The Latest from Cactus Tactical: Gunfights and Films

Gunfights and Films - Halloween Monsters

Halloween is over but I just wanted to finish out our them by covering two other films essential to the them. Today we'll take a moment to look at an iconic movie monster and an iconic DayWalker, the movies are Blade II and Tremors. I chose Blade II as it features some of my favorite actors like Ron Perlman, Norman Reedus as well as was directed by a king amongst monsters, Guillermo Del Toro. I chose Tremors as it features Kevin Bacon and it's also filled with great cameos as well as it's just a fun monster flick. So, let's check 'em out, shall we?

Blade II

Released in 2002 this film is the sequel to the first film of the same name. This follow up was filled with gritty cinematography and great plot twists. I've always enjoyed all the films in this franchise but this one is my favorite. Directed by the gentleman known for his work with monsters Guillermo Del Toro delivers cinematic greatness as per usual.

Prologue: At the Parizska Blood Bank in Prague, Czech Republic, Jared Nomak has come to donate blood. As he is being led into the donation room, he is informed that his blood is of a rare phenotype. The phlebotomist is talking menacingly and bares his vampire fangs, thinking he can intimidate the donor. Jared simply laughs hysterically. Suddenly, his chin cracks open revealing a gaping maw with a barbed tongue. He pounces on the phlebotomist's neck, and blood flies everywhere.

Two years have passed since Blade's mentor, Abraham Whistler, shot himself, after being brutally beaten and bitten by vampires. When Blade learned that the vampires were keeping Whistler alive, he followed their trail through Eastern Europe. Starting first with Moscow, then to Romania, and now to the Czech Republic. When Blade discovers that the vampires are keeping Whistler in stasis in a halfway house, he breaks into the house and rescues him, after killing a number of vampires with silver stakes and bullets made of silver nitrate and garlic extract. One accelerated retrovirus detox shot later, and Whistler is back amongst the living.

Much had happened in the last two years. Blade has a new assistant named Scud, who doesn't get along very well with Whistler since his return. The High Council of Vampires has created a group of six warriors, referred to as the Bloodpack, who are being trained to fight against Blade. However, a vampire virus called the Reaper Strain has mutated in Jared Nomak who passes the virus to everyone he bites. Since the Reaper virus makes carriers extremely voracious, Nomak and those he turns need to feed daily, and they feed on both humans and vampires. The numbers of Reapers, noticeable because they resemble nosferatu with their bald, blue-veined heads and pointy ears, are increasing exponentially, and the vampires fear the Reapers will first wipe them out then start on humans.

Now that the Reapers are presenting an even bigger threat to the vampires than Blade ever did, Vampire Overlord Eli Damaskinos has sent a message to Blade, requesting a truce and asking him to join with the vampires and actually lead the Bloodpack against the Reapers. Blade agrees, but the Blood Pack, which consists of Lighthammer, Verlaine, Priest, Snowman, Chupa, and Reinhardt, are pretty unhappy at being led by the Daywalker they were training to kill. To assure their cooperation, Blade plants a silver nitrate bomb, courtesy of Scud, on the back of Reinhardt's head. Blade holds the detonator, and it is set to explode should anyone tamper with it.

Accompanied by the vampires Asad and Nyssa, Blade and his Bloodpack begin their search for Nomak by staking out places where vampires congregate, such as blood banks and safe houses, figuring these places will also be attractive to the Reapers. First on the list is the House of Pain, an old hotel converted into a safe house sheltering some 200-300 vampires, all dancing and feeding. As the Bloodpack searches the building, Reapers begin emerging from the subbasement. About 1/2 hour before dawn, the Reapers attack. The Bloodpack manages to take out several Reapers with ultraviolet guns, but Nomak gets away, even after being injected with the anticoagulant EDTA. A Reaper then bites Priest, therefor requiring that Priest be destroyed in the rising sun. Lighthammer also gets bitten, but he hides it. In this first battle with the Reapers, Blade learns that Reapers are impervious to silver, EDTA, and garlic, and they rapidly bounce back from almost any wound, including silver stakes thrust into their chests. How in the world can these creatures be stopped, and whose side should Blade be on anyway, considering that both Blade and Nomak are enemies of the vampires?

