Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.0

From Dusk Till Dawn: Season Two Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman February 2, 2016

Just in case you’ve been living under a rock or in a cave over the past few months, there’s been perhaps just a little bit of talk amongst various political candidates and the punditry class about illegal immigration, talk that has often been accompanied by stock footage of various peoples marauding across various borders as they seek supposedly greener pastures elsewhere. Maybe the creative team responsible for From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series are, like certain mystic adherents in the series itself, worshipers of various occult forces which can provide prognosticatory powers, for though this second season of the series aired over the late summer and early fall of 2015, it has a certain subtext which almost seems to suggest some of the more recent visuals which have glutted the airwaves, at least on certain cable news channels. The brief montage which starts out each episode of this second season celebrates the supposed “freedom” of Santanico Pandemonium (Eiza González), with allusions to border crossings and an overt reference to a sign pointing to the United States, all of which creates a subliminal fear that the next illegal alien one might face may have more on his (or her) mind than simply “stealing” a job no one else really wants to do. This second season of From Dusk Till Dawn still traffics in a lot of the same quasi-Quentin Tarantino ambience that I mentioned in my From Dusk Till Dawn: Season One Blu-ray review, but it also makes some fitful efforts to more fully flesh out some of the mythology underlying the basic story. Perhaps a bit too pulpy for its own good at times, and left a bit dissipated feeling due to its continuing tendency to ping pong between various plots, characters and even timelines, From Dusk Till Dawn still manages to offer moments of spark, and it continues to be a rather handsomely staged show, one with some very impressive makeup and CGI special effects work to help it glide over some of its clunkier aspects.

In several featurettes included as supplements on this new three disc Blu-ray set, Robert Rodriguez and others on From Dusk Till Dawn’s creative crew talk about how they basically saw the series’ first season as a chance to recreate the general story arc of From Dusk Till Dawn (i.e., the feature film), while also at least slightly opening up certain subplots and (especially) the mythology underpinning the culebra aspect. Rodriguez and the other featurette participants then go on to say that they felt somewhat freed to really explore new avenues in the show’s second season, and therefore some fans who were drawn to the series simply because of the film may find themselves floundering a bit, at least in the early going of this year.

While the supposed freedom of Santanico Pandemonium is front and center from virtually the get go this year, including in that aforementioned pre-credits tease that starts each episode, the character in some ways is still trapped by her past. She may be out of the Titty Twister, but she’s still ensnared by memories of the man who serves as this season’s villain in chief, Lord Amancio Malvado (Esai Morales). While the series delightedly traffics in all sorts of spooky quasi-religious aspects, what’s interesting about the initial setup here is that it’s quite firmly in a kind of drug running ambience, with Malvado kind of like the missing drug lord who informed so much of Sicario’s twisted subtext. In fact, Santanico and Richie (Zane Holtz) are on the hunt for Malvado almost like competing drug dealers hoping to take out the big competition.

Actual overt references to drugs are part and parcel of the initial arc for Richie’s brother Seth (D.J. Cotrona), a character who, rather like Richie himself in the first season, seems to ping pong back and forth between reality and some hallucinatory inner world. There’s some kind of florid melodrama revolving around Seth and Kate (Madison Davenport) in the early episodes of this season, especially since it’s not quite clear whether or not Seth can kick this particular habit with any ease.

Two other putative supporting characters, Ranger Freddie Gonzales (Jesse Garcia) and Carlos Madrigal (Wilmer Valderrama) return, ostensibly from the dead (or at least exiled) in one case, folding into already existing story arcs that often concern the sibling dysfunctions between the Gecko brothers, dysfunctions that seem to not be mitigated by any distance between the two. The series continues to try to recreate the wheel in a way, often making fairly simple, straightforward narratives more convoluted than they really need to be courtesy of gimmicks like nonlinear presentation and deliberately disjunctive editing.

From Dusk Till Dawn: Season Two Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

From Dusk Till Dawn: Season Two is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Entertainment One with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This second season's presentation follows strongly in the footsteps of From Dusk Till Dawn: Season One, offering a nicely sharp and well detailed image that features great fine detail in elements like some of the amazing prosthetic makeup that adorns various faces when they assume their more monstrous forms. Colors are really nicely burnished and quite vivid, and while there are occasional deficits in shadow definition, the series' overall darkness actually works very well courtesy of strong contrast and exceptionally deep black levels. The CGI is actually relatively sharp looking throughout the season, and several effects, like the "burning and ashing" that various villains experience when they're vanquished. There's a lot of color grading going on (again), with scenes variously bathed in green, yellow and/or red, all of which tend to minimally affect detail levels while also adding at least some subliminal force to the visuals.

From Dusk Till Dawn: Season Two Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

From Dusk Till Dawn: Season Two features a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which explodes with some ferocity in some set pieces, like showdowns with various culebras and the like. Well done sound effects work offer consistent immersion with nicely achieved panning effects and some forceful LFE. Dialogue is cleanly presented and generally very well prioritized. Once again fidelity is excellent and dynamic range very wide, and there are no problems of any kind to warrant concern.

From Dusk Till Dawn: Season Two Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Disc One

• Audio Commentary on "Opening Night" features Robert Rodriguez (Executive Producer and Director), D.J. Cotrona (Seth Gecko), Zane Holtz (Richie Gecko), Eiza González (Santanico Pandemonium), Madison Davenport (Kate Fuller), Brandon Soo Hoo (Scott Fuller) and Wilmer Valderrama (Carlos Madrigal).

Disc Three

• Audio Commentary on "Santa Sangre" features Robert Rodriguez (Executive Producer and Director), D.J. Cotrona (Seth Gecko), Zane Holtz (Richie Gecko), Eiza González (Santanico Pandemonium), Madison Davenport (Kate Fuller), Brandon Soo Hoo (Scott Fuller) and Wilmer Valderrama (Carlos Madrigal).


• After Dusk: Inside the Episode (1080p; 16:16) offers brief recaps and overviews of all the episodes in this season.


• Behind the Scenes Featurettes: (1080p; 24:25)

  Overview

  Pulp Origins

  Mythology

  Talent

  Costumes/Makeup

  Robert

  Effects/Stunts

  The Titty Twister

  Danny Trejo

  Jacknife Jeds

  Eat About It

  Culebras 101

  Demi Lovato

  Jake Busey

• 2015 NYC Comic Con Panel Discussion (1080i; 44:35) features Robert Rodriguez, D.J. Cotrona, Zane Holtz, Eiza González, Jesse Garcia, and Madison Davenport.

Note: There is no supplemental content on Disc Two of this three disc set.

From Dusk Till Dawn: Season Two Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

From Dusk Till Dawn: Season Two fairly wallows in a pulpy ambience that tends to be weirdly enjoyable if not thought about very hard or carefully. The series is a little more fragmented this season, tending to careen pretty wildly between various pairs of characters, though the overall arc remains reasonably organic and cohesive. The series continues to be rather stylish and its winking gothic ambience may actually appeal to lovers of even more florid fare like recent seasons of American Horror Story. Technical merits are strong, the supplemental package appealing, and From Dusk Till Dawn: Season Two comes Recommended.