From Dusk Till Dawn 3: The Hangman's Daughter

From Dusk Till Dawn 3: The Hangman's Daughter is a 2000 American Western horror film directed by P. J. Pesce. It serves as a prequel to the 1996 film From Dusk till Dawn. It was released directly to video and was nominated at the 26th Saturn Awards for "Best Home Video Release". In late 2010, the production of a fourth film in the series was discussed, but, as of August 2012, further work on this possibility has not been revealed. In late 2013, it was reported that a TV series had begun production.

Plot
The prequel is set in Mexico in the early 1900s and begins with an American author, Ambrose Bierce, experiencing a nightmare in which he dies at the hands of Pancho Villa. Bierce wakes and talks to a local bartender about his intentions to join Pancho Villa's revolutionary army. He joins a stagecoach transporting a newly-wed couple, John and Mary Newlie, who are traveling to Mexico to preach Christianity. Meanwhile, Johnny Madrid, a dangerous local outlaw, escapes from the gallows and kidnaps his hangman's beautiful daughter, Esmeralda. Madrid receives assistance from Reece, a young woman who wants to become Madrid's apprentice as an outlaw. With the hangman and a local posse on their trail, Madrid meets with his gang. They later rob Bierce's stagecoach because of Reece's belief that Bierce possesses an invaluable object. The object turns out to be the manuscript for Bierce's new book. Annoyed by this, Madrid leaves Reece to die in the desert. She is found by the posse who use her to track the two.

As night falls, all the parties coincidentally seek shelter in an isolated inn that also serves as a whorehouse. They meet Ezra Traylor, a businessman heading to the U.S. The hangman is the only one who knows that the establishment is run by a group of vampires led by the high priestess, Quixtla, who targets Esmeralda. As night falls John gets into a fight with one of Madrid's men, drawing blood. The vampires eventually reveal themselves, lock the exit and attack the patrons. All of the hangman's men and the remnants of Madrid's gang are killed by the vampires. Ezra is overcome by vampire women, is fed on and quickly turns. His newly-undead form grabs the helpless Mary and bites her. Madrid, Bierce, Reece, John, Esmeralda, the hangman and one other patron manage to escape into the dungeons beneath the building and try to work together to find a way out.

Mary rises as a vampire and goes after the group, revealing that John is a fraud who has only married Mary for her father's money. John is eventually forced to kill her. The patron who escaped with them hides a bite he had received from a hooker earlier. As they continue through the catacombs, he turns and bites John. John kills the patron. Doomed, he persuades Madrid to stake him to prevent him turning. As the remaining survivors keep going, Reece confesses to Bierce that she is an outlaw who has killed her entire family. The group eventually ends up back at the bar entrance, only to find Quixtla and the vampires in wait for them. She reveals that Esmeralda is a half-human, half-vampire princess, Santanico Pandemonium (Salma Hayek's character in the original From Dusk till Dawn), and the daughter of Quixtla and the hangman. The hangman had taken her away in the hope of raising her as a normal human but, thanks to his mistreatment and Madrid's kidnapping, she has been led back to Quixtla.

Madrid, the hangman, Bierce and Reece are hung upside-down to be fed on later as Quixtla transforms Esmeralda into the vampire princess. Madrid manages to break from his bonds and free the others. Reece is bitten in the scuffle and presumably becomes a vampire. Esmeralda bites and turns the hangman into a vampire, but he manages to open the entrance way and kill Quixtla before the change is complete, allowing Madrid and Bierce to escape. As the film ends, Esmeralda screams for Madrid not to leave her as the entrance is closed. Madrid looks away sadly and joins Ambrose's quest to join Pancho Villa's army. As they leave, the camera zooms out to show the Mayan temple behind the building that houses the vampires, a reference to the first film.

Cast

 * Marco Leonardi as Johnny Madrid
 * Michael Parks as Ambrose Bierce
 * Ara Celi as Esmeralda
 * Sônia Braga as Quixtla
 * Rebecca Gayheart as Mary Newlie
 * Orlando Jones as Ezra Traylor
 * Temuera Morrison as The Hangman
 * Lennie Loftin as John Newlie
 * Danny Trejo as Razor Charlie
 * Jordana Spiro as Catherine Reece
 * Danny Keogh as Bartender
 * Peter Butler as Pancho Villa
 * Melissa Gilbert as Wedding Dress Whore
 * P. J. Pesce as Man in Bar

Release
The American Cinematheque held the West Coast premiere at Grauman's Egyptian Theatre on October 30, 1999.

Reception
Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports that 22% of nine surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating was 4/10. Mike Emery of the Houston Chronicle wrote that the film "isn't terribly bad" but is too derivative and only for gore hounds. Matt Serafini of Dread Central rated it 2/5 stars and wrote that the original film should not have had any sequels. Nathan Rabin of The A.V. Club wrote, "Being competent is no great achievement, but for undiscriminating gore fans, it should be enough to make Dawn 3 a passable evening's entertainment." G. Noel Cross of DVD Talk rated it 4/5 stars and called it "a smart sequel that delivers mucho bang for the peso." Gordon Sullivan of DVD Verdict called it "a serviceable little action horror flick that takes a timeworn premise and adds its own small filigrees."