Meanwhile, back at the High Council, Damaskinos' lawyer, Karel Kounen, has informed Damaskinos of Priest's death and warns the Overlord that he is playing a dangerous game, one that could result in his daughter's death. Damaskinos informs Kounen that his "friend inside" says that everything is going as planned. Questions and plot twists abound.

Outside the House of Pain, Scud and Whistler, who have been working surveillance from the van and on the roof, have managed to capture a Reaper who was trying to escape down a manhole into the sewers but got stuck. For whatever reason, this Reaper is dying. Blade surmises that the Reaper's body, having gone several hours without feeding, is beginning to feed on itself. Since he is dying anyway, this provides Nyssa with an opportunity to perform an autopsy and learn more about the Reapers. She learns that the barbed tongue contains a nerve toxin to paralyze the victim while the Reaper feeds. Their hearts are encased in bone, making it virtually impossible to shove a stake through them. The only thing that seems to affect them is exposure to sun and to ultraviolet light. Unfortunately, these are also deadly to vampires, which is going to make it difficult for Blade to destroy the Reapers without harming his vampire allies.

Scud spends the rest of the night working to build UV grenades out of phosphor rods. The next morning, meaning to use daytime, the only advantage they have over the Reapers, Blade, Whistler, Nyssa, Asam, and the Bloodpack, armed with UV guns, UV grenades, and large-scale UV bombs go down into the sewers. They split into three units. Whistler goes with Chupa and Reinhardt down the east tunnel. Lighthammer, Verlaine, and Snowman go in the opposite direction, and Blade goes with Asam and Nyssa. Unfortunately, there is treatory around every corner. When Chupa and Reinhardt get Whistler alone, Chupa beats him up. We lose a partner and Blade loses one, Chupa threatens. Lighthammer completes his evolution into a Reaper and feasts on Snowman, then goes after Verlaine, who has no recourse other than to open a manhole cover, killing both herself and Lighthammer in the sunlight.

It's at this point the Reapers start arriving, crawling on the sewer floor, walls, and ceiling. Asam is attacked by a half dozen Reapers crawling underwater. Blade sets off a UV grenade, killing all the Reapers, but it is too late for Asam. Chupa falls prey to Reapers. Reinhardt is being followed by Reapers, so he sets a UV bomb, but the detonator sticks. Blade radios orders to everyone to regroup, but the only ones left standing are Nyssa, Reinhardt, and Blade. Our ringleader goes back to get the UV bomb that Reinhardt left behind. Only after Blade has found the bomb and is surrounded by dozens of hungry Reapers does Reinhardt radio Blade to inform him that the detonator doesn't work. Holding off Reapers with both hands, Blade kicks at the lever until it finally gives. Ten seconds later, UV light floods the tunnels. It fries the Reapers, but it also hits Nyssa and Reinhardt.

Where is Whistler? Whistler has met up with Nomak who, instead of attacking him, has given Whistler a ring and told him to tell Blade the truth, which Nomak whispers in Whistler's ear.

Blade has caught up with Nyssa by now only to find her severely burned by the UV bomb and badly in need of blood, so he cuts his wrist and makes her drink his blood. Suddenly, Blade is shot in the back with stun guns and Kounen and Reinhardt step in. Vampires from the Council round up Whistler, Nyssa, and Blade and deliver them to Damaskinos.

When Nyssa regains consciousness, she is back in her father's study. She tells him how Blade saved her life and asks whether he is still alive. Blade, Scud, and Whistler are being held in a chamber deep in Damaskinos' sanctuary. Whistler begins to tell Nomak's "truth" to Blade, that Reaper virus didn't evolve, it was genetically designed--Damaskinos but is interrupted by Nyssa and Reinhardt. Damaskinos explains that he has been searching for a way to rid the vampires of their hereditary weaknesses by recombining DNA. As he talks, he shows Blade a cylinder filled with hundreds of small fetal vampires. Nomak was first, Damaskinos says, but Nomak was a failure in that he isn't immune to light. Soon, however, Damaskinos thinks he will have created a new pure race of daywalking vampires, immune to silver and sunlight. All he needs is to figure out why Blade is immune to light and then program that quality into his fetal vampires genetics.

