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The Most Badass Roles of Danny Trejo!
Taking even the briefest look at Danny Trejo’s filmography reveals an impressive list of credits well into the hundreds, with dozens of projects in various stages of production. It’s demonstrative of someone with an incredible drive and work ethic. What’s even more inspiring is the arduous road Trejo traveled to get from troubled youth to tough guy action icon.
New documentary Inmate #1: The Rise of Danny Trejo chronicles Trejo’s unbelievable life journey and how he overcame a life of crime and addiction to achieve one of the most prolific Hollywood careers. Directed by Brett Harvey, Inmate #1 has Trejo take the viewer on a voyage through his heartbreaks and triumphs, with interviews by those that know him best, including Michelle Rodriguez, Robert Rodriguez, Cheech Marin, and his immediate family.
Inmate #1: The Rise of Danny Trejo releases on Digital HD on July 7, 2020. In anticipation, we’re celebrating the actor’s most badass roles in the genre space.
Desperado – Navajas
No, this crime thriller isn’t a genre film in any way, but it’s an essential contribution to the genre for two reasons; it was a breakout role for the actor, and it marked the start of endless collaborations with director Robert Rodriguez. In the film, Trejo plays Navajas, a Colombian assassin contracted to kill Antonio Banderas’ El Mariachi. Navajas’s specialty is knife-throwing, and he demonstrates his lethal skills by slaying the American (Steve Buscemi) then injuring El Mariachi before being double-crossed. Trejo exudes menace and power; he’s an assassin who brings knives to a gunfight and easily holds his own. For a while, anyway. It’s easy to see how this role helped catapult Trejo into the mainstream.
Predators – Cuchillo
A common side-effect of playing tough action characters so well is that Trejo often portrays roles named after weapons. Take Cuchillo, which is Spanish for knife. Cuchillo doesn’t last long on the alien planet turned hunting ground in Predators, but he still packs a punch in his brief appearance. Selected for being one of Earth’s deadliest opponents, Cuchillo is a dual submachine gun-wielding drug cartel enforcer. A street smart, ruthless killer, Cuchillo would’ve been extremely intimidating in any other circumstance.
Halloween – Ismael Cruz
Sometimes the most badass characters are simply the most compassionate. Playing against type, Trejo’s Ismael is a Smith Grove Sanitorium floor warden that grows fond of Michael Myers over the decades of the killer’s incarceration. He chases a reporter away from Michael’s mother and often gives fatherly advice to young Michael. Poor Ismael is on the cusp of retirement when Michael breaks free and brutally murders him. Ismael represents the remnants of what little humanity Michael Myers had left, in some ways, and Trejo brings the empathy to heighten the utter devastation of his death scene.
From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series – The Regulator
In this series, based on the film, Trejo plays a supernatural warrior and enforcer of the Nine Lords of the Night’s leader. Introduced in season two, the Regulator is tasked with hunting down and bringing back the escaped Santanico Pandemonium. With superhuman strength and near invincibility, this warrior slays everything in his path to fulfilling orders and revels in the violence. In a series filled with vampires and other mythical creatures, the Regulator is among the most unnerving. Trejo plays him with that trademark tough guy ferocity.
The Devil’s Rejects – Rondo
One half of the “Unholy Two,” Rondo is an amoral bounty hunter hired by the vengeful Sheriff Wydell in locating the Firefly clan. Rondo revels in his job, gleefully dispatching his targets or anyone that comes between him and his targets. He’s also the more level-headed, business-savvy member of the bounty hunting duo. Rondo appears in 3 From Hell, shown to have been imprisoned along with Otis, who then murders him before escaping. Rondo’s son Aquarius seeks revenge, sparking the final act confrontational bloodbath.
From Dusk Till Dawn – Razor Charlie
One of the most memorable vampires in this fan-favorite, Trejo plays the no-nonsense bartender of the infamous Titty Twister. His gruff persona offers up some comedic relief, before the significant turning point that turns the bar into a feeding frenzy buffet for vampires. His showdown with Sex Machine (Tom Savini) results in his death, but Razor Charlie appears again in the prequel From Dusk Till Dawn 3: The Hangman’s Daughter to further flesh out his character’s past in 1913.
