrid (Marco Leonardi: THE STENDHAL SYNDROME, ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO), is happy that an unknown sharpshooter saved his life, but unhappy that this female outlaw, Reece (Jordana Spiro), has a very high opinion of what she imagines is the very worst of him. What Reece thinks is complimentary, Johnny finds insulting to the point of disgust.
Meanwhile, the Hangman's Daughter, Esmerelda (Ara Celi: MACHETE) is pretty much a cypher. There was plenty of time for some snappy dialogue like I've come to expect from a movie presented by Tarantino and Rodriguez, but oh well.
Johnny is after treasure or something and gets back to his old tricks by robbing the stagecoach carrying John, Mary, and Ambrose. Bear in mind that the Hangman himself (Temuera Morrison: THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU [1996]), remains in hot pursuit with a calvacade of Mexican federales.
As in the first one, half the movie is dedicated to getting to know the humans before they wind up on the menu at the good old whorehouse which is really a den of iniquitous vampires!
Dang them and all their iniquities!
The den is run by Razor Charlie (Danny Trejo: FROM DUSK TILL DAWN [all], ANACONDA, THE DEVIL'S REJECTS, HOOD OF HORROR, GRINDHOUSE, Rob Zombie's HALLOWEEN, PREDATORS, MACHETE) and the inimitable queen of the place, Quixtla (Sonia Braga), a strong and passionate woman whose powerful charms prove to be too much for John Newlie to resist.
John and Mary Newlie, and Ambrose decide to stay for the night (accomodations were Slim Pickens back then on the ol' dusty trail). Enter bad guys, enter federales and the Hangman, and (after an invigorating roll in the hay with Quixtla) a suddenly cocky John looking for a fight.
Shit hits the fan and everything goes to hell for our intrepid trio plus others.
From then on its vampire fun and though this movie has caught a lot of crap, it really isn't that bad at all and a lot more fun than quite a few direct to video sequels I can think of.
Orlando Jones (EVOLUTION) also stars as the comic relief black guy who gets killed off, but this is a Robert Rodriguez Horror movie so you should have expected that.
FROM DUSK TO DAWN 3 escapes the !!!UNFAIR RACIAL CLICHE ALERT!!! because even though the actors playing the survivors at the end are white, one of them is playing their role as a Mexican.
The Álvaro Rodríguez (MACHETE) script, based on a Robert Rodriguez story, isn't great or even good, but hey, it works well enough and melds with P.J. Pesce's adequate direction. The whole thing was peppy enough that it never bored and wasn't so stupid that you didn't care.
Actor Robert Englund (who isn't in this) refers to some movies as "Disposable fun".
Go into FROM DUSK TO DAWN 3: THE HANGMAN'S DAUGHTER with that mindset and you'll have a good time.
Two Shriek Girls.
This review copyright 2011 E.C.McMullen Jr.
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