Dawning Of A Slasher

When I got today's movie, I was looking forward to it some because it is supposed to be one of the lost, underrated horror movies. I knew it was a slasher movie, which I happen to be getting a little tired of. Looking over my blog page, I noticed only a small amount of reviews were for horror movies outside of the slasher genre. I do love slashers but after so many they do get a little old after a while. No matter, I won't let that get in the way of a good movie.

Just Before Dawn (1981) starts out with two guys checking out an old run down church in the middle of the woods. As they are exploring the building, Ty (Mike Kellin) notices someone staring down at the through a hole it the roof. This is the first glimpse of the killer and my first thought was, this guy looks rather chumby to be a killer. He kills off Vachel (Charles Bartlett) while Ty manages to get away. The killing here will make guys squirm I think. I first thought that Vachel was ran through the gut with a long knife but it turns out it was a little lower than that.

Meanwhile, a group of 5 people are coming up the mountain that we discover this is all being set up on. We are introduced to Warren (Gregg Henry) and his girlfriend Constance (Deborah Benson). Warren has some land that his parents bought up on the mountain side. Both of these two have been hiking in the woods before so know their way around. Jonathan (Chris Lemmon) and his girlfriend Megan (Jamie Rose) have come along for the ride. And last, but not least, is Daniel (Ralph Seymour) who comes along to take some photo's of the woods and waterfalls that Warren has been telling him about. Along the way they come across the ranger's station where we meet Roy (George Kennedy). He warns them about going up. Not because there is a killer, he is just worried about 5 inexperianced people being up on the mountain. On further up they run into Ty and he tells them that a demon is after him. They wave this off thinking Ty is just drunk and since they are on the way up, the direction Ty doesn't want to go, they decide to tell him to just follow the road and he will find his way. As they drive away in their RV, the killer jumps onto the back of it leaving Ty standing on the road laughing.

We get to know each character for a bit before they start to be picked off. We also run into a family that lives somewhere near where the campers are. We never find out to much about them though and I was never really able to figure out if the killer was part of this family or not. Either way, the family was scared of something out there that they called the devil. Who will survive the night? Will Roy find out what is going on and be able to help in time?

The effects are very little in Just Before Dawn. Some blood and can see the knife sticking out of people now and then. From what I have been reading on IMDb, the version I watched is a cut version. This is a shame since from what I reading about being cut out would have added a little more gore and some tense moments. The acting is a little hit and miss but, for the most part, well done across the board.

This was the last of the Jeff Lieberman directed movies. I have now watched them all and have given most fairly good reviews. I can add Just Before Dawn to that list. Just Before Dawn does has it faults. It does a good job of bringing up the tenson in spots but it never reaches a point that it should in order to scare. The ending is a little weak but is interesting because of the role reversal of male and female. Even though