From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money (1999) - Spiegel's vampire heist disappoints

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A red-tinted, murky, dusk-like darkness hangs over this poster for Scott Spiegel's From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money

A gang of criminals plan to rob a bank in Mexico but before they get to it, they are attacked by some blood-hungering bats that carry a frightening virus.

From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money is written by Duane Whitaker (Stripteaser (1995)) and co-writer-director Scott Spiegel (Intruder (1989)), with Boaz Yakin (Max (2015)) contributing story elements, as the sequel to Robert Rodriguez's From Dusk Till Dawn (1996). It is something as rare as a vampire heist movie, which lends it a certain 'fun-to-watch' quality.
But although Spiegel's direction has clear Tarantino ambitions, (Quentin Tarantino stars in and co-wrote the original film with pal Rodriguez and executive produced this pic), it lacks finesse: Exaggerated action and unfortunate effects mar Texas Blood Money, which also is bogged down by a sorely unengaged lead performance from Robert Patrick (True Blood (2012-14)). After the exhilarating original film, the earth-bound failure of this sequel is a shame.

Related posts:

Scott Spiegel: Hostel: Part III (2011) - Spiegel ends Roth's beloved gore franchise  

1999 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 
Evil Dead II/Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn (1987) - Campbell, Spiegel and Raimi's crazy, gory classic (co-writer)
From Dusk Till Dawn franchise: From Dusk till Dawn (1996) - Tarantino, Rodriguez and chums' enjoyable Mexico vampire extravaganza

Listen to an interview with Spiegel here

Cost: 5 mil. $
Box office: Unknown (mainly a direct-to-video release domestically and in many other markets)
= Uncertain (but likely successful commercially)
[From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money premiered 16 March (USA) and runs 85  minutes. Shooting took place in South Africa. The film was reportedly intended to be a test venture for Dimension Films of the direct-to-video market, but it was also theatrically released in several markets. The film's gross and video sales are not immediately available online, but there is a good chance the film was successful. Another sequel followed, P.J. Pesce's From Dusk Till Dawn 3: The Hangman's Daughter. Later came From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series (2014-16). Spiegel eventually returned to directing with My Name Is Modesty: A Modesty Blaise Adventure (2004). Patrick returned in The Vivero Letter (1999). From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money is rotten at 9 % with a 2.7/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money?

Evil Dead II/Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn (1987) - Campbell, Spiegel and Raimi's crazy, gory classic

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The iconic, cool skull face poster for Sam Raimi's Evil Dead II

Ash and his girlfriend are in a cabin in the woods, when he unintentionally releases the evil of Necronomicom (The Book of the Dead), and soon demons spread and attack most spectacularly.

Led by a positively rabid performance by the inimitable master of physical, cartoonish horror acting, Bruce Campbell (Ash vs Evil Dead (2015-16)), Evil Dead II elbows itself violently ahead at a mad pace with effects by the wheelbarrow. Its visuals, camera work (by cinematographer Peter Deming (Drag Me to Hell (2009)), dummies, prosthetics etc. all serve the wild lunacy that is maybe the best 1980's-made 'nothing's-too-much' effects-driven horror, as well as my favorite in the franchise.
The story is extremely (and intentionally) silly, - more or less the story of the original The Evil Dead (1981) all over again, just sillier, with lots of ludicrous, fantastical incongruities that only heighten the fun factor. Mixed in are sequences of genuine nightmarish horror.
Evil Dead II is written by Scott Spiegel (The Rookie (1990)) and Michigander master co-writer-director Sam Raimi (Crimewave (1985)). It is essentially a horror gore comedy about-nothing near-masterpiece.

