User reviews

Danny Trejo is an acquired taste. Since being given cult status by the likes of Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez, fearless Danny has now earned headliner status in movies built around him. Good for Danny, he's paid his dues. That being said, even the iconic presence of Mr. Trejo can't save this direct-to-DVD supernatural western. Trejo has maybe five states of being and facial expression in his acting repertoire. but only two are utilized by the director of this spooky oater. Danny looks grim. Danny looks grimmer. That's all folks. Still he tries, but he's just not cut out for leading man status.

A paper thin plot drags its story out for around 100 minutes here, filling the spaces between the actual story with repetitive gunfights, slow motion death, general mayhem, and an occasional visit to Hell, where the real-life horror show called Mickey Rourke pretends to be Satan (the character is referred to as "The Blacksmith" in the credits). Danny has been betrayed by his homies, the Blackwater Gang. His half brother Red (played by a nearly unrecognizable Anthony Michael Hall) murders him and Danny ends up in Hell. Tortured by Mickey Rourke (in a sleepwalking tour-de-force of acting as Satan), Danny strikes a bargain to win his soul back. Mickey wakes up long enough to accept this bargain using the worst dubbed-in voice for Rourke imaginable. Danny returns to life, and sets out to kill his homies in revenge. End of plot.

This could have been really interesting in the hands of a better director. Unfortunately, no one told the actual director Roel Reiné that he wasn't making a music video. This entire movie is shot in 2-6 second scenes, underlit and too dark to penetrate, too many flashy jumpcuts, etc. If you don't come out of a viewing of this without acquiring epilepsy, lucky you. The end resolution is poorly thought out. Still, the Romanian locations and costumes are worth a look here and earn the first two stars I give. Danny T. gets the other two for really giving his all...I think. Maybe Mickey Monster Rourke slipped Danny one or two of the sleeping pills he must have been gulping down during filming. An interesting/headache inducing flick for those with short attention spans.

I'm a huge fan of both Trejo and Rourke and seeing them on screen together was a lot of fun. But their star quality charisma sadly fails to lift this movie out of the muck of poor writing and pacing.

The production seems to be about on par with a Sy-Fy channel "original" movie, better than a straight to DVD production but not by much.

The western elements are played for full cartoon caricature stereotype and look decent enough while being obviously anachronistic, there's just no real excitement to the movie at all. It's very standard revenge plot action wannabe without the budget and flash to carry it off. You know everything you need to know in the first 5 minutes of the movie and if you are like me and have seen a lot of action movies you'll even be able to accurately predict many of the set action sequences before they happen.

I would have liked to see a less action oriented flick with the same premise that let Trejo and Rourke's acting chops shine. As it stands the movie is pretty forgettable.

Not recommended.

"I'm gonna stay here and I'm gonna take over this town and you can go to hell." When a gang lead by Guerrero (Trejo) enters a small mining town for a night of drinking he is surprised when the gang revolts and kills him in order to stay and control the town they now call Tombstone. When he wakes up in Hell he makes a deal with the Devil in order to live again. Now has an instrument of Satan all he has to do is kill the gang that killed him or face eternal damnation. Once again this is a Danny Trejo movie which means this will be a short review. His fans will watch this either way so what I will say is that this is pretty cheesy with a ridiculous plot. On the other hand this does have Trejo in it for more then 5 minutes and Mickey Rourke is also in this for added fun. This is a true western in the way that there are no zombies or other gimmick to make people watch. Other then that this is another movie for Trejo fans. Overall, not terrible but nothing to rush and see either. I give it a C+.

Man, what happened to Rourke? After "The Wrestler," he had a second act career resurgence that appeared to be another great Hollywood comeback story. He had a string of high-profile blockbuster films -- "Expendables," "Iron Man 2" among them -- and a whole list of films on IMDb that were slated in pre-production, many with large casts and studios.

He swore in all his cover story interviews around the release of The Wrestler that he'd "learned his lesson" the hard way by bad-mouthing Hollywood in the '80s and '90s, and that he wouldn't allow his career to become ruined again, as he had resorted to straight-to-video flicks in the late '90s and early '00s when his career was in truly dire straits. (He claims a narrative that he was out of work entirely for a decade, but the truth is, he was just appearing in really crap films.)

But he didn't heed his own words of wisdom. Within a couple years, these things had happened: he publicly dissed The Expendables 2, claiming he wouldn't return unless they paid him more. He was never cast in the film, and the plot was re-written to involve a younger character in his place. After the worldwide success of EX2, which could have been another franchise for Rourke, a producer on the film was asked whether he'd be back for round three. "Maybe if he doesn't act so crazy," was the reply from the producer. As of September 29th, the third film is in production, and Rourke's name is absent from the cast.

