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A movie with one of the more badass titles I've seen. I think I first heard about this movie in some ancient Cracked.com article an age ago. (Remember that damn website?) I didn't see it though as I had a lot of other movies to watch at the time and I slowly forgot about it. Fast-forward to now. Saw it mentioned again. Remembered Salma Hayek and her sexy Lilith-y ass as basically the poster girl for this movie and decided to give it a shot.
This is a pretty great movie all said and done. Richard Gecko though, Seth's brother, is a total fucking murdering prick, and you almost immediately lose all sympathy for him very early into the film, and by extension, Seth as well for putting up with his clear psychotic shit. About the first half of this movie though is a very typical, if well executed and acted crime drama with a bit of action. The main cast then go into a strip club/biker bar in the deserts of Absolutely Nowhere, Mexico to rendezvous with a contact the next morning.
Except it's not just some strip club, is it. Nope, it's a den of vampires, and this is an Evil-Dead-esque vampire movie now for the rest of the runtime. This is a somewhat ballsy move for Quentin Tarantino to make here. If someone came into this hoping to enjoy a crime drama, then this sudden major genre shift better be absolutely worth it or else they're going to be very pissed.
But Salma Hayek does alleviate some of these concerns as she struts onto the stage and tells you with her body that you're probably going to enjoy the rest of this film. Beautiful belly-dancers, ugly vampires, assholes getting their comeuppance, and a lead character with a confident and smart-ass demeanor. I mean, how can you say no? Weirdly though, I don't know if this was on purpose or due to other constraints, but the battles involving crowds sometimes looked so sloppy and slow. Killed a bit of the action, but not much at all. This is still, after all, a Tarantino film.
I think if there's any issue with this movie, it's that we don't really get any "lore" or anything besides the very basic history of this little club out in the middle of the desert. It's pretty much a "Alright, there's some vampires. A lot of people died. The vampires all get killed. Ok, we're done. Bye." And you know, there is both a simple charm in that and also something seriously lacking. I dunno. Leaves them wanting more, I guess, which is a prime rule in the entertainment biz.
But Salma Hayek does alleviate some of these concerns as she struts onto the stage and tells you with her body that you're probably going to enjoy the rest of this film. Beautiful belly-dancers, ugly vampires, assholes getting their comeuppance, and a lead character with a confident and smart-ass demeanor. I mean, how can you say no? Weirdly though, I don't know if this was on purpose or due to other constraints, but the battles involving crowds sometimes looked so sloppy and slow. Killed a bit of the action, but not much at all. This is still, after all, a Tarantino film.
I think if there's any issue with this movie, it's that we don't really get any "lore" or anything besides the very basic history of this little club out in the middle of the desert. It's pretty much a "Alright, there's some vampires. A lot of people died. The vampires all get killed. Ok, we're done. Bye." And you know, there is both a simple charm in that and also something seriously lacking. I dunno. Leaves them wanting more, I guess, which is a prime rule in the entertainment biz.
So, I would definitely recommend this movie, although it may be a bit of a one-timer. Oh, also, that intro song by The Blasters is some good shit. It's a generally good song and sets the tone perfectly. No real complaints about this movie, except that I do wish we got a little more than what it offers in the runtime.
