Kill Bill: Vol. 2 is a 2004 American martial arts revenge film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, and the second instalment in the story begun in Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003). Uma Thurman returns as Beatrix Kiddo, a former member of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad who survived an attempt on her life during her wedding rehearsal. Continuing her pursuit of those responsible, she sets out to kill Bill’s younger brother Budd (Michael Madsen), fellow assassin Elle Driver (Daryl Hannah) and finally Bill himself (David Carradine). The film also stars Gordon Liu as the martial arts master Pai Mei and Michael Parks as Esteban Vihaio, a retired Mexican gangster who once acted as a father figure to Bill.
Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004) was filmed primarily in Southern California, with additional filming in China and Mexico. Both parts of Kill Bill were produced together between June 2002 and March 2003, before being separated into two films for theatrical release. The second instalment makes extensive use of California’s Mojave Desert, with locations around Lancaster, Barstow and Victorville representing the American Southwest. Other scenes were filmed in Downtown Los Angeles, while the Chinese sequences used historic temple buildings in Zhongwei and studio facilities in Beijing. The Mexican coastline around Costa Careyes in Jalisco provided the setting for Beatrix’s final confrontation with Bill.
One of the film’s most important locations is the Two Pines Wedding Chapel, filmed at the Sanctuary Adventist Church at 19809 East Avenue G in Hi Vista, a small desert community east of Lancaster, California. The church represents a chapel outside El Paso, Texas, where Beatrix, living under the name Arlene Machiavelli, is preparing to marry record store owner Tommy Plympton (Christopher Allen Nelson). During the rehearsal, Bill unexpectedly arrives and speaks privately with Beatrix outside the building. Their conversation is interrupted when the other members of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad arrive and open fire inside the chapel, killing the wedding party and leaving Beatrix critically wounded. The sequence expands on the massacre briefly shown in the first film, revealing the circumstances surrounding Beatrix’s attempted departure from her former life.
The church was originally constructed in the 1930s as the Hi Vista Community Hall and was operating as Calvary Baptist Church when the production arrived in 2002. Its isolated position at a desert crossroads was particularly important to location manager Doug Dresser and assistant location manager Kyle Oliver, who wanted a building surrounded by roads stretching into the open landscape. Production designer David Wasco and set decorator Sandy Reynolds-Wasco substantially altered the building for filming. They removed the suspended ceiling to expose the wooden roof beams, replaced the existing carpeting with a wooden floor and installed traditional church pews, stained-glass details and wood panelling. A new porch and exterior steps were also added to the entrance. Several of these alterations remained after filming, and the building subsequently became widely known as the Kill Bill Church. The same church had previously appeared in True Confessions (1981), Inferno (1999) and Crossroads (2002).
The desert surroundings of Budd’s trailer were filmed at Mule Canyon in the Calico Hills, east of Barstow and close to the former mining town of Calico. The location is reached by Mule Canyon Road, which runs northeast from Yermo Road into a landscape of eroded hills and multicoloured rock formations. In the film, Budd lives alone in a battered trailer surrounded by discarded belongings and desert scrub. Beatrix approaches the property at night, intending to kill him, but Budd anticipates her arrival and shoots her in the chest with a shotgun loaded with rock salt. He then disarms her and arranges to bury her alive rather than kill her immediately.
Mule Canyon also provides the exterior setting for the later confrontation between Beatrix and Elle Driver. Elle arrives at Budd’s trailer carrying a suitcase containing one million dollars, which she has agreed to pay for Beatrix’s sword. Budd opens the case and is bitten by a black mamba hidden among the money, dying before he can retaliate. Shortly afterwards, Beatrix returns to the trailer, having escaped from the grave, and attacks Elle. Their fight moves through the confined living space, overturning furniture and damaging the interior before Beatrix tears out Elle’s remaining eye. The rocky hills surrounding the trailer are visible in the exterior shots, establishing the isolated location where both confrontations take place.
Budd’s workplace, the fictional My Oh My strip club, was filmed at Sam’s Hofbrau at 1751 East Olympic Boulevard in Downtown Los Angeles. The real establishment provided the club’s interior, including its bar and the office where Budd is confronted by his employer Larry, played by Larry Bishop. During the scene, Larry reprimands Budd for his attitude, appearance and repeated lateness, eventually removing him from his regular duties. The location contrasts with the desert trailer where Budd lives, showing his employment at a working strip club rather than the more glamorous surroundings associated with his former life as an assassin. Sam’s Hofbrau had previously appeared in Tarantino’s Jackie Brown (1997), where it was also used as a strip club.