He also publicly bad-mouthed writer/director Martin McDonaugh (In Bruges), claiming he wasn't being paid enough by the "creep" to star in the film Seven Psychopaths; he dropped out, and was replaced by Woody Harrelson. The film wasn't a big hit financially, but critics loved it, and it had a huge ensemble cast. Instead of starring in that film, he starred in a straight-to-video movie with Kellen Lutz...if you don't know who that guy is, it's because he was one of the shirtless vampires in Twilight.

Then he bad-mouthed Marvel Studios, claiming they butchered Iron Man 2. Not a huge deal since his character had no chance of coming back anyway, but it's more burnt bridges. He also annoyed the crap out of Robert Downey Jr on the set of the film (RDJ went out on a limb for him and fought to have him cast in the film after Rourke's pay demands were deemed too high by Marvel, btw); apparently his Method Acting routine was hugely obnoxious to cast and crew, as he demanded odd flourishes such as blaring Gnarls Barkley's song "Crazy" at full volume before filming every one of his scenes.

My point of this long-winded rant is that Mickey Rourke has essentially ruined what could have been a golden opportunity comeback to fulfill his early potential as one of the great actors of all time, and now he has resorted to starring in utter dreck like this film, which is an absolutely abysmal production and something that any actor should be embarrassed to list on their resume.

It's a standard revenge flick, set in a western atmosphere. It is poorly made (the low budget stands out at every turn), poorly acted (Anthony Michael Hall is the villain - enough said), and poorly shot (the lighting is atrocious at times). Danny Trejo has experienced some kind of grindhouse-type career revival thanks to Robert Rodriguez, but he's best buried as a minor character in ensemble films, and he does not have the charm or charisma to carry a full-length picture.

The only remotely interesting thing about this film? Rourke plays the devil incarnate. Which, if you've ever seen his 1987 psychological thriller "Angel Heart," is an interesting twist. Unfortunately this film isn't remotely similar to Angel Heart in any other regard, which was one of the best films of the 1980s in this humble critic's opinion; Dead in Tombstone, by contrast, is Dead On Arrival (har, har) and a truly bad film.

Rourke, you only have yourself to blame for this.

Dead on Arrival, this DTV Movie is just Awful. Once again They hire an Epileptic Cameraman that is in Denial. The Vision is that anything is not worthy of being On Screen unless it is a Shaky Whip-Pan and Quick Cut. This results in Motion Sickness.

Please, Hollywood take notice. Stop this Immediately. It does not and never has been anything but annoying. But yet it is used again and again even in Mega-Budget Action Movies. Listen Up from Outside the Bubble. It is not energetic or adrenaline inducing, it is Nauseating.

This Movie suffers from much more than that. Mickey Rourke's Dialog seems Dubbed by a Line Reader with absolutely no Ability to do anything except Read Lines. The Intriguing Premise is totally Mishandled in what could have been an Exciting Genre Bending Movie.

It is a Colorless Palette with nothing but Blacks and Bluish High Contrast. The whole Thing looks like a Video Game that Flopped. There is nothing here to Recommend and Fans of the Cult Favorite, Danny Trejo will check in only to find that this is nothing more than a commendable effort lost in a Wilderness of Woefulness.

To all the fans of this genre or the actors involved in the making of this film; I have this to say, "This one will hurt, and not in a funny way, don't do it to yourselves."

Do yourself a favor and miss this film. It tarnishes the good memories we have of these actors with its lackluster existence.

This films Tombstone should read;

"Killed by the epic mediocrity of Director Roel Reiné."

If you truly love watching Danny Trejo, no matter how bad the film he is in, or seeing Mickey Rourke deliver lines as if he was trying to understand a sign language interpreter; even if Anthony Michael Hall can do no wrong in your heart, this is not something you want to see.

It seriously damaged my respect for just about everyone involved in making it come to life.

I am a film editor, cinematographer and even worked as a Zombie stuntman. So, film, and especially cheesy low budget film is an area of expertise for me. I even have the honor of teaching a film class, "Aesthetics of Editing".

So if you got this far, at least you know now I am not just some film bashing wingnut; some jerk with no idea how film is made, why it is good, bad or meh.