Whistler tosses Nomak's ring at Damaskinos' feet. Nyssa recognizes it immediately as the Damaskinos family crest.Nomak had been Damaskinos' own son. As Nyssa realizes this she storms out and is followed by her father. Reinhardt takes this chance to beat up on Blade, but Blade pulls out the detonator to the UV bomb on the back of Reinhardt's head. He presses the detonator button, but nothing happens. Scud laughs. I designed the bomb to be a dud, Scud explains as Reinhardt pulls it off his head and tosses it to Scud. Scud then tells Blade how he's been Damaskinos' familiar all along. Blade then presses a second button and we part ways with a young Norman Reedus.

Blade repeatedly stun-gunned and taken to an operating room where Kounen drives spikes through Blade's body in order to secure him. Kounen explains that he is going to harvest Blade's blood and body parts in order to search for the key to what makes him a Daywalker. However, Whistler manages to get out of his handcuffs, knock out Reinhardt, and escape through the floor ducts to the operating room. He shoots Kounen, and releases Blade. Blade is drained of blood and severely weakened, so Whistler carries him into a bloodbath where Blade quickly regenerates. The first thing Blade does after leaving the bloodbath is to take out two or three dozen guards. Then he's off to find Damaskinos while Whistler destroys the fetal vampires.

In the meantime, Nyssa is having it out with her father. She feels completely betrayed because Damaskinos sent her and her Blood Pack out, expecting them to die. He used both of his children, her and Nomak, for his own purposes, and he used Blade, too. As she debates where her loyalties lie, Nomak has succeeded in invading the inner sanctum where Nyssa has sealed herself and Damaskinos. Damaskinos attempts to apologize to his son for all that has befallen him, but Nomak bites his father's neck anyway. As Damaskinos lay dying on the floor, his bluish-green blood spilling out, Nyssa takes off her family ring and tosses it in her father's blood. Nyssa then offers herself to Nomak who dives into her neck, too.

Enter Blade. A drawn out fight ensues between Blade and Nomak until Blade manages to thrust his sword through Nomak's side, the one place where his heart is unprotected by bone. Nomak seems almost happy and, in fact, thrusts the blade in further, and his body disintegrates. Poor Nyssa has been bitten and can already feel her body changing into that of a Reaper. She tells Blade that she wants to die while I'm still a vampire, she tells Blade. I want to see the sun. Blade carries her outside. Together, they watch the sunrise before Nyssa burns up in Blade's arms.

Vampire films are a genre of horror that have been done in many different forms and is always evolving as our technology advances. I love the Blade franchise. It has an edginess to it and Blade has become synonymous with vampires, techno and weaponry that was very creative for it's time. Let's take a look at some of the weapons used in Blade II.

A new addition to the arsenal of Blade (Wesley Snipes) are a pair of customized Heckler & Koch USP Match pistols modified with laser sights, and a rail-like attachment.

One of the Heckler & Koch USP Match pistols used by Wesley Snipes in the movie - 9x19mm

Blade aims his H&K USP Match.

Blade wielding his two USP Match pistols.

To watch Blade battle "Vampire Ninjas" you can watch here:

Reinhardt (Ron Perlman) uses two Beretta 92FS handguns heavily customized with huge blades at the bottom of the barrels, and laser sights as his sidearms. Whistler (Kris Kristofferson) also commandeers one of these weapons at the end of the film, and uses it to destroy a container filled with embryos at the research facility.

One of the heavily customized Beretta 92FS handguns used in the movie - 9x19mm

Reinhardt holds his heavily customized Beretta 92FS.

Whistler aims one of Reinhardt's heavily customized Beretta 92FS handguns

To see the meet & greet between Blade & the Bloodpack you can watch it here:

Chupa (Matt Schulze) carries a two toned Desert Eagle as his Sidearm. Scud (Norman Reedus) also wields two Desert Eagles outside of the nightclub.

Desert Eagle MK VII - .357 Magnum.

Chupa pulls his Desert Eagle on Blade.

Scud readies his Desert Eagles.

Chupa (Matt Schulze) is armed with an M16A2 assault rifle fitted with a Surefire (Laser Products) 660 tactical flashlight. It is first seen fitted with two MWG 90-round magazines coupled together, while they are in the night club, and then with a standard 30 round magazine when they are in the sewers.

