Bullet Points: Bad Guys in Hell

2000’s Bad Guys in Hell is a movie that has seemingly fallen through the cracks, likely due to some sort of rights issues or maybe just lost to time. Whatever the reason, it’s moments like these that a resource like the Internet Archive comes in handy. Special thanks to John G. for sending this one my way!

• Small Town, California : FBI Agents, Jay Peters (Michael Madsen, Executive Target) and Jack Ford (Bryan Genesse, Project Shadowchaser II) roll into town and find themselves stopped at a railroad crossing… riding up next to them is a beautiful young lady named May on a horse! Jack can’t help but flirt and that flirting would continue when he bumps into May again at the bank, after Jack goes in to get change for a hundred dollar bill. Some bad guys are about to arrive at the very same bank with intentions of robbing it… these bad guys, led by The Commander (Martin Kove, To Be the Best), immediately shoot Bobby the security guard, they slit a woman’s throat after the manager refuses to open the vault. When the manager complies, he and The Commander go to the vault and that’s about the time J.P. springs into action… soon the DEA agents are shooting up bad guys, getting the hostages to safety and calling the local authorities. The Commander manages to make a hasty exit via motorcycle!
• The Most Powerful Man in Town: The power player in this small town is a nut job by the name of John Tykor (James Russo, Da Vinci’s War). Tykor’s water treatment plant is a front for his meth amphetamine lab and the bank that was being robbed is the bank that launders Tykor’s drug money. So it was very curious why Tykor hired The Commander and his men to basically rob himself. Tykor was none too happy that the job didn’t go as planned, so he has his right hand man (played by Michael Bailey Smith) kill The Commander via wood chipper! Things get even more complicated when we find out that Tykor is the son of the local Sheriff (played by John Phillip Law of Space Mutiny fame)!

• The Family Tree: We also learn that May is the 21 year old grand-daughter of Sheriff Bramley and that the Sheriff’s daughter/proprietor of the local diner, Rosie (Claudia Christian, Arena), is May’s 36 year old mother… It doesn’t take long before J.P. and Rosie hit it off. And we already know that there have been some sparks between Ford and May… so it is really no surprise when both of the FBI agents have company in their respective hotel rooms. And that’s about the time the movie takes another dark turn…
• Death From Above: With this daughter and grand-daughter out for the evening, Sheriff Ramsey finds himself drinking alone at home and praying for the soul of his bad seed of a son… And speaking of his son, Tykor decides to declare war on his family and the local authorities and that’s when the heavy artillery arrives in the form of Death… at least that’s how he referred to himself when he gets a grand helicopter entrance and then orders from Tykor to go kill his father. Death brings Tykor’s right hand man with him and the two monsters pay Sheriff Ramsey a visit, finding him asleep in his bed, where they proceed to cut him open and rip his heart out! GRUESOME!… Death then turns his attention to the police station, which looks like a massacre when Death is all said and done.

• You Want a War?!: J.P. and Ford drive May and Rosie home… and that’s when Rosie notices that the front door is open. J.P. and Ford go inside to discover what’s left of Sheriff Ramsey. While that’s going on Rosie and May are kidnapped and taken to Tykor’s compound… where Tykor has some interesting plans for his family and one more shocking revelation… When J.P. and Ford get to the police station and see the carnage, Ford is ready for a fight and wants to go charging in to Tykor’s fortified compound and save May and Rosie… J.P. calms him down and gets Ford thinking straight. If they are going to take down Tykor, they are going to need some serious back up and they get it. And that means we are about to get a full scale shootout between the authorities and Tykor’s private army, plus a rescue mission!

Have I mentioned how dark Bad Guys in Hell got at times? That is probably the thing that caught me most off guard about the movie, which made it much more than the good guys looking to take down meth producing bad guys. I found myself enjoying more of the straight up action content the movie provided and then immediately being creeped out by everything else… but that very well could have been the intent of the movie.

Bad Guys in Hell also has a somewhat bizarre IMDb page. There are definitely some people with an axe to grind in the user reviews, referencing a behind the scenes YouTube video that is out there. There’s also notable cast omissions and a mention of Burt Young playing the sheriff, which is completely untrue.

There’s nothing bizarre or untrue about wrapping up a review with some Bonus Bullet Points…

• Familiar Faces: Lydie Denier of Acapulco H.E.A.T. fame, plays Tykor’s wife (and informant for the government)… Tim Colceri played Special Agent Todd. I recognized Colceri from some of my favorite PM Entertainment flicks like Riot and Rage! …And a guy who looked like he could be Forrest Whitaker’s brother played one of the deputies and for good reason. The deputy was played by Damon Whitaker, Forrest Whitaker’s brother!
• AKA: Bad Guys in Hell is also known by the shorter title of Bad Guys.
• Triple Duty: Bulletproof Action favorite, Bryan Genesse, was not only one of the stars of the film. He also wrote and directed it.
• Out of Context Quote: “Next time, just look for the large hanging penis.”