DTV Cinema - Dead in Tombstone (2013)

Director: Roel Reine

Starring: Danny Trejo, Anthony Michael Hall, Mickey Rourke, Dina Meyer

Country: United States

Rating: R

Run Time: 100 minutes

DTV Cinema is a series dedicated to reviewing and discussing all things direct to video. Although one could easily take a direct to video at the same face value as a theatrically released film, they truly do differ in many ways, and represent their own sub-genre and fandom that makes them fun and unique to follow.

You know you're a die hard action fan when you are enter into direct to video territory. I say that because these are the kinds of films that usually have either little promotion or effort put into them at all. Therefore, you as an action fan sought this film out and took the time to watch it when you know there's a bigger budgeted action film out there that is probably better. To be honest, I have only seen two direct to home video films. My first was the decent The Assassination Games, starring Jean Claude Van Damme and Scott Adkins. And my second is this film, Dead in Tombstone. I only rented this film for two reasons. One: Danny Trejo is in it. Two: The production quality looks pretty good for a DTV (direct to video) release. Therefore, I gave it a watch.

A lot of people are going to be dead in tombstone when this is over.

Dead in Tombstone is a very solid western action flick. While its DTV trappings are only faintly apparent, its good production quality, likable characters, and well paced action make you forget that this is even a DTV at all. 

In the West, one of the deadliest gangs of them all is the Blackwater Gang. The gang is led by Red Cavanaugh (Anthony Michael Hall) and Guererro De La Cruz (Danny Trejo). One day, Red comes up with the idea to steal a ton of gold from a small town in order to make a huge payday. Guerrero and the five other members of the gang agree and set out on their heist. Everything goes according to plan and the men make off with a huge load of gold. However, Red decides that he wants to stay in the town and take it over. Guererro, appalled by this, demands that they stick to the plan and leave now. Without warning, Red and his gang betray and gun down Guererro, taking over the gang for themselves.

Lucifer's diet: eating Trejo's blood. Ew.

As Guererro awakes in Hell, he meets Lucifer (Mickey Rourke). Before Lucifer is to torture Guererro to the death, Guererro makes an offer to let him live and kill the rest of the gang that betrayed him. This way, he'll deliver their six evil souls to fuel Lucifer's fire in exchange for his one soul. Lucifer agrees, giving Guererro one day to gun all of the men down himself. The film than becomes an all out action fest as Guererro goes up against the six members of the gang and all of their fellow gunmen as well.

Dead in Tombstone is not the greatest action fare around. It features characters making stupid decisions, bland film scoring, and a very typical story with typical scenes and one liners. But, it paces it all very well and keeps you thoroughly entertained from start to finish. And for a DTV film to accomplish that, is quite the achievement.

A one of a kind pair of pistols.

The first thing that has to be talked about is our lead, DannyTrejo. I am real happy to see Trejo landing more lead roles ever since his lead role in Machete. While I don't like the Machete films, Trejo himself is great in any lead role that he gets. His performance has a blend of grittiness and cheesiness all at the same time. He kind of reminds me of Vin Diesel. You know that these guys don't usually deal with great acting material. But, they take their roles very seriously and in doing so make you take them seriously as well.

Trejo always handles an action scene well too. I'm very happy to see that Trejo racks up a huge body count in this film along the lines of Machete. It's also worth noting that Danny Trejo is the only Mexican/Hispanic actor in the entire movie. He sticks out like a sore thumb, it's hilarious! In short, Trejo is great no matter how crappy the role is. Nobody hates on Danny.

The supporting cast all do a pretty good job as well. Anthony Michael Hall (The Breakfast Club) plays the main villain of the film, Rojo. He does a fine job and really makes you hate him all throughout the film. His supporting members of the Blackwater Gang are all pretty forgettable too, but not terrible. Dina Meyers plays the widowed wife of the deceased Sheriff of the town. She's the only female character on display really. I found her to be really cheesy and one of the most annoying characters in the film. Her toughness felt too forced and she couldn't convince me that she was a grieving badass either.

Mickey Rourke is also pretty good as Lucifer. He puts on a different voice than he does in some of his other films too. He even eats Trejo's blood! He shoves one of his fingers into Trejo's chest, and than licks the blood off of his fingers! It's pretty weird and comes completely out of nowhere. I have to say though, are Mickey Rourke's characters all going to have the same hair style? It seems every film since The Wrestler has featured him with that long hair of his.

"I got sent here because of my performance in Iron Man 2."

Fortunately, this is an action film and we get plenty of action. All of the scenes take place in different settings, making for an exciting amount of action variety. One shootout takes place in a town, the other in a bar, another inside of a meat shop, another in a mine, and another on stagecoach. It seems that the filmmakers picked every stereotypical location from a Western film and decided that an action scene had to take place there. And personally, I'm not complaining one bit about that. 

It does seem that the film relies too heavily on digital blood and gun effects though. You can tell some scenes use squibs and others don't. The filmmakers must have relied on a combination of the two effects. It's not as ridiculously digital as The Assassination Games, but most DTV go pretty heavy on the digital blood and gun effects. Not my favorite, but not too offensive to those who value good gun mechanics in an action flick (than again Trejo is shooting people with pistols that cause his victims to fly across an entire room). Besides the effects, all of the action is well shot and edited too. The scenes don't always give you great spacial awareness, but they do know how to cut to the most dramatic angles possible.

The CGI effects in Hell are pretty good too. I cringed thinking that a DTV would provide for the worst, but the film constantly impresses you in each department. Universal is making DTV's about as good as the lowest budgeted theatrical releases you can think of. It feels weird even calling this a DTV.

Another small thing I have to point out that I found to be so corny was the scene where the Blackwater Gang buries Danny Trejo. Anthony Michael Hall says that they will rename the town a name that will remind people what will happen to them if they disobey them from now on. They'll call it "tombstone" because that's what you'll get if you cross them. And that is why the film is called Dead in Tombstone. That is both sheer genius and the stupidest thing I have ever heard.

Trejo makes for a fine action lead.

Director Roel Reine and Universal Studio's DTV releases are changing my opinion on DTV releases altogether. They are giving their filmmakers impressive actors and sizeable budgets that provide for standard and enjoyable genre fare. There is a huge audience and market for genre fare like this too, so I hope that Universal keeps making these kinds of the films. Sometimes you need something simple, basic, and representative of a basic genre to satisfy your current film needs. If you are need of such a thing, Universal's DTV's are the thing for you. 

Rating: 8/10 - Even though it is uninspired, cheesy, and predictable, Dead in Tombstone knows how to thoroughly entertain. Danny Trejo and the film's surprisingly impressive production make this one enjoyable DTV not to miss. Recommended for fans of Danny Trejo and cult Westerns like Django and Sukiyaki Western Django.