Dawn of the Crescent Moon (2014)

Pretty Good

One of my all time favorites.

Better Late Then Never

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Yes, you read correctly - ''A supernatural thriller about five college students.'' Pretty much sums up just about every horror movie ever created. The characters include - Mr. Nice Guy/Dumb Blonde/Emo Chick/Asian Guy/Wise Cracking Buffoon/Random Stranger. I won't mention the hillbilly who warns our five college students of the dangers ahead... Oops! Well, at least they left out the African American guy who dies first, right? Guess you'll have to watch to find out - I'm not giving it all away! As cliché as the characters are - the actors playing the roles aren't exactly top notch either. They're fairly terrible. Lauren Leal is probably the worst actress I've seen in a while. The plot is the usual - kids go research the 'Legend of Blood Lake.' Hmm, I wonder if this is the same lake in 'Terror at Blood fart Lake?' Maybe.Random Ramblings of a Madman: 'Dawn of the Crescent Moon' is a dull horror film with bad characters, bad actors, bad directing, bad dialogue, and horrible make up. When I say headache inducing, I'm being literal - It's not often a film is so bad, I'm left with a pounding headache. Reminder to myself - If I ever meet Barry Corbin, do not allow him to tell me any stories.

The story revolves around a group of college students researching a the legend of Blood Lake. "Dawn Of The Crescent Moon" is what I would image the deacon at a church would check out and say "hey this is actually okay enough to show the kiddies in the daycare" or something close to that, anyway it is milder than the over-dramatized screaming teams squalling over their aborted fetuses. The story is framed around what should be a pretty scary legend, filled with plenty of rich material. Why this film was watered down to a melodramatic farce I have no idea. I really wasn't expecting much from the film, but I was expecting something. Basically the story arch feels contrived and staged in segments- a bit polished and cookie cutter. With all the yummy flavor of a rice cracker. The characters were written to the point of being grandiose. Some moments are just ridiculous.The cast give decent performances, even though the dialog, backstories and set-up were a bit to epic for a story about college friends doing a simple project about a known legend for some mythology course. I have really only seen these kinds off narratives on daytime and primetime drama series. The cinematography and sets are pretty awesome and would have provided for some really nice chills. Again I just don't know why they bothered to tell a "horror" story without the horror. It was just drama. I swear it is like some church came up and said "hey lets tell a spooky story to the kiddies". There is basically no real special effects to note. What does make its way on screen is basic cable drama effects with simple CGI. There were two moments I think that trickled some blood but nothing really "boo radley" worth mentioning. The sound effects and camera work are the only things that tease any sort of horror element to "Dawn Of The Crescent Moon". I didn't enjoy the film, I kind of felt let down. But again if you wanna suggest this to your church to show during the Halloween season then go for it.