Just Before Dawn (1981)

Very Cool!!!

Perfect cast and a good story

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

I somehow stumbled across 'Just Before Dawn' on the IMDb a week or so ago and read the synopsis which promised a "genuinely shocking twist". So being a lover of twists (and horror) I went and tracked down a copy to give it a look. What I got was a film with nothing remotely like a "genuinely shocking twist", but a film that had enough going on to keep the viewer interested and watching, and thus became passable.The twist really didn't have a lot going for it. It was poorly revealed (a very key element to any twist) and just frankly wasn't that shocking. It changed almost nothing regarding the story or plot. In later years the "two killer" twist would be perfected by the 'Scream' series directed by Wes Craven proving it's a twist that can work if executed correctly. Here it was not.There's just enough here to keep a modern audience satisfied and nothing more. Horror really hasn't aged well from the 70's and 80's. Back in 1981 this may have been a well made, horrifying story but in the modern age it simply can't hold a candle to what is being produced. That's why it's always tough to go back and watch old horror movies. I've certainly seen worse from around the same era, but I've also seen better. I don't think this one will stick in my memory.

I don't think these kids needed serial-killing hicks at all. Judging from their pre-attack forest activities, they would have done themselves in without anybody's assistance. Walking over a wafer-thin bridge, and quite literally rolling like balls down a steep hill is probably more of a threat to the average human than machete-waving hell-fire twin demons ever could be.Especially fat "demons". These spree-killing hicks must weigh at least 150 kilos apiece, which makes me wonder: how come they don't shed any of that weight while on their speedy forest trips? You ought to see how one of them throws himself on a moving van, and then climbs all over it like a spider. Utter nonsense, because the movie isn't a supernatural horror flick.Then again, this IS a slasher film. No need to go into too much detail over its continual idiocy. There is certainly no need to mention that the blond guy leaves his girlfriend ALL ALONE in camp at night, while he looks for their missing friends. I also see no point whatsoever in mentioning that a little later one half of the killer twins chops down a tree in what must be a new logging world record in machete-cutting, while the blond screams hysterically atop it. Forests are generally quiet – certainly compared to cities – but there is no sense in me telling you that Sheriff Kennedy failed to hear either her ear-piercing screams or the noise of the tree-cutting in spite of being in the vicinity.Should I mention that the red-head is fondled underwater by unseen human hands which brings her into justifiable hysterics? Yet, later that evening she is happily dancing, apparently having completely forgotten her harrowing "super-natural" experience; this is one of the quickest mental recoveries from a bone-chilling incident ever witnessed in a horror film. However, that didn't help her much when she got hacked to death a day later. In fact, she was far too relaxed considering that an invisible "demon" had just fondled her in a lake a little earlier.While you know that JBD is a retarded slasher film, there is one thing you definitely don't know: the movie has telepathic powers. No, really, it does. It read my mind and had somebody shoot down the stereo playing that awful 80s pop music. Just how did the movie know I wanted to shoot it down myself? Magic.It's hard to believe the premise that a spectacular waterfall would somehow be an out-of-the-way don't-go-there type of place, when in reality the locals – in-bred or not - would be making bundles of money from tourists flocking to see it. This is one of the movie's main attractions, the waterfalls, and the locations. That and the red-head's boobs. The female cast is very attractive.Still, there is an element of weirdness (even a trace of, dare I say, originality) amidst all the clichés, but I can't quite put my finger on it, or at least not all of my fingers. I might put my index finger on the scene in which the blond girl kills one of the hicks by sticking half her arm inside his throat, chocking him to death. I half-expected him to bite her hand off but for some reason fatty Leatherface didn't think of that. That entire last bit is bizarre.

The mountainous woods, young happy campers, a warning by a park ranger and a lurking figure. The ingredients are there for a horror delight, and director/co-writer Jeff Lieberman does an adequate job at achieving it. It's formulaic woodland horror, but for most part the execution is at the top the game and the story (which is quite basic in a trimmed sense) is effectively told in certain realism. Maybe a little more exposition wouldn't have gone astray, but Lieberman's craftsmanship makes up for the material's flaws and typical details with rising tension, moody visuals and a smothering atmosphere created by Brad Fiedel's very ominously lingering score. Whenever that very creepy whistling was cued in, it painted a truly unnerving sense that settled in with the beautiful backdrop. Cinematographers Dean M. and Joel King do a striking job too. There's plenty of style abound, even with its minimal scope and the build-up is slow grinding. At times the pacing can become a stop-and-go affair. It's not particularly violent, but there's still a mean-streak evident even if some of it happens of screen. The latter chase scenes and escalating fear is well done, as it has the darkness coming alive with itS burly killer/s and you get actor George Kennedy riding his white horse in a slight, but wonderful turn. There's a likable bunch of performances; Deborah Benson makes for a strong, dashing heroine. Gregg Henry, Chris Lemmon Ralph Seymour, Jamie Rose, Mike Kellin and Katie Powell round off a modest cast of believable deliveries. The final climax is rather twisted, but the ending is one of those types that leave you thinking… "Is that it?" A well-etched backwoods slasher item, which probably plays it a little too safe to truly set it apart from the norm.

Just Before Dawn (1982) ** (out of 4) Five hikers go into the mountains to look around only to run into a murderous, deformed redneck. I was really looking forward to this one but in the end I was left really disappointed. The movie is technically well made but the screenplay and story leave a lot to be desired. The biggest problem for me was that none of the characters were very interesting. I really didn't care which ones lived or died and right from the start it was easy to tell which ones would walk away at the end. Another problem is how stupid the characters are. Yes, horror films must have stupid characters or they'd end before they got started but the ones in this film are so out there that at one point I thought I was watching some sort of spoof but of course wasn't. If you're looking for violent, gory kills like most of the slashers out there around this time then you're going to be disappointed as there aren't many. As I said earlier, there's some nice style in the film and it's certainly well directed but that's not enough to keep the film moving. The best sequence is the opening one where two rednecks are inside a church when the killer shows up.