The cemetery where Budd buries Beatrix alive was filmed at Mountain View Cemetery, at 37067 Irwin Road in Barstow, California. The cemetery appears as Budd and his accomplice transport Beatrix in a coffin to a freshly prepared grave, identified by a wooden marker as the Lonely Grave of Paula Schultz. The scene includes the coffin being lowered into the ground and covered with soil while Beatrix remains conscious inside. She eventually manages to escape by using the close-range punching technique she learned from Pai Mei, breaking through the coffin lid and digging upwards through the earth. The burial scene was filmed at the real cemetery, although the enclosed shots inside the coffin required a separate controlled filming environment. The fictional grave is situated within a cemetery that continues to operate in northern Barstow.
After escaping, Beatrix walks into Emma Jean’s Holland Burger Café at 17143 North D Street in Victorville, along the historic Route 66 corridor. Covered in dirt and exhausted from her ordeal, she takes a seat at the counter and calmly asks for a glass of water. The brief scene was filmed inside the actual roadside restaurant, with its counter and surrounding dining area visible as the employee reacts to her appearance. Emma Jean’s was established in 1947 by Bob and Kate Holland and later became associated with Emma Jean Gentry, whose family continued operating the business. The café’s original roadside character made it suitable for the scene without extensive alterations, and its appearance in Kill Bill: Vol. 2 became one of its best-known connections to popular culture.
The extended flashback showing Beatrix’s martial arts training was filmed in China, where the production used both Beijing Film Studios and the historic Gao Miao temple complex in Zhongwei, Ningxia. The temple, originally established during the Ming dynasty, contains numerous halls, courtyards and traditional Chinese architectural features. After completing work at Beijing Film Studios, the production travelled to Zhongwei for approximately one week of location filming. The location represents the remote White Lotus Temple, where Bill brings Beatrix to study under Pai Mei, played by Gordon Liu. The imposing stairways and temple buildings provide the setting for her arrival and subsequent training under the elderly martial arts master.
The Chinese sequences show Beatrix struggling through Pai Mei’s demanding instruction, including repeated exercises in close-range punching, balance and physical endurance. Among the most important is the technique of striking a wooden board from only a few inches away, which initially leaves her hands bruised and bleeding. Pai Mei also forces her to carry water up the temple steps and subjects her to exhausting daily exercises. The temple’s courtyards, stairways and traditional buildings are incorporated into these sequences, while additional material was filmed using constructed sets and interiors. The production returned to Beijing Film Studios after completing the temple photography. The location work included Uma Thurman, Gordon Liu and Daryl Hannah, whose character Elle Driver had also trained under Pai Mei before her expulsion.
For the final section, the production moved to Mexico, where Beatrix travels to find Esteban Vihaio, a former criminal associate of Bill who operates a brothel. Although the story places their meeting in the border town of Ciudad Acuña, the scene was filmed at an existing rural brothel inland from Costa Careyes, on Mexico’s Pacific coast. Tarantino wanted to use a genuine establishment rather than recreate one on a studio lot, and the production located a simple open-sided building with a thatched roof and dirt floor, situated across the road from a pig slaughterhouse.
The filmmakers altered the brothel by installing a small bar, jukebox, lamps, tables and additional furnishings while preserving the basic structure. The scene was filmed on 12 February 2003, with Larissa MacFarquhar of The New Yorker present during the shoot. Michael Parks appears as Esteban, an elderly man in a wheelchair who describes his relationship with Bill while Beatrix questions him about her former lover’s whereabouts. Several women who worked at the establishment appeared as background performers. The production also incorporated animals from the neighbouring slaughterhouse into the surroundings. Shortly before filming, a murder at the original premises caused the establishment to close temporarily and relocate a short distance away, but the production managed to find the operators and complete the scene.
Bill’s residence was filmed in Costa Careyes, an exclusive coastal development in the Costa Alegre region of Jalisco, approximately 150 kilometres south of Puerto Vallarta. The area is known for its large private villas, unusual Mediterranean-inspired architecture and properties overlooking the Pacific Ocean. One of these residences became Bill’s secluded Mexican home, where Beatrix arrives after learning his location from Esteban. The entrance and interior rooms appear as she walks through the property and discovers that her daughter B.B. (Perla Haney-Jardine), whom she believed had died, is alive and living with Bill.
The residence provides the setting for the final conversation between Beatrix and Bill, which takes place after B.B. has gone to sleep. The characters sit together in a spacious room overlooking the surrounding grounds, where Bill questions Beatrix about her decision to abandon him and the assassination squad. Their confrontation culminates in Beatrix using the Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique that Pai Mei secretly taught her. Bill walks away from the table and collapses after taking five steps, bringing the revenge story to an end. The scenes were filmed at the real coastal property, with its architecture, rooms and exterior surroundings forming the setting for the final encounter.
Sam’s Hofbrau
Sam’s Hofbrau is best known from Quentin Tarantino’s "Jackie Brown" (1997) and "Kill Bill: Vol. 2" (2004). In both films, the location is used as a strip club.
Two Pines Chapel
Two Pines Chapel appears in Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003), Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004), and True Confessions (1981).