“If you believe in heaven, Mr. Gecko, I suggest you start to believe in Hell, because it is coming.” The Gecko brothers are back with a bang in From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series, and there's plenty of hell to pay and fun to be had in the two-episode season 3 premiere airing tonight at 9:00pm ET on El Rey Network.
A lot has changed since one of the biggest bar brawls this side of Road House ended with Carlos’ dismemberment at Jacknife Jed’s in the season 2 finale. As cash collectors for the vampiric Lords in the season 3 premiere episode, “Head Games,” the hermanos Geckos are still working side-by-side, but they’re miles apart emotionally. Seth (D.J. Cotrona) doesn’t enjoy being the culebras’ errand boy (even if it does come with his own staff of bloodsuckers and a nice payday), nor does he like watching his culebra brother, Richie (Zane Holtz), mingling with his fellow immortals. But with pieces of Carlos (Wilmer Valderrama) spread across the Earth and Lord Malvado (Esai Morales) finally vanquished, stability has seemingly settled among the culebra clans south of the border.
But grand actions can have grave consequences, and when Carlos blew up the Titty Twister near the middle of season 2, it wasn’t just brick, mortar, and neon that fell upon the sand. The Labyrinth below the bar was more than just a maze—it was a prison. And with the Twister permanently closed for business, all manner of dangerous prisoners have been freed from their cells—and they won’t be checking in with parole officers anytime soon.
Executive producer Robert Rodriguez and his creative team waste no time bringing a big new bad into the mix for episode 1. One of the escaped prisoners from the Twister is the Skull Keeper, a creature from hell who can command culebras to do whatever he asks after prying their skulls out of their heads (vipers can survive the painful process). Greg Nicotero and Howard Berger’s KNB EFX team do a tremendous job getting this season off to a solid and scary start visually, as the Skull Keeper looks like something that would haunt Skeletor's nightmares.
Written by Carlos Coto, the first episode relies heavily on one of the show's strongest elements: the chemistry between the Gecko Brothers. Seth and Richie show that they haven’t lost a stride when it comes to brotherly banter and hilarious bickering. After having them separated at the beginning of last season, it’s great to see these two side-by-side in matching suits right off the bat this season.
Also returning to don his Stetson after kicking plenty of culebra ass in the season 2 finale is Freddie Gonzalez (Jesse Garcia). The former Texas Ranger has transitioned into his role as Peacekeeper among the Lords and their culebra clans, but you can tell that he is still haunted by being away from his wife and daughter. As the moral compass of the series up until this point, it will be interesting to see if Gonzalez changes for the better or worse the longer he bears the weight of keeping the culebras in line.
“Head Games” is the fourth From Dusk Till Dawn episode directed by Dwight Little (Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers), and the director once again offers a slick and steady take on everything from a shootout to a campfire scene straight out of hell. When the Geckos have to conduct a grisly test on their employees to see who has been contaminated by the Skull Keeper, Little shoots the scene in a manner reminiscent of the blood test in John Carpenter’s The Thing, and while it’s not as nerve-wracking as MacReady sticking a copper wire into blood samples, it’s still pretty damn entertaining.
Overall, “Head Games” doesn’t necessarily feel like a season premiere, but that’s not a bad thing, as it's packed with enough story and new characters to make it feel like we're already in the third or fourth episode of this season. The storytelling for the series has never been more ambitious—or blood-soaked—than it is right now.
“First they destroy our leaders, now they're going after our faith.”
Titled “La Reina,” the second episode of From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series raises the stakes—both literally and figuratively—while doubling down on the action. With Robert Rodriguez at the helm, “La Reina” successfully checks off all the boxes on any gorehound’s wish list, while also moving the story further into intriguing territory.
One of the promo images for From Dusk Till Dawn Season 3 features Kate Fuller (Madison Davenport) with the Facebook caption, “She isn’t Katie-cakes anymore.” After being resurrected by the blood well’s Sante Sangre at the end of season 2, Kate is indeed a far cry from the kind preacher’s daughter viewers were first introduced to early on in the series. The Kate fans knew is gone, or at the very least, a prisoner within her own body, which is now controlled by the spirit of a powerful Xibalban queen intent on wreaking havoc among the culebra clans and asserting her dominance as the one and only ruler of this realm.
This doesn’t bode well for Santánico Pandemonim (Eiza González), who is running a cage-fighting operation as a place for culebras to gather and feed (although its structure may sound similar to the Titty Twister, Santánico ensures that more rules and less depravity are enforced within its walls). Despite sitting atop a throne of sorts while overseeing her new business, Santánico wants no part of being the goddess culebras around the country still gather to worship before shrines. But whether she likes it or not, Santánico herself is a living and breathing religion, a queen of the utmost royalty that culebras look to for guidance in their troubled lives. Unfortunately for Santánico, the hope and leadership she represents makes her a target for the possessed, power-hungry Kate.
These incredibly high expectations and responsibilities also cause a fascinating struggle within Santánico, and González wonderfully captures the conflict between Santánico’s duties to her people and the temptation to live a life that is truly her own. Rodriguez and writer Diego Gutierrez give Santánico ample time to shine both emotionally and physically in this season’s second episode, as the queen culebra is forced to team up with the Gecko Brothers to fight another sinister force freed from the shackles of the Titty Twister.
With the explosion of the popular border bar essentially resulting in a prison break from hell, the Gecko Brothers and friends now find themselves in “monster of the week” situations. While the first episode featured the Skull Keeper, the second installment of season 3 introduces a much different Titty Twister escapee: the towering creature Olmeca, who has the ability to rip off heads without breaking a sweat.
The “monster of the week” approach in this season's first two episodes is a refreshing direction for the series. Not only does it provide the Gecko Brothers with an exciting new threat each episode, but it also gives Greg Nicotero, Howard Berger, and their talented KNB EFX team more opportunities to create nightmare-inducing monsters that are frightening and fun as hell to watch wreak havoc onscreen.
With new creatures popping up from the shattered remains of the Twister and a possessed Kate becoming a ruthless antagonist on the rise, season 3 of From Dusk Till Dawn is shaping up to be the boldest and best one yet for the show, proving that there’s still plenty of bite left in this bloodstained series.
Raised on a steady diet of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Derek has been fascinated with fear since he first saw ForeverWare being used on an episode of Eerie, Indiana.
When he’s not writing about horror as the Senior News Reporter for Daily Dead, Derek can be found daydreaming about the Santa Carla Boardwalk from The Lost Boys or reading Stephen King and Brian Keene novels.
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