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MIRAMAX AND EL REY NETWORK ANNOUNCE ADDITIONAL CAST JOINING SEASON THREE OF THE HIGHLY-ADDICTIVE ORIGINAL DRAMA ' FROM DUSK TILL DAWN: THE SERIES ' Ana de la Reguera, Tom Savini and Marko Zaror Join the Series; Emily Rios Returns for More Gecko Brothers Mayhem. All-New Season Currently in Production in New Mexico MIRAMAX® and El Rey Network announced today four new cast additions to Albuquerque-based production of "From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series," set to return for a third season later this year. Ana de la Reguera ("Jane the Virgin," "Narcos") will have a recurring role as Lord Venganza Verdugo, one of the seven remaining culebra Lords whose ancient roots and personal history put them at the center of an epic clash between good and evil. Also joining the cast is Chilean martial arts action star, Marko Zaror (Machete Kills), as Zolo, an Aztec warrior trained in hell, and iconic horror movie maven Tom Savini (Friday the 13th, From Dusk Ti...

Second season forced to embrace originality. Review by Brandon Wolfe The first season of From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series was an exercise in sustained pointlessness. The series, Robert Rodriguez’s adaptation of his own 1996 film, saw fit to take a quick and dirty story and build it out laboriously, to the extent where scenes that once lasted a scant few minutes of screentime now made up a full hour of television. Grafting fat onto a formerly lean framework predictably didn’t do the narrative any favors, nor did the fact that the writing for the series wasn’t merely a step down from Quentin Tarantino’s script for the film so much as a freefall from the upper atmosphere. The series also suffered from an inferior cast, the only highlights of which were Robert Patrick, inheriting Harvey Keitel’s role as Jacob Fuller, and DJ Cotrona, who clearly studied the nuances of George Clooney’s performance as antihero Seth Gecko. Though the series did deviate from the film in some notable ways, to...

Last year, FROM DUSK TILL DAWN: THE SERIES premiered as El Rey Network/Miramax's first scripted drama and drew critical acclaim for the reimagining of Rodriguez's cult classic film From Dusk Till Dawn . On August 25th at (9:00PM EST), the sophomore season of this fan-favorite, supernatural crime saga returns with 10 new episodes that expand the universe of the story from Mexico to the edgy, tricked-out Texas of Rodriguez, who also directs the first episode. And on August 26, Entertainment One will begin to release each episode for purchase on all leading digital platforms. Season One of FROM DUSK TILL DAWN: THE SERIES centered on bank robber Seth Gecko ( D.J. Cotrona , Dear John, G.I. Joe: Retaliation) and his violent, unpredictable brother Richard "Richie" Gecko ( Zane Holtz , Holes, The Perks of Being a Wallflower), who were on the run to Mexico when they encountered former pastor Jacob Fuller ( Robert Patrick ) and his family, who were taken hostage. Us...

 FROM EXECUTIVE PRODUCER ROBERT RODRIGUEZ AND THE EL REY NETWORK, THE DEBUT SEASON OF THE CHILLING SUPERNATURAL SERIES, BASED ON THE CULT CLASSIC FILM, ARRIVES ON BLU-RAY & DVD FROM DUSK TILL DAWN : SEASON ONE D.J. Cotrona, Zane Holtz, Robert Patrick and Wilmer Valderrama and Don Johnson Star; the DVD Set Features all 10 Season One Episodes Street Date: September 16, 2014 Blu-ray/DVD SRP: $49.98/$39.98 PROGRAM DESCRIPTION From executive producer Robert Rodriguez comes the first season of the original El Rey Network series, FROM DUSK TILL DAWN, swooping onto Blu-ray and DVD, featuring all 10 Season One episodes, including episodes directed by Rodriguez and Eduardo Sánchez(The Blair Witch Project). This supernatural series, based on Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino's 1996 cult classic film of the same name (starring George Clooney, Harvey Keitel, Salma Hayek and Tarantino), centers on bank robbers Seth and Richie Gecko, who are wanted by the authorities aft...

