DEAD AGAIN IN TOMBSTONE (2017)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *poor*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *metaphysical*

Despite the sequel-setup at the end of DEAD IN TOMBSTONE, it took another four years for Guerrero de la Cruz (Danny Trejo) to get a second revival.

I mentioned in my review of the previous film that the idea of a protagonist going around killing evildoers for Satan was a dubious one. The sequel's makers evidently decided to drop that concept, for there's just a quick mention of Guerrero going around doing the devil's business, but with no appearances of Satan or Hell as such. Guerrero still wields the powers of Hell-- he can survive a lot of punishment, such as getting shot up or blown up by dynamite-- but he doesn't seem to have to report to his Infernal Majesty any more.

Guerrero suddenly gets a yen to check on his only surviving relatives. a grandmother and a daughter named Alice (Elysia Rotaru), in the town of Silver River. (Despite the title, none of the action takes place in Tombstone.) But there's a new enemy in the offing: ex-Confederate officer Jackson Boomer (Jake Busey). Boomer is convinced that Guerrero's family possesses a book of Satanic spells with which Boomer can raise the dead and conquer the world. Eventually the evildoer succeeds in raising a handful of zombies clad in Confederate grey, and despite the presence of other anachronistic dialogue, no one makes the obvious pun about the South rising again. Guerrero's grandma is killed during all the contentions, which forces Alice to bond with the father she never knew. In addition, there's a vaguely angelic doctor who comes to Guerrero's aid, and so the agent of Satan is forced to make a definite choice between heaven and hell. 

The direction and scripting is no less formulaic than before, but because the budget is leaner, the action set-pieces aren't as overblown-- though the only one I really liked was a long catfight between Alice and Boomer's prostitute ally. And despite the banality of Boomer's raise-the-undead scheme, and of Confederate villains generally, Jake Busey makes an appealing dastard. The film ends so as to suggest that there won't be any more adventures for Guerrero as an agent of Hell-- which definitely sounds like a blessing for this reviewer.