Centered on two psychotic brothers who escape from death row and take a suburban family hostage, it was described by Variety as a "parodistic genre piece",[4] and by Sundance head Geoffrey Gilmore as "completely delirious and truly inspired".
There are moments when the action and images tip over into silliness, but you have to hand it to Mendez: the very last major effect is completely gonzo and yet done with such poker-faced conviction that the scene remains exciting instead of becoming laughable".
[8] His next film was the sci-fi creature feature Big Ass Spider!, which premiered at SXSW in 2013 and was positively reviewed by critics:[9] The Hollywood Reporter called it "shamelessly Corman-esque", saying that it "does almost everything just a tiny bit better than it needs to" and "relishes its campy heritage from the title card onward",[10] while Paste's Jim Vorel wrote, "It has a motor on it, propelling itself through its under-80 minute runtime without ever taking a breath ...
Describing the latter, which follows an eccentric demon hunter, The Austin Chronicle said it was full of "belly laughs" and noted, "[Mendez has never] hit quite the right tone in his films to date ...
[13] His next film as director was the 2022 anthology feature Satanic Hispanics, of which Paste said, "The way these stories all blend into one darkly hilarious, deliciously violent stew is almost hypnotic".