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

After the surprise success that From Dusk Till Dawn got, it was almost a given that we would get some sort of sequel. Think of the possibilities…would we follow George Clooney’s Seth Grecko or Juliette Lewis’ Kate as they go their separate ways? Would we see other vampire locations and have the pair as some sort of smart-talking, ass-kicking vengeful duo?

Nah, forget all of that. Let’s instead tell a totally different story about bank robbing vampires and make the only returning character, Danny Trejo’s vampire barman even though he is supposed to be dead!

How is he alive? Who cares! This film doesn’t. There is very little to link this to the first film except for a pointlessly dropped line of dialogue about the Gecko brothers. In fact, From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money probably shares more in common with the TV show that ran for 3 seasons. Especially as the star of this film (Robert Patrick) also starred in the first season of the show. Read our review of season one here, season two here and season three here.

Simply put, by time the credits roll you’ll be left wondering just what was the point of this sequel.

The movie opens with cameos from Bruce Campbell and Tiffani Thiessen as an unlucky pair that get attacked by bats inside an elevator. The pair are killed and it is revealed that this just a film Buck (Robert Patrick) is watching while having sex.

He ends up seeing a news piece about his old friend, Luther (Duane Whitaker) having escaped prison and when the ranger (Bo Hopkins) hunting him comes looking for him at Bucks, he denies that they’ve been in contact.

The phone rings and guess who it is? It’s Luther wanting to get the old gang back together with Buck so they can do one big hit. A bank job.

Buck sets about rounding up the old team which consists of C.W. (Muse Watson), Jesus (Raymond Cruz) and Ray Bob (Brett Harrelson) and they head off to Mexico to meet Luther.

Luther has run into a bit of car trouble having hit a pretty big bat. He kills it and heads to a nearby bar, The Titty Twister to seek help, something he gets from Danny Trejo’s barman. He agrees to drive Luther to where he needs to go but when he hears about the killing of the bat attacks him instead.

Luther becomes a vampire too and heads off to meet his old pals still planning to continue the heist. Luther’s new attitude bothers Buck though, he suspects something isn’t quite right but agrees to go along with the new plan.

A move he will come to regret.

As will anyone else who continues watching after this stage. The problem with From Dusk Till Dawn 2 isn’t the acting, it’s not the visuals (although they do look a bit dated) nor is it the depiction of vampires as these lot are similar to the ones in the first film. No, the problem here is the lacklustre story, the horrid pacing and the lack of imagination that makes it such a chore.

Here’s an example…the sun is coming up forcing the vampires to have to run for cover inside the bank instead of slaughtering the police outside. What happens literally 5 seconds later? The fastest and longest eclipse ever. It just appears and manages to last long enough for the movie to reach its conclusion. What a handy eclipse!

It’s so stupidly convenient that you’ll be left wondering why the writers didn’t just keep it nighttime? No-one would have noticed or complained! Bad writing, designed to pad out the run-time.

The characters are so bland, so forgettable that the actors behind the roles could hardly do much to wring life out of them. Buck, as the lead is so unlikable that it makes him impossible to get behind and the attempts to make him cool like George Clooney’s Seth fall extremely flat.

The fun factor that made up the original is gone and the light-hearted humorous moments missing resulting in a drab looking and unenjoyable watch. Simply put, From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money just feels so pointless.

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