Film Review: DEAD AGAIN IN TOMBSTONE (2017)

Director Roel Reine returns to director the sequel Dead Again in Tombstone (2017) from the original film which starred Danny Trejo as Guerrero de la Cruz, who makes a deal with the Devil to return to avenge his death in exchange for working with the Devil to return the souls of bad men to Hell.  After the events that ended the previous film Guerrero finds himself going back home to a family that thought him dead and want nothing to do with him.  It’s not long before former soldier Jackson Boomer (Jack Busey) and his men show up looking for an ancient relic that will allow them to make it Hell on Earth.  It just show happens that the relic has been hidden from human eyes by Guerrero’s surviving family members which puts him in the middle of Boomer’s agenda.  Now Guerrero must reunit with his family all the while trying to prevent Hell on Earth.

This mixture of action, horror, and western is actually a good fit for Trejo who seems very at home in this character.  He’s still the bad-ass you’ve come to know in other films (as he pretty much plays the same character in every film he’s in) except he now rides a horse and wears a cowboy hat.  The action scenes are very well composed and edited making for some exiting scenes.  The humor usually falls flat (as Trejo is not as good at delivering the comedic lines) but he has a presence on scene that makes you want to see what he does next no matter how ludicrous the scene (or plot of the film) is.  In fact, I highly doubt that I would’ve even picked up the film if Trejo wasn’t in it.

This film is definitely for the Trejo fans as it offers little else for western or even action fans if you’re not willing to drink the Trejo-Kool-Aid. 

Film Review: DEATH RACE 3: INFERNO (2013)

The entire cast of the previous film (that survive anyways) is back for more death racing in Death Race 3: Inferno (2013).  Lucas (Luke Goss) barely survived the car accident that left him scarred for life but he was resurrected as Frankenstein who is the greatest racer of any Death Race.  When this film begins Frankenstein has won four matches and only needs one more to gain his freedom but everything changes when Weyland’s (Ving Rhames) company is taken over through a hostile takeover orchestrated by Niles York (Dougray Scott) who has bigger plans for Death Race by taking it global and expanding to all parts of the world instantly.  It seems that Death Race is the greatest sporting event in the world and Niles wants to take the first iteration of the global phenomena to Africa in a cross country race to the death. 

 

Returning to help Frankenstein is his pit crew Goldberg (Danny Trejo) and Lists (Fred Koehler) not to mention his always dependable navigator Katrina (Tanit Phoenix Copley) and they’ll have to work overtime as the rules to the game have changed and it will take all of them to overcome the new game and the new mastermind behind the game York.

Like the previous film in the series this one is a prequel story that leads up to the events depicted in the very first film.  Being a sequel to part two it doesn’t even seem like much time has passed but this is a new game with bigger stakes, more racers, more killing, and more danger and fans of the previous films will not be disappointed.

Film Review: DEATH RACE 2 (2010)

Death Race 2 (2010) is a prequel to the original film that centers on the beginning of the prison system reality game Death Race.  This film starts at where it all began with mob criminal Carl ‘Luke’ Lucas (Luke Goss) getting sent to prison after being apprehended after a botched bank robbery. 

At prison the talk of the town is the show Death Match in which inmates fight each other to the death.  It’s a program orchestrated by manipulative September Jones (Lauren Cohen) who works for Weyland (Ving Rhames) whose corporation owns the prison system and a broadcasting network.  After Jones sees the greater potential in Lucas she decides to convince Weyland to invest in a new venture called Death Race, in which inmates are given supped up cars in a death defying race over the course of three days and which is broadcast live for public consumption.

Lucas only has the help of his pit crew lead by Goldberg (Danny Trejo) and his navigator Katrina (Tanit Phoenix Copley) to help him get through the death race and survive when everyone around him wants him dead.

Roel Reine takes over as director of this sequel from the original’s Paul W.S. Anderson (who is producer and came up with the story on this film).  The screenplay is by Tony Giglio who does a fine time crafting a film that essentially is designed to help set up events in the first film.  Goss is no Jason Statham but he does a fine job as the lead in this film.  Although the film is not a great film by any stretch of the imagination it is very fun and exciting and plays directly to fans of the original film and these type of films in general.

Film Review: 3-HEADED SHARK ATTACK (2015)

Ah, it’s that time again for yet another WTF moment when you realize that the Syfy Channel has invested in another killer shark movie.  This time it is 3-Headed Shark Attack (2015) and just because there are more heads doesn’t mean it’s any better than 2-Headed Shark Attack (2012).

Written by Jacob Cooney and Bill Hanstock and directed by Christopher Douglas-Olen Ray (who also directed 2-Headed Shark Attack) this is a too-standard story of a mutated shark killing everything in its path from beach blonds to stupid scientists.  A research facility lead by the altruistic scientist Dr. Nelson (Jason Simmons) and his assistants of which Maggie (Karrueche Tran) is but one of the most promising.  When their lab is attacked by a mutated 3-headed shark those that survive the initial attack try to get to safety as fast as they can but is as always the case more obstacles are thrown in their path.

If the film didn’t follow a standard plot from beginning to end then it might be passable despite the ridiculous SFX and bad acting.  No.  It’d still be a bad movie and not even a cameo by Danny Trejo in the last act can save this film.  Don’t get me wrong, Trejo makes the most of what he is given but it isn’t much and this isn’t anything that you haven’t seen before in a Syfy Channel film.

What is really a shame is that all this effort goes into these bottom of the trash bin films when with just a small bit of effort in the script and acting departments and this film could have achieved something more.  Not much more but a little.