Related posts:

Sam Raimi: 2013 in films - according to Film Excess 
Evil Dead (2013) - One hell of a ride (producer)
Oz the Great and Powerful (2013) - A fun, eye-popping adventure
Drag Me to Hell (2009) - Raimi returns to horror in high style
Army of Darkness (1992) or, Medieval Death  

Top 10: Best franchise movies

Bruce Campbell gives an interview at the 2016 San Diego Comic Con about his work on the Ash vs Evil Dead TV-series

Cost: 3.6 mil. $
Box office: 5.9 mil. $ (North America only, on first release)
= Uncertainty (but likely a huge hit)
[Evil Dead II was released 13 March (USA) and runs 84 minutes. After the failure of Raimi and Joel and Ethan Coen's Crimewave (1985), Raimi needed a hit and reverted to the sequel idea. Stephen King, a fan of the first film, introduced him to Dino De Laurentiis, who financed Evil Dead II. Due to the relatively small budget, the idea to move Ash to Medieval times were scrapped until the next film in the franchise, Raimi's also great Army of Darkness (1992). Shooting took place in North Carolina, including at De Laurentiis' Studios in Wadesboro, and in Detroit, Michigan from May - September 1986 with re-shoots in December 1986. The film opened #14 to an 807k $ first weekend in just 310 theaters in North America, its peak there. It seems to have racked in good business abroad: Reportedly 3 mil. $ in France, 1.1 mil. £ (UK), 1.4 mil. $ in West Germany and also good performances in Spain, Italy and other markets. It also continued grossing in North America, where its gross by 2006 had reportedly reached 10.9 mil. $. It has likely grossed upwards of 20 mil. $ by now, which would make it a huge hit. Roger Ebert gave it 3 stars, and Leonard Maltin has changed his initial 2 star review to 3 stars. Evil Dead II has become a cult film, and the franchise continued with one 1992 sequel, a 2013 remake and a TV-series, Ash vs Evil Dead (2015-16). Evil Dead II is certified fresh at 98 % with an 8 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Evil Dead II?

Hostel: Part III (2011, video) - Spiegel ends Roth's beloved gore franchise

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The poster for Scott Spiegel's Hostel: Part III looks like a cheap rehash of the posters for the first two films

Four unsympathetic young men are en route to Las Vegas for a bachelor party. Once there they go to a party way off the Strip, where one of them disappears.

Far into Hostel 3, I was in. - The characters of Eli Roth's (Cabin Fever (2002)) first two films (2005 and 2007) aren't angels as well, - but then at some point I realized that I had not even a mild liking for any of the guys here, and that the film's focus seemed to flap around between them, seemingly unclear about who of them was leading the narrative ahead. Michael D. Weiss (Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008)) has written the script, 'based on Roth's characters', (although there doesn't seem to be any characters from the first two films in this one.) It is directed by a producer on the first two films, Scott Spiegel (From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money (1999)), and Roth was not involved in making it.
When Kip Pardue (The Rules of Attraction (2002)), who plays the ultra-douche, SPOILER begins to fight his friend, the film becomes involuntarily funny, because things simply get too ridiculous. And although Thomas Kretschmann (Valkyrie (2008)) is in this one, he never really becomes a very good villain unfortunately.
Hostel 3 is still a fairly large production SPOILER with cockroach-, face-ripping- and Japanese cyberpunk/crossbow-kills and an intro scene, which cleverly turns the franchise from its Eastern Europe setting to the Americans home scene. But when it's over, a fan of the first two films will almost certainly feel pretty disappointed. The Hostel franchise provisionally dies here.

Related posts:
 
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2011 in films - according to Film Excess
 

Here are the four schmucks that are in for some cultural punishment in Scott Spiegel's Hostel: Part III

Watch the trailer for the movie here

Cost: 6 mil. $
Box office: None - released straight-to-DVD and VoD
= Uncertainty
[But almost certainly a huge flop. - However, since DVD sales and VoD revenue have not been publicized, I can't know for sure. Hostel 3 is the first of the Hostel films to go straight-to-DVD. The release was meant to be followed by a viral marketing campaign, which was canceled, when the film got bad test screenings.]

What do you think of Hostel: Part III?