Dead in Tombstone (2013) – Review

Where to watch Dead in Tombstone

3 Stars

If you are a fan of Tarantino and Rodriguez, than I’m sure you’ll enjoy the work of director Roel Reiné. The Danish helmer has been responsible for upper-echelon genre flicks, don’t be fooled if these movies are on Netflix or Redbox and not in the cinemas, Reiné’s movies are by and large better than the studio releases cluttering up theaters currently. If the loquacious-ness of Tarantino’s characters is too long-winded for you, or the frenzied self-aware camera work of Rodriguez is too much, then Reiné presents a happy medium between the two.

Mickey Rourke is Lucifer and Danny Trejo is the leader of an outlaw gang in search of one last big score. After a risky jailbreak, the black-water gang relocate to a quiet town for a night of drinking. In actuality the band of thugs, thieves, and killers is there to rob the bank vault of precious gold and minerals from the local quarry. Red (Anthony Michael Hall) and his older brother Guerrero De La Cruz (Trejo) along with their five compadres, pull of the job with little effort and take over the town in the process.

In the aftermath of the takeover a mutiny breaks out, Red and the other gang members murder Guerrero. He awakens in the depths of Hell, subjected to the endless torture by Lucifer (Rourke), the cries of pain and seared flesh serve as fuel to the devil’s fire. In a moment of suffering De La Cruz makes a deal with Satan, 24hrs to return to with the souls of the men who killed him.

Dead in Tombstone, which has been a straight forward western up to this point goes full-bore horror mode from here after. This is a hyper-violent hybrid that plays to the strengths of its director and cast. I throughly enjoy and appreciate the clarity and visual coherence that play into his shooting style. Things have a spacial relation that isn’t violated by frantic editing.It’s almost as if Reiné is a victim of his own success, by pumping out solid B-movies (often superior to their big-budgeted feature predecessors) he has carved out a niche for his talent.

Director: Roel Reiné
Stars: Danny Trejo, Anthony Michael Hall, Mickey Rourke