TV Review: From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series “The Take” By: Brandon Wolfe All season long, ‘ From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series ’ has struggled to justify its existence. It never really made a ton of sense why this movie in particular had been chosen for expansion into a TV series, other than because it had vampires in it, and the series never gave us the impression that even it knew how to resolve that crucial issue. It mostly just played like a dragged-out, dumbed-down remake, and the handful of new ideas the series offered up never felt like enough to offset the feeling that we’ve seen this all before, the same way before, and much better. “The Take” concludes the first season of ‘From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series’, and while it’s one of the stronger episodes of the season, it still doesn’t feel like this show is on any path toward figuring itself out. Seth and Richie manage to complete their impossible mission inside the vampire Matrix, or whatever it is, and Richie emerges fueled w...

TV Review: From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series “La Conquista” By: Brandon Wolfe “ La Conquista ” is a very talky episode, which is a dangerous thing for a show so poor at dialogue to attempt. It is about building bonds and attempting to understand one’s enemy, which sounds well and good, but I don’t think the show has the character development necessary to pull off something quieter and chattier like this. Though I suppose it earns a few points for even trying. A wounded Richie is wooed by Santanico into embracing vampirism and being at her side for eternity, supplanting the role Carlos has long played in her afterlife. She also relates to Richie her origin, which is that she was sacrificed many years ago as part of a snake cult and made into a vampire (which we had already learned in the pilot episode, but I guess it needed to be hammered home). For reasons not made clear, she psychically became fixated on Richie and drew him to her. This thread of the story is the most tedious thi...

TV Review: From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series “Pandemonium” By: Brandon Wolfe “ Pandemonium ” is probably the episode of ‘ From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series ’ that adheres most stringently to the source material, which is saying something considering how many episodes have stuck to the script thus far. There isn’t much new here that we didn’t get in the parent film. Fortunately, “Pandemonium” covers what is easily the liveliest segment of the film, so even though you know the song by heart, it still has a beat you can dance to. Richie is getting his table dance from Santanico Pandemonium, right down to the foot-fetishizing he still receives even though he’s no longer played by Quentin Tarantino. But we are quickly snapped out of our bout of déjà vu by Ranger Gonzalez, who stabs Richie in his already wounded hand before engaging in a Mexican standoff with both Geckos. Yet before any triggers can be pulled, Santanico vamps out and lunges at Gonzalez, tossing the man around like a rag...

TV Review: From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series “Place of Dead Roads” By:  Brandon Wolfe ‘ From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series ’ hits a stride of sorts in its sixth episode. This is the first episode of the series thus far that truly distinguishes itself from the film that spawned it. Apart from the simple act of placing the characters inside the Titty Twister, there is very little in “Place of Dead Roads” that feels like merely an inflated retread of what we’ve seen before. We begin with a flashback to Richie living in the wilderness, bearded, crazed and hunting for food. Unable to snare any big game, he settles for a nearby snake as his dinner. It is strongly implied that eating this snake is what gives him his psychic abilities, and the fact that the series opened on another flashback, to the woman who would become Santanico Pandemonium being thrown into a snake pit in the woods as part of a sacrifice, is probably not a coincidence. And if this does play out in this way, then...

TV Review: From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series “Self-Contained” By: Brandon Wolfe “ Self-Contained ” continues with the ‘ From Dusk Till Dawn ’ series’ tack of taking a single scene from the film and drawing it out into an hour-long episode of television. In this instance, it’s the tense, fairly brief sequence on the Fuller RV where the family attempts to successfully smuggle the Geckos across the border into Mexico without incident. However, unlike previous episodes, this expansion actually mostly survives the transition. On the road to the border, the episode doesn’t deviate from the film in too many major ways. Richie still holds the kids in the back of the RV while Seth and Jacob get themselves acquainted up front. Seth still digs into Jacob’s background concerning his wife’s death, but unlike Harvey Keitel’s Jacob, this Robert Patrick version has more fire in his belly, and isn’t content to take Seth’s guff without asserting himself as much as he can, given the circumstances. The ...

