April 8: Eclipse — Protect your eyes, stay inside and watch a movie about an eclipse.

Luther Heggs (Duane Whitaker) escapes from prison and gets his old gang back together, which is made up of Buck Bowers (Robert Patrick), C.W. Niles (Muse Watson), Jesus Draven (Raymond Cruz) and Ray Bob (Brett Harrelson). As they wait in a motel, Luther’s car breaks down after he fights a bat. This leads him to the Titty Twister, where he gets a ride from bartender Razor Eddie (Danny Trejo). Soon, he and the bat — Victor (Joe Virzi) — turn Luther into a vampire.

Luther comes after Jesus, who has just finished making love to Lupe (Maria Checa). He turns her and she attacks Jesus, who cuts her head off and dives out a window. Luther gets turned and Buck doesn’t know as they head off to complete a robbery. By the time of the actual break-in, everyone but Buck has become undead and forces him to work with the police, who are commanded by Ranger Otis Lawson (Bo Hopkins) and Ranger Edgar McGraw (James Parks, who played the same role, sort of, in Kill Bill: Volume 1, Kill Bill: Volume 2, Death Proof and Machete).

The fun part of this is when the cops try to stop the vampires, an eclipse happens which empowers the vampires to kill just about everyone.

From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money and From Dusk Till Dawn 3: The Hangman’s Daughter were produced at the same time with Quentin Tarantino, Lawrence Bender and Scott Spiegel making this sequel and Robert Rodríguez and his cousin Álvaro Rodríguez making a prequel.

Tarantino and director Scott Spiegel met with Bob Weinstein — whom Spiegel worked with on a script for Halloween 6 — and Weinstein suggested that Spiegel direct this movie. Spiegel also directed Intruder and Hostel 3.

Unlike the original From Dusk Till Dawn, this is more about the gore effects than subverting what you expect. It was Miramax testing to see if they could make direct to video sequels — of course, they did — after The Prophecy II. It’s alright, but your expectations are probably as high as mine were.