Colt M16A2 - 5.56x45mm

Chupa looks around the night club, M16A2 in hand.

Chupa: "Say Cheese"

To watch the scene in the club you can do so here:

Just another great addition to the Halloween theme this movie is fun to watch, has some great action sequences and pairs perfectly with some red candy.

To see what other weapons were you used you can go here: http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/Blade_2

To see the kill count for this film you can go here:

Tremors

is a 1990 monster film that stars Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward as local handymen who work small jobs in a desert town of Perfection, Nevada. They, along with their fellow citizens, find that their town in some danger from monsters who come from underneath the ground. The film's cast includes Reba McEntire and Michael Gross as Heather and Burt Gummer, a doomsday survivalist couple. The film would subsequently become a cult hit, spawning a franchise that includes four more films and a television series, the majority of which have Gross reprising his role as Burt.

Valentine "Val" McKee and Earl Bassett are two good-for-nothing odd-job workers. They usually mend fences and railings and in general, help farmers in a sleepy town called Perfection. They have the use of a down-trodden truck, and not much money to their names. The live near a dry dusty town, and are friends with most of the locals. Perfection occupies a small part of a vast dried-out area called Perfection Valley, surrounded by small mountains with exception of a county road.

Rhonda LeBeck is a university student which investigates earthquakes. She tells them that she's getting weird signs from their seismographs, but there were no earthquakes around. Val likes her, but prefers daydreaming about some playmate, so he doesn't ask the seismologist out .

The two friends Earl and Val are attacked by a snake like creature which appears from below the dusty soil. They find the town drunkard on the top of a electricity post, dead. The dynamic duo start wondering whether he was so afraid of something that he preferred dying up there of thirst. They try to warn some of their isolated neighbours, and they find an earthed car with its lights on and music from the radio still blasting.

The pair decides that the best idea is to go to the town drugstore to tell everyone. First, they try to leave by truck. However, the road is blocked because the snakes attacked some road building workers. Val and Earl come back, after their car gets stuck but they managed to release it. Back in Perfection, they find a huge snake grabbing at the lows of their truck. The shopkeeper, mean Walter Chang, lends them two horses so they can go and tell the county police, because all phone lines are cut, and there are no mobile phone network coverage on the area. Several people are not worried at all as shown by a sassy teenager Melvin Plug, who mocks them. There is also Burt and Heather Gummer, who have built themselves a nuclear refuge, and crammed it with heavy weaponry, so feel no fear.

Val and Earl ride for dear life. But their horses are bitten by some of the snakes. They run away on foot, but the creature runs after them. They would have been caught had it not been for the monsters inability to keep itself from hitting the wall until it's death. At that moment, the seismologist appears again. They discover that the creature stinks horribly, is several metres long, and that the snakes were a kind of tentacles protuding from its mouth. Rhonda checks her seismographs, leading her to believe that there must be at least three more of those creatures.

When the three are going back, another of the creatures tries to capture them. They see dust flying, which they've taken as a sign that a critter is moving underground. The trio finds a place to hide and they stay there, but the creatures are very patient. They manage to climb from one rock to the other, and jumping into their van, being closely followed by the meat-hungry monsters. The creatures can feel them because they can make sense of the noise humans make in the form of vibrations.

Back to the drugstore, Walter has chosen to call the monsters graboids. Melvin is still mocking Earl and Val stupidly, but Val has had to risk her life to save Mindy Sterngood, who had been hopping around with her headphones on, not listening to her mother Nancy's cries. When they think they have outwitted the graboids by taking refuge atop the roofs of buildings, the graboids destroy the buildings' foundations. The buildings are simple and fragile, completely made of planks of wood. A graboid manages to eat Walter, emerging from under the cheap wooden shop floor. Another graboid eats Nestor, and one of them manages to destroy one of the underground walls of the Gummers, but they fight back with all their weaponry, finally killing the vicious creature.

The survivors pick up a bulldozer and they try to run on it. They also go to pick up the Gummers, which have prepared many weapons. The graboids are highly intelligent, and they prepare a trap for the humans, which succeeds. Those left are forced to scramble along the rocks and they wait there, surrounded by the graboids.

