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: GALLOWWALKERS (2012)

GALLOWWALKERS (2012) is a horror-western populated with the usual gunslingers, whores, cops, and bandits except the bandits in this film don’t die but return after death as undead immortals that kill and feed off everything they encounter.  They are called Gallowwalkers and they are a close in relations to vampires except they can walk in the daylight and they have to replace their outer skin with fresh skin on a regular basis.  On the trail of a gang of Gallowwalkers is the outlaw Aman (Wesley Snipes) who will stop at nothing to kill all the Gallowwalkers that were responsible for the death of his loved one.

There is a lot of style to be had in this film in regard to the cinematography and the production design but the film itself is crippled by a sub-par screenplay and the acting which isn’t at top form.  The most odd and bonkers aspects of the film just come off as incredible uneven because of the direction which can’t bring all the elements together. 

Snipes seems to be phoning it in doing a less interesting “Blade” impression.  Although some of the action sequences are quite good, the editing ruins the pacing of some of them.  Some of the scenes would seem more authentic with more attention paid towards the editing and pacing but then there are some scenes that fall completely flat.

There are some interesting elements to the film, but the overall result has too many issues to recommend it an enjoyable film, but it was an interesting idea that was developed.