Machete and Machete Kills – Isador “Machete” Cortez
This popular exploitation movie character was explicitly written for Trejo. A former Mexican Federale with a machete as the preferred weapon of choice, Machete is the definitive badass. After being set-up and betrayed by the man who hired him to assassinate a Texas Senator, Machete embarks on an epic quest for vengeance. Despite leaving an insane number of dead bodies in his wake, Machete has a heart of gold; he works with an ICE Agent (Jessica Alba) and a justice fighter (Michelle Rodriguez) to help undocumented immigrants. The exploitation goes over the top in a big way in the sequel, furthering Machete’s body count and story. Of all of Trejo’s badass roles, Machete demonstrated just how easily the actor could handle the lead. Here’s to hoping we get the third teased entry, Machete Kills in Space.
See more of Danny Trejo’s life and work in Inmate #1: The Rise of Danny Trejo on July 7, 2020, on Digital HD.
A luxury team-building trip descends into a bloody fight for survival against a vengeful retreat leader in Corporate Retreat, out today in theaters. It’s the latest entry in a cathartic subgenre of workplace horror that examines every harrowing aspect of job employment.
No job is safe from horror, either, from babysitting to even the most white-collar gigs. But if you work an overnight shift? All bets are off. Vengeful co-workers and bosses aside, the night shift is likely to come armed with witches, creatures, demons, and all manner of things that go bump in the night. Even deadly outbreaks.
Corporate Retreat, along with these five horror movies centered around some of the worst night shifts, will make you glad the weekend has finally arrived.
The Autopsy of Jane Doe
Passenger director André Øvredal goes full throttle for the scares in this quiet little chiller that sees a father and son coroner team stumped over the bizarre mysteries contained within the body of an unidentified young woman during an unexpected night shift. Well-executed scares, clever twists, and earnest performances by Brian Cox and Emile Hirsch give this supernatural haunter serious heft. While the narrative bides its time unveiling the truth behind Jane Doe’s battered body, it’s heavily steeped in witchcraft. In other words, The Autopsy of Jane Doe presents a new take on the subgenre. More importantly, it’s seriously scary.
Cold Storage
COLD STORAGE, StudioCanal 2023
A lethal, mutated fungus breaks free from confinement deep within the bowels of a storage facility. At the frontlines of the madness are Teacake (Stranger Things’ Joe Keery) and Naomi (Barbarian‘s Georgina Campbell), two employees thrust into the middle of the chaos when they investigate an alarm beeping somewhere deep within the building. Director Jonny Campbell (Netflix’s Dracula), working from a script by David Koepp based on his novel, helms the goopy madness with workman efficiency. This lighthearted, goopy horror comedy romp makes the deadly night shift a bit more bearable.
Graveyard Shift
Graveyard Shift follows new hire Hall (David Andrews) tasked by his mean boss Warwick (Stephen Macht) to assist with the insane rat infestation beneath their mill. They find something much most monstrous as the cause. Though the film was panned, it’s a fun creature feature with an always welcome appearance by Brad Dourif as the intensely eccentric exterminator. The film also opts for a happier ending, whereas (spoiler), the story sees both Hall and Warwick getting devoured by the mutated rats, the crew in the upstairs mill none the wiser.
Last Shift
‘Last Shift’
Rookie Officer Jessica Loren (Juliana Harkavy) has been assigned to watch over a closing precinct on its final night of operation…alone. With nearly everything already moved over to the new station, including rerouted 911 calls, it should be a pretty quiet night as she waits for a Hazmat team to arrive to remove biohazardous waste. Instead, it becomes a waking nightmare as she’s forced to deal with unsettling visitors. Last Shift, co-written by Scott Poiley and director Anthony DiBlasi, brings the scares.
Intruder
The overnight stock crew of a local grocery store finds themselves falling victim to an unseen killer in this highly infectious late ‘80s slasher. The deaths are delightfully gruesome and inventive; look for this killer to make excellent use of grocery store items as weapons. Frequent Raimi collaborator Scott Spiegel directed this bloody slasher, which means a lot of overlap with the Evil Dead II. That means putting Sam Raimi in front of the camera for a change, along with Ted Raimi and Evil Dead II’s Dan Hicks. Look for a cameo by Bruce Campbell as well!
Corporate Retreat releases in theaters today; get tickets now.
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