Just Before Dawn

A bit late on the scene of slasher flicks where a group of young campers runs afoul of a psychotic backwoods family, but just before the dawn of annoying self-aware, deconstructionist horror comedies. Just Before Dawn is generally unremarkable, shoddily produced, and inferior to its sources of inspiration. Still, it has a certain innocence and straightforwardness that can still be appreciated three smart-alecky decades later. Sometimes you just want to hear a girl scream like crazy.

Theatrical cut. Kind of bland in the killings department since you hardly see anything. At least the film keeps things moving and doesn't really seem slow. There's a lot of nighttime outdoor scenes but it's filmed well, unlike a lot of dark muddled scenes in other scary movies. Can't complain about bad character decisions in a horror film. The location is beautiful. Silly ending (but creative). Fav scene: the twist at the church was done quite well with seeds planted in the beginning.

Starts off kinda dumb and very predictable but as events unfold it begins to set itself apart more and more. Its tactics of revealing more information to the audience than the characters to build suspense aren't handled too well and end up making things seem more ridiculous instead. By the end it's a little more off the beaten path than most, but not as much as the filmmakers may have thought. The end reveal could probably been handled better and is something of a let down. Recommended for rent.

this was recommended to me as "deliverance for idiots". turns out i'm an idiot.

this is a grindhouse movie..the acting is so over the top bad..and the story is predictable,,but it has some good little gore scenes and the characters were fun...

Mother's Day Vs. Leatherface/s unmasked. Great antagonists, but unfortunately the plot and deaths couldn't match them. Except for, of course, the final death!

When your friends are killed you left your girl friend "alone" and go to look for keys in the middle of night "alone". Very smart indeed! You need to increase chances of being killed. And what about that most stupid way to kill at the end?

I have never seen the killer in a slasher film killed off the way they are here. The rest of the film is ok.

Killer rednecks prey on campers. Not bad

Brutal, effective addition to the "Killer in the woods" subgenre of slasher movies.

Though its simple, tired "killer hillbilly" premise isn't the most original, & the killers themselves have a decided lack of personality, there's still a lot to like about this early-80's slasher- believable characters with some actual depth to them, realistic dialogue & interactions, a runtime that doesn't drag things out, & a mostly satisfying conclusion are all things it has going for it. Though it's likely not for everyone, it's very worth a look for genre fans.

51.750

Worth A Watch