From Dusk Till Dawn 3: The Hangman's Daughter (2000)

From Dusk Till Dawn 3: The Hangman's Daughter (R)

"Vampin' in the Ole West"

The Mexico border in the early 20th century, groups of pilgrims, desperadoes and lawmen unknowingly end up at a den of evil and prostitution in this prequel to the original From Dusk Till Dawn with a welcome western motif saddled with a dehydration of new ideas.

The film hitches a ride on the mystique of real-life Civil war hero and southern poet Ambrose Bierce (played by the always lovely Michael Parks), who has clairvoyance about his impending doom when he drinks.  He is looking to join Pancho Villa in his revolution and finds his caravan joined by a bible salesman and his virtuous wife who quickly run afoul of a team of banditos and outlaws and a den of vampires.  The film apes the format and twist of the original film without any of the finesse of writing or camerawork.  The color temp varies wildly shot to shot, especially in the daytime scenes, eliciting a nausea that the slimmed-down gore can't achieve.  The gunplay and production design may be far superior to FDTD2:TBM, but the general malaise of sequelhood can't sustain interest, and the forced prequel mother/father plot with its constant call backs to the original prevent it from being its own film.  Both Park and Danny Trejo's return lend weight to the production, but when even Danny's stunt double gets the vampire makeup and replaces him for the rest of the film its time to hang up FDTD3:THMD's spurs and say "whoa cowboy, I don't think you're quite ready for the rodeo just yet".

4 Jeez Earl McGraw really knows how to act drunk out of 10 (BAD)