Another plan is hatched and they throw dynamite to the animals, who swallow everything but are afraid of strong noises, which hurt their sensitive sense. The dynamite explodes within one of the critters, killing them. They try the same trick with the other graboid, but the remaining critter spits the dynamite, and they have to run away from their safe hiding place. Val is on the open earth, so he is going to be detected and eaten by the surviving graboid. He decides to run, but the graboid is very fast. When Val is about to jump from a high cliff, he steps aside, but the graboid can't stop, and falls from it.

The final scene shows some loose dirt moving on the dry soil of the valley, proving that there is at least one more ravenous creature alive.

This film is cheesy but fun and perfect for making your holiday a monster of a good time. Let's take a look at some of the weapons used in this film, shall we?

Burt Gummer (Michael Gross) owns an "Elephant Gun" that is a Belgian-made William Moore & Co. 8-gauge firing solid slugs. The shotgun was provided by Ellis Mercantile for the Tremors film. When it was thrown from the truck to the rock, it was dropped and the stock shattered at the wrist due to the 12.5 pounds that the shotgun weighs. An interesting goof in the scene where Burt uses the gun to kill the graboid is that when he fires the gun, he has the stock under his arm instead of against his shoulder. If he had been firing actual 8ga. slugs, the recoil would've, at best, flung the gun out of his hands or, at worst, would've broken his wrist or flung the barrel of the gun up into his face.

William Moore 8ga. Shotgun used in Tremors

Burt takes one of the solid slugs to load into his 8 gauge Elephant gun.

Burt with his 8 gauge at the ready.

Burt rides the front of the bulldozer carrying his Elephant gun.

As the Gummer's reach for more firepower, the camera pulls back to reveal a massive wall of guns, most of them pistols and shotguns. Several times, the guns on the wall changes position. This scene was filmed over several days and several locations which meant that the wall had to be re-built from scratch more than once.

In this screencap, a nickeled M1911A1, two Walther P38s, one Luger P08, a flare pistol, a TT33, Browning Hi-Power, a Walther PPK, a Remington Model 870s, a .600 Nitro Express, a Browning Auto-5, and a Norinco Type 54 are among those visible.

Upper right: descending order L to R (handguns): Nambu Type 14, Ruger Mk 1, Browning HP, (TBD-Small Black handgun), Colt Woodsman, Nickel SIG-Sauer P228, S&W Model 36, 38 Derringer, Silver Desert Eagle, Webley Mk1, Colt SAA with Stag Grips, Ruger Stainless Redhawk Revolver, S&W Model 66 with Pachmayr grips 3" barrel, S&W Model 66 with 4" Barrel, S&W Model 686 with 5" Barrel.

To watch Burt & the wife deal with one of the monsters and see the arsenal in their home you can watch the clip here:

To make sure you're always stocked up on accessories for your weapons make sure you visit our website here: Magpul accessories

Earl (Fred Ward) pulls a Colt Single Action Army from the glove compartment of the truck upon discovering the two road crew workers dead. It is later seen again in his possession when He and Val are about to ride off to Bixby.

2nd Generation Colt Single Action Army w/ 7.5" barrel known as the "Cavalry" model - Nickel plated model - .45 LC

Earl loads up the SAA as he and Val try to evade the Graboid.

The Winchester Model 1894 30-30 caliber lever-action rifle is found on the body of Edgar (Sunshine Parker), who had died of dehydration on a tower. Val (Kevin Bacon) later uses it in the first encounter with the Graboids but ditches it when they're being chased.

Winchester 1894 - .30-30

Edgar (Sunshine Parker) is found on a tower holding the Winchester.

Earl (Fred Ward) takes up the Winchester.

Val (Kevin Bacon) takes aim with the Winchester.

To see the scene with Edgar on the tower, you can watch here:

Ah, hacky cinema at it's finest. There are several films in the franchise so you can make a cheesy movie weekend out of it. Make sure you've got plenty of gummy worms!

To find out more about the weapons used in this film you can go here: http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/Tremors_(1990)

Labels: action movies, blade, cult classics, guillermo del toro, gunfights, guns in film, horror films, iconic, kevin bacon, thrills, tremors, weapons, wesley snipes