DIRECTED BY: Scott Spiegel
STORY BY: Scott Spiegel & Boaz Yakin
SCREENPLAY BY: Scott Spiegel & Duane Whitaker
MUSIC BY: Joseph Stanley Williams
STARING: Robert Patrick, Bo Hopkins, Duane Whitaker, Muse Watson, Brett Harrelson, Raymond Cruz, Tiffani-Amber Thiessen, Danny Trejo, James Parks, Stacie Bourgeois, Maria Checa, Bruce Campbell
RUNNING TIME: 88 Minutes
DISTRIBUTED BY: Dimension Films
Shortly after From Dusk Till Dawn a group of criminals plan to rob a bank in Mexico. One of their members has some car trouble near the Titty Twister and goes in their seeking help but gets bitten and turned into a vampire instead. He meets up with the rest of the gang and turns them into vampires one by one as they try to rob the bank. Everyone except for Buck (Robert Patrick) gets turned and Buck has to work with the police to keep them all from being killed or turned into vampires.
Once From Dusk Till Dawn became a modest hit Dimension Films began looking at the possibilities for a sequel. Since the film was more of a underground cult-classic than a mainstream hit they decided that a sequel would be more suited for home video than a theatrical release. They asked Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez to be a part of the follow-up project. They both had different ideas for follow-ups and Dimension decided to do both of them at the same time. Tarantino would guide the sequel and Rodriguez would guide the prequel but both men would receive Executive Producer's credit on both movies along with Lawrence Bender. Both movies were budgeted at $10 million for a total of $20 million for the whole project. They were both filmed back to back in South Africa with non-union crews. By filming as if it were one long project they could share some crew members, sets, and special effects. When they filmed their was no idea which movie would be released first; they were simply called Texas Blood Money and The Hangman's Daughter with no "part 2" or "part 3" attached to their names.
Dusk 1 producers Gianni Nunnari & Meir Teper returned as produce along with Dusk newcomers Michael S. Murphey and line producer Russell D Markowitz. For the always important role of director Quentin hired Scott Spiegel. Spiegel was a childhood friend and collaborator to Sam Rami (The Evil Dead). As a writer and actor Quentin hired Duane Whitaker who acted in Pulp Fiction and wrote Stripteaser for B-Movie king Roger Corman. Tarantino came up with a basic story line but Spiegel & Whitaker were free to develop the story as they chose to. In the end they had gotten so far away from Quentin story that he received no writing credit.
By this time George Clooney was commanding $6 million per picture so he was too expensive to get for a movie with a budget of $10 million. Rather than re-cast they decided to create completely new characters. For a while they thought about having Clooney cameo and be seen for a short time on a news report that shows Seth Gecko dieing in a shoot out with the police. The original story line also would have had the gang trying to find the Geckos because Richie has the blueprint to the bank that they are planning to rob. They would have gone to the Titty Twister looking for the Geckos and encounter Richie (Quentin Tarantino) who has been resurrected as the king of the vampires. In the end it was decided that such things would be too contrived for such a small production. Spiegel wanted his movie to stand on its own away from the original so he also changed the characters of FBI Agent Stanley Chase (John Saxon) and Reporter Kelly Houge (Kelly Preston) were changed to Sheriff Lawson (Bo Hopkins) and Reporter Teri Harper (Terry Norton). For 4 robbers they cast Robert Patrick best known as Terminator 2's T-1000, Louisiana native Muse Watson (I Know What You Did Last Summer), Brett Harrelson (brother of Woody Harrelson), Raymond Cruz (Clear and Present Danger, The Rock). Danny Trejo was the only actor from part 1 to return. For a kind of "fake out" opening Spiegel got Tiffani-Amber Thiessen (Saved by the Bell, 90210) and his old Evil Dead buddy Bruce Campbell to put in small appearances. Since this is a B-movie Playboy Playmate Maria Checa plays a whore who gets naked before getting killed.
The shot in South Africa during the spring on 1998, after The Hangman's Daughter had already filmed. Being in Africa saved them lots of money but also presented some challenges. One problem was getting American/Mexican looking cars because most cars there have the steering wheel on the right side of the car, like British cars do. Also it is a bit harder to find Mexican looking actors than it would have been in Mexico or America. For the Titty Twister's brief appearance they re-dressed the set from The Hangman's Daughter. They had no outside set for the Titty Twister which is why all that is ever seen of the outside is the sign and the parking lot instead of the actual building. Once again the special makeup effects were done by KNB efx group. The digital effects were done by Netter Digital Entertainment a company that formed to do the television show Babylon 5.
For a short time there was talk of releasing the movie theatrically but Dimension decided against that because they figured that the low budget would be more apparent on the big screen. Even though it was shot after The Hangman's daughter it came out first because Hangman's was re-shooting its ending becuase of audience reaction. It premiered on video March 16, 1999. Most of the Dusk fans consider this one to the lesser of the three. At best some of the fans consider it to be some campy B-movie fun but not living up to the original. Director Spiegel took some hits for not living up to original director Rodriguez; but than again how many directors could live up to Robert's talent.