Westerns... so hard to find a good one, and mixing evil, I mean the devil, guns and horses… after watching "Gallowwalkers" a deep sense of disappointment made me sight with disapproval, because if I remember well I haven't seen a good one since "Good for Nothing" because "True Grit" was just a remake, so cautiously I started watching "Dead in Tombstone". To begin with, Mickey Rourke is more likable than when he was in his youngest days and Danny Trejo no much to say: always looking tough and mean. Both actors are a good-odd combination; one as Lucifer, and the other one as undead, make this clear, not a zombie!, I could say that this is one of the best performances of Danny Trejo; "Guerrero" fitted him like a ring! This movie has the entire elements to keep you entertained, is believable as a western and visually acceptable with its supernatural theme. The direction and writing is at his best, and considering its budget very well done, the editing keeps the pace of the movie and the soundtrack keeps up with it, it reminded me of those old movies where the actors where "forced" to act, back then when CGI wasn't so imposing. Of course this movie is far to be Silverado, but between choosing to watch the latest entry of "Chucky" or "Dead in Tombstone" I'll stick with the black horse and the long leather trench coats, in a way that I wouldn't mind a sequel as long as the story is as good or better than this one, to tell the truth I like this movie better than I did "Machete" with all its stars. Sometimes, less is better!

Grizzled tough guy Danny Trejo again makes the most out of a lead role in this largely routine action / supernatural thriller / Western. Danny plays Guerrero de la Cruz, leader of an outlaw gang. He and his mates learn of the existence of a big potential score in gold, waiting in the town of Edendale. The main problem is, Danny's half-brother Red Cavanaugh (Anthony Michael Hall) is even more despicable; he and the rest of the gang betray Guerrero after the heist and gun him down. But while being tortured in Hell, Guerrero makes a deal with the Devil (Mickey Rourke, not looking too well): bring six fresh souls to Satan by killing the other gang members. But Guerrero has only 24 hours to pull this off.

Directed (and photographed) with gusto by Roel Reine, "Dead in Tombstone" is a fair example of this brand of entertainment. It allows you to put your brain in neutral while delivering a lively smorgasbord of violence. Here is a movie in which bodies don't just fly through the air when pummelled by bullets, they do acrobatics before landing in a heap on the ground. It's fairly gory at times, but even in unrated form, it might not be nasty enough for some tastes. The whole thing looks quite grim and grimy, and features a true rogues' gallery of disagreeable characters.

Hall actually does pretty well in the villain role, while Danny is suited to the part of a revenge-seeking badass who is absolutely no hero. That said, Guerrero does come to appreciate the assistance of townswoman Calathea (Dina Meyer), whose lawman husband (Daniel Lapaine) was a victim of the outlaws. Rourke is amusing portraying yet another screen incarnation of Old Scratch (he's billed in the credits as "The Blacksmith"). The supporting cast is nondescript but competent enough.

Fun to a degree, but overcome by familiarity, not to mention a camera that often won't stop moving.

Six out of 10.

I saw this movie because i like the story but after watching it i felt its a pretty average movie in fact not worth watching.

The story looks good but implementation is not good at all actions scenes are below average, Trejo looks like little old for this particular role.

Old fashion dialogues, poor acting nothing new in this one,its a western movie which generally good but this doesn't succeeded to provide any entertainment.

It is a action Thriller but nothing in it. its a waste of time. just avoid it

I am not a huge fan of westerns, so imagine my surprise when I deeply enjoyed this movie. The last western that i enjoyed was Tombstone and don't get me wrong, this movie is no Tombstone but the camera work makes this movie visually enjoyable. Anthony Michael Hall played Red extremely convincingly and Mickey Rourke take as Satan was genuinely likable. Camera tricks, editing and sound made this movie enjoyable even though the plot was predictable. I also like that is was a new twist on the old revenge for death plots Westerns show. If you like movies with slick visual effects, then you will enjoy this. If your looking for great dialog and deep character development then you may want to save this one for a day you just want to be entertained.

I read another review about this movie lamenting what has happened to Micky Rourke and fair enough, all the points the reviewer made are pretty much valid.

Except I do disagree that Danny can't carry a film. I think he did ok with this. Ok perhaps I had lowered my expectations but it does enough to be considered just more than a pass mark.

Dead AGAIN in Tombstone proves Danny was only capable of carrying one movie because the sequel is appalling.

