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: BEAR (2010)

In the world of animal attacks horror films Bear (2010) is one of the few that claims to use a real bear in the modern age of PETA and CGI animals.  Written by Roel Reine and Ethan Wiley and directed by Reine the film concerns two couples (Brandan Michael Coughlin, Patrick Scott Lewis, Katie Lowes, and Mary Alexandra Stiefvater) whose car gets in an accident in the middle of nowhere.  When they are attacked by a bear one of them pulls out a gun and shoots it dead.  Things just get worse when they realize that the bear wasn’t alone and that its mate is very much around and doesn’t take too kindly to the humans coming into its backyard and causing chaos.

With their car incapacitated the four must try to stay alive after all their bullets have been spent and they have nothing to protect them from the second bear other than the safety of their car.  There are a lot of conventional horror plot tropes in the film and the film-makers keep the proceedings moving as the action with the actual bear is entertaining but unfortunately when the bear is the best thing in the film it doesn’t really look well for the under developed human characters or their cliché relationships and complications.

There is some means of substance to be had in the third act, but it comes a little too late to save the overall mediocre film.  If you enjoy bear verses humans (and I do mean it in that order) then you might enjoy this little film otherwise dull humans make for a dull film.

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.