From Dusk Till Dawn 3: The Hangman's Daughter - Plot

Plot

The prequel is set in Mexico in the early 1900s and begins with an American author, Ambrose Bierce, experiencing a nightmare in which he dies at the hands of Pancho Villa. Bierce then wakes up and talks to a local bartender about his intentions to join Pancho Villa's revolutionary army. He joins a stagecoach transporting a newlywed couple, John and Mary Newlie, who are traveling to Mexico to preach Christianity. Meanwhile, Johnny Madrid, a dangerous local outlaw, escapes from the gallows and kidnaps his hangman's beautiful daughter, Esmeralda. Madrid receives assistance from Reece, a young woman who wants to become Madrid's apprentice as an outlaw. With the hangman and a local posse on their trail, Madrid meets with his gang who later rob Bierce's stagecoach because of Reece's belief that Bierce holds an invaluable object. The object turns out to be the manuscript for Bierce's new book. Reece is eventually responsible for leading the hangman and his men to Madrid after they free her from a deadly contraption implemented by the outlaw.

As night falls, all parties coincidentally seek shelter in an isolated inn that also serves as a whorehouse. The establishment is run by a group of vampires who are led by the high priestess, Quixtla, who targets Esmeralda. All of the hangman's men and the remnants of Madrid's gang are killed by the vampires. Mary is bitten by a vampire, and John is revealed as a fraud who only married Mary for her father's money. Meanwhile, Reece's background is revealed, and it is discovered that she is an outlaw who killed her entire family. Esmeralda is also exposed as a half-human, half-vampire princess, Santanico Pandemonium (Salma Hayek's character in the original From Dusk Till Dawn), and the daughter of Quixtla. Madrid, Bierce, the hangman, Reece, John, Esmeralda, and a few patrons manage to escape into the dungeons beneath the building. Mary attacks John, but he manages to kill her, showing regret for tricking her. A patron turns into a vampire following an earlier bite and attacks the group, killing some of them before he is killed.

Eventually, the various humans work together to survive the vampire attack, but they are eventually captured. Esmeralda transforms into the vampire princess, and Johnny manages to break from his bonds and free the others. Reece and John are killed by the vampires. Esmeralda turns the Hangman into a vampire, but he kills Quixtla before the change is complete, allowing Johnny and Ambrose to escape. As the film ends, Esmeralda screams for Johnny not to leave her. Johnny somberly looks away and joins Ambrose's quest to join Pancho Villa's army. As they leave, the camera zooms out to show the Mayan temple behind the building that houses the vampires, a callback to the first movie.

After the credits roll, part of the alternative ending is shown; Ambrose is revealed to have told this story to someone in a bar. The listener refuses to believe in vampires. Ambrose offers proof and proceeds to turn into a vampire himself and kill the listener. The original cut showed a completely different outcome of the last fight, with Madrid being killed by Esmeralda after a last shot showing Bierce fighting a horde of vampires, who eventually overcome him. The ending was likely changed to keep the running theme of only two heroes making it out alive from the vampire den.