Its pretty cheesy and more than a little silly but much better than Danny's Taco commercials :)

Not exactly a great movie, got dumber the closer it got to the end. Glad I didn't spend a lot of money to rent it. The plot was OK, but not very creative, Bad guys steal, take over a town, blah blah ... Cool Gun the lead character had looked like a twelve shot revolver, Great Job, Showing how Greed destroys everything, but in real life I think more greedy thieves get away with it than ones that get caught. Would have been cool if they had the actor, tell someone what kind of guns he was shooting. One cute girl in the movie, action was stupid, a lot of shooting but nobody hitting anything, lol Call of Juarez Pc video game was kinda similar. The pace of the action was off, looked like Chips Highway Patrol with horses.

I have joined IMDb in order to save innocent members of the public from doing irreparable damage to their health by watching what is without the worst movie ever made. I actually am struggling to find words which actually explain how bad this movie is. I honestly believe that it could cause psychological damage to people. I get the impression that the cutting room must have been staffed by people with some strange affliction which made their hands tremble and they just stuck the resultant cuttings together and called it a movie. They must have caught this hand-trembling disease from the camera man who suffers very badly from the affliction. The cameraman must have also been the director. The script is beyond bad. The acting (for the want of a better word) is beyond bad. The direction is beyond bad. The camera work is beyond bad. It is extremely sad that Mickey Rourke,Danny Trejo,Anthony Michael Hall and Dina Meyer would even have considered being involved with this unmitigated disaster. It is even sadder that they would allow it to be distributed. I am afraid I have lost all respect for them. Please, fellow movie lovers, do not risk your health and sanity with this absolute drivel.

While it is nice to see Mickey Rourke in any role and Danny Trejo has become Legend (one way or another) with Machete, this movie is not really great. It does have some really good costumes though and the set design is good too (I can't imagine them having a lot of money to spend, so it must be from another set or shoot ... no pun intended).

Action scenes are OK, the story not complicated, it's more or less what you'd expect from a movie like this. Dina Meyer has not really that much to do and she is the female lead in this. The angle on the good versus bad thing is not that bad, because it's not really a good guy doing the work here. Though obviously it doesn't really make that much sense (the "Deal" that is). But you shouldn't start thinking with movies like these

Dead in Tombstone (yes that Tombstone, as in OK Corral) has Mickey Rourke, Danny Trejo, Dina Meyer, and Anthony Michael Hall; so someone might be tempted to watch it because of them but just swallow that temptation and don't. I'm guessing they agreed to this in lieu of paying gambling debts. They put about as much effort into "Tombstone" as they might asking for a donut. Except Danny Trejo who is all in, probably because this movie gives him more dialog than all his other movies combined and you'll soon figure out why those other movies were right and this one is wrong. If you are really curious what it is about, Danny Trejo leads a group of outlaws that double cross him for gold. (the real Tombstone had a silver mine, not gold, but whatever) Mickey Rourke plays Satan and gets a lot of bad lines which he delivers with mild boredom. A.M. Hall is the "bad" bad guy. Dina Meyer is the sheriff's wife. About the only notable thing about D.i.T. is that bodies just disappear from the shot moments after people are killed, it's so obvious it's bizarre. There is no reason as far as I could tell other than sloppy movie making.

I don't know why someone would hate on this movie.. I personally liked it and I'm a big movie critic that cant stand films that waste your life.. Its not going to win any great awards for cinematics or acting but I found it wholly entertaining even if some of the scenes seemed to be thrown together in the cutting room rather then in the script lol.. Like I said I liked it I didn't find myself yawning or looking at the clock to see how much more this movie was going to go on for and that's saying something with movies these days.. I've always liked Danny Trejo and to the reviewer that said he doesn't have lead role charisma I don't know about him but I watch a movie for entertainment value not because I want to date the lead in the film. Way too many leads aren't representing the average real life men out here and some of us ain't pretty but that doesn't mean we cant be the heroes too!! So be gone with your skinny models and pretty boy leads lol.. Mickey Rourke did a fine job as the devil too and we don't need his entire career laid out just to review this one role in a movie. Thx worth the watch

Oh Mickey, What a Pity, I just don't understand. Rourke plays second-fiddle to Danny Trejo is this average blend of horror and western revenge. He sleep-walks through his role as the devil, who gives Trejo's assassinated gunfighter a chance to return to Earth to avenge those who betrayed him (led by his half-brother Anthony Michael Hall). It's adequate, with plenty of gunfights that become a bit repetitive and suffer too many short cuts.

I'm a massive western genre collector and watcher of every western movie and TV series made.

'Dead in Tombstone' isn't to be taken as a serious western but rather an easy on the eye beautifully filmed hardcore shoot em up with the biggest revenge gunfight of any western ever!

It's a cross between the 'Crow' and 'High plains drifter' Make sure you've got the cigars and beer ready close the curtains and sit back for a ride into the wildest west ever.

As you can see I can't speak highly enough of this film, Danny Trejo is a tough bad guy with looks to match and I certainly wouldn't want to facing down the barrels of his fine custom guns used in this film.

'Dead in Tombstone' is A Fair Entertainer, that works due to its fast-paced script, attractive visuals & sincere performances by Danny Trejo & Mickey Rourke.

'Dead in Tombstone' Synopsis: A gang overruns a small mining town murdering their own leader Guerrero, in a cold-blooded power grab. Sentenced to eternity in hell he finds himself confronted by Satan himself, offering a daring proposition: deliver the six souls of his former gang and he will escape damnation. With time running out, he sets out on a brutal rampage to avenge his own death.

'Dead in Tombstone' works as a time-pass entertainer. The Script is predictable, but fast-paced. The momentum is ably maintained & the action-sequences are raw & rustic. Roel Reiné's Direction is well-done. Cinematography is attractive, creating impressive visuals all through.

Performance-Wise: Trejo & Rourke deliver sincerely. While Trejo is much in character, its Rourke who seems to be relaxing & having a ball playing Lucifer.

On the whole, 'Dead in Tombstone' has decent merits.

Review: This is your everyday western with a little twist. Basically, Trejo trades his soul for 6 others, with the devil who is played by Mickey Rourke. The storyline isn't totally bad, but the execution by the director is average. The acting isn't top class and the music is quite annoying, but what do you expect from a straight to DVD movie. There's loads of shot-outs and some of the scenes are pretty gruesome, but not unwatchable. I wasn't expecting that much when I hired this movie and I wasn't that surprised with the outcome. Average!

Round-Up: Whenever you see Danny Trejo as the leading actor in a movie, you know that it's going to be a B class movie that hasn't got a massive budget or A class actors. He seems to be churning out loads of movies nowadays, but the older that he gets, the better his acting skills are getting. That's not to say that he's a top class actor, but at least he is becoming watchable. In the earlier times in his career, he always played bit parts alongside big names like Pacino and De Niro, but now he seems to be getting the bigger payday as the lead. He doesn't really have to say or do much in his movies because of his shear presence, which is why his movies will never be massive blockbusters. As for this movie, it's really what it says on the tin so don't expect anything out of the ordinary.

Budget: $5.2million (WOW!) Worldwide Gross: N/A

I recommend this movie to people who are into there Westerns about a gang whose hunted by there former leader. 3/10

For me dead in tombstone is not a terrible movie. But it is also not that great. Danny trejo being the star is the whole selling point of this movie and without his gruth gun slinging talk it would not be entertaining. Bassically in this movie trejo is the lead of a band of men that gets killed by some bandits. We think he is dead and I thought great now the film will be boring. But not. He wakes up in hell and micky rouke playing a type of devil says he can be alive if he brings the souls of the six men responsible for his death. Then he gets bloody revenge there are some explosions and fire and its alright. Not a great movie altogether. Alright cast but entertaining for what it is.

'Dead in Tombstone' is about an outlaw, Danny Trejo, who gets doublecrossed by his gang and murdered, only to find himself out of the frying pan and into the fiery depths of hell himself. However, not wanting to spend the rest of eternity having his skin ripped off by the devil (aka Mickey Rourke), he makes a bargain to deliver the souls of the gang who murdered him. Not wanting to get into the reason why the devil agrees to this (baring in mind he's immortal and therefore could simply choose to wait until the gang dies before collecting their souls that way). But, anyway, the devil grants Trejo a day to shoot them all dead and deliver their souls.

If you've seen the advertising, you may notice that Mickey Rourke - naturally - second billing, suggesting he's in it equally as much as Danny Trejo. However, he is sadly very underused. Fans of his may need to know he's not in it as much as the advertising may suggest he is.

There's no shortage of action in the film, all of which is surprisingly stylishly directed. However, the uber-quick editing may annoy some people after the millionth cut. It's basically a revenge-western with a small helping of supernatural added into it when the plot requires as such. There may not be a 'romance element' to the film, but that doesn't stop Dina Meyer getting herself kidnapped every chance she gets.

It's not a bad film. Everything is okay and yet never seems to spill over to either 'really good' or 'really bad.' It could well be the most 'on the fence' movie ever made. If you like Danny Trejo, you should enjoy this, however, like I say, Mickey Rouke fans may be left-short-changed.