Review: Just Before Dawn

Gregg Henry has recently inherited some land, he and his idiot friends (Chris Lemmon, Jamie Rose, Deborah Benson, and Ralph Seymour) head off in an RV to view it. They need to go through mountain terrain to get there, and are duly warned by crazed local Mike Kellin and local ranger George Kennedy that they best turn back. It seems that there’s folks up in those mountains who are hostile to any visitors. Very, very hostile indeed.

 

Kind of a mixture of “Deliverance” (and a forerunner to) 2003’s underrated “Wrong Turn”, this 1981 slasher-esque film is from filmmaker Jeff Lieberman who also made “Squirm” and the mediocre “Satan’s Little Helper”. This one is flawed but clearly a cut above the usual horror flick released in the early 80s. It’s very obviously too slow-moving, and the characters aren’t exactly the most intelligent bunch. However, I’d still watch this film over any of the “Friday the 13^th” films any day of the week, let alone all of the imitators and rip-offs. In fact, Liberman says “Deliverance” was the inspiration and I think comparing this to “Friday the 13^th” is probably pretty insulting to what is a genuinely effective, mostly very well-made and unsettling horror-thriller. “The Hills Have Eyes” is probably a more appropriate comparison, though being released around the time of the first two “Friday the 13^th” films makes the comparisons there inevitable. Honestly, the only issues I really have here are the pacing and the absolutely horrid character played by Jamie Rose. If one were to make a list of the least likeable horror movie protagonists, Rose’s reckless idiot Megan would be damn near the top along with Bart from “Cabin Fever”.

 

Immediately impressive is the music score by frequent 80s presence Brad Fiedel (“The Terminator”, “Fright Night”, “Terminator 2: Judgement Day”). We also have a really creepy use of sound. The director definitely understands sound, silence, and darkness and how to effectively use them for unsettling purposes. The best thing about Fiedel’s score in fact is how judiciously it is used. The film has also been wonderfully shot by Dean and Joel King (the latter of whom has a fair amount of 2^nd Unit camerawork credits), perhaps its biggest asset. It looks more Sam Raimi/Tobe Hooper than “Friday the 13^th” really, almost kinda classy really and looks a bit more expensive than it likely was. Also making one sit up and take notice, the first machete attack is truly painful-looking and brutal. It’s a great opener. Yes, the film is slow-moving but so were “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and “Wolf Creek”, and people herald the former as a genre classic. Unlike those two films, at least this film manages to be creepy and unsettling while we’re waiting for the plot to kick in. “TCM” and “Wolf Creek” kinda just dicked around for about 30 minutes of practically nothing before finally delivering the goods (and indeed they did deliver, I do admire both films). I also have to commend the director for not utilising very many ‘jump’ scares – happy day! Lieberman clearly understands that if you build up enough creepy tension and atmosphere you won’t need many jump scares because you’re on edge expecting something to happen and are already nervous and unsettled.

 

Underrated character actor Gregg Henry (who despite his relatively low billing is clearly the main male protagonist here) and Deborah Benson are pretty likeable, which is good given Ms. Rose in particular is a flagrant idiot of the highest order. Hell, they’re all pretty damn dumb by horror movie standards even, but at least with Henry and Benson they’re somewhat likeable. That’s crucial for me in caring what happens to them. Part of the idiocy is by design, the film has a little bit of “Long Weekend” where these characters are kinda being punished for being reckless idiots. So I accept that to some extent. With Ms. Rose however, she’s begging to be knocked off within mere seconds, she’s a chore to endure. It’s a shame that Henry never quite made it as a lead because he’s a perfectly solid, dependable actor. As for Chris Lemmon, as an actor he’s definitely not his father’s son. His performance is fine, but he lacks presence and charisma. Actually, everyone except Rose is at least solid here. Character actor Mike Kellin makes for an effective ‘Crazy Ralph’ character, and burly veteran George Kennedy is always enjoyable, and doesn’t talk down to the material at all. There’s a pretty unique dispatch at the climax that’ll likely surprise you and a rather unusual ending that I kinda admired too.

 

Slow-moving, but great-looking and sounding backwoods terror film is really quite effective and creepy. It’s no world beater, but it still stands out quite a bit from the otherwise fairly sorry backwoods horror pack (There’s this, “Wrong Turn”, “The Hills Have Eyes” and what else?). I think it deserves to be much, much more well-known. I can’t understand why this film has been so neglected whilst genre fans rave over the simplistic “Friday the 13^th” films and the frankly overrated “Bay of Blood”. Really solid genre film worth checking out if you haven’t already. Just be a bit patient. I won’t be grading it solely as a horror film, so if you want you can boost the rating up a notch or two if you’re looking at it from a genre-specific point of view, it’s certainly a superior backwoods terror film. The screenplay is by Mark Arywitz (his only writing credit) and the director, under the pseudonym Gregg Irving.

 

Rating: B-