TV Review: From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series “Let’s Get Ramblin" By: Brandon Wolfe ‘From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series’, in its questionable gambit to take a 108-minute movie and expand it into a 10-hour season of television, has thus far vacillated between two modes with each episode. The first mode is to take a brief scene from the film and insulate it out into a full hour, bloating a kernel of an idea into an overstuffed cannoli. The second is to strike a balance between doing a slavish, inflated cover version of the film and carving out its own unique additions to the mythology to make something old new again. As recently as last week, the second, preferable mode was starting to take hold, but “Let’s Get Ramblin’” regresses frustratingly to the first mode, and is probably the worst offender in this regard since the pilot. We reach the leg of the story where the Gecko brothers finally cross paths with the Fuller family and forcibly adopt them as a means of getting to Mex...

TV Review: From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series “Blood Runs Thick” By: Brandon Wolfe The television version of ‘ From Dusk Till Dawn ’ introduced itself last week as a stop-and-smell-the-roses remake of the film it is based upon, filling in the gaps from the film in a tediously drawn-out fashion. The second episode doesn’t exactly shake off that bloated faithfulness, but it does give us some hints that this ‘Dusk’ does indeed plan on deviating from its source material in some significant ways. In the aftermath of last week’s disastrous armed standoff, the Gecko Brothers are on the run attempting to figure out their next move. Richie once again plays peek-a-boo with his brother through the bullet hole in his hand before wrapping it with masking tape. With their bank-teller hostage making a load of racket in the trunk of the car, we flash back to the bank heist that set the story in motion. The heist was merely alluded to in the film, but here we see it play out entirely, someth...

TV Review: From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series – “Pilot” By: Brandon Wolfe Needing a flagship series for his new El Rey network , director Robert Rodriguez turned to his own filmography for content to adapt, an understandable impulse and one not without merit. There are plenty of Rodriguez films that could easily make the transition to television. ‘ Spy Kids ’ could become a family-geared action show. ‘The Faculty’ is so ready-made for a teen sci-fi drama that I almost half remember it as a late-‘90s WB show rather than a film. A show about the “ El Mariachi ” character going from town to town, getting into adventures, would be viable. And, hell, a ‘Sin City’ TV series would be a flat-out brilliant idea. But Rodriguez landed on ‘ From Dusk Till Dawn ’, and while I’m at least grateful that he didn’t opt instead to try to get some more blood out of that ‘Machete’ stone, this was not his best play. ‘ From Dusk Till Dawn ’ the film was a blast when it was released in 1996. Directed by Ro...

EL REY NETWORK AND ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE TEAM UP FOR A GROUNDBREAKING EVENT Premiere episode of FROM DUSK TILL DAWN: THE SERIES hits the big screen at Alamo Drafthouse locations on Tuesday, March 11 timed to the debut on El Rey Network. Live Q&A with El Rey Network Founder and Chairman Robert Rodriguez and FROM DUSK TILL DAWN: THE SERIES cast hosted by Alamo Drafthouse CEO Tim League to follow screening and will play in Alamo theaters and on El Rey Network's YouTube channel. El Rey Network and Alamo Drafthouse Cinema are excited to announce the premiere episode of FROM DUSK TILL DAWN: THE SERIES on the big screen in nine Alamo Drafthouse theaters around the country timed to its El Rey Network debut on Tuesday, March 11 at 9PM ET/8PM CT. Tim League, Alamo Drafthouse founder and CEO, will host a Q&A with Robert Rodriguez and the cast of FROM DUSK TILL DAWN: THE SERIES following the premiere and screenings. The Q&A will be live at the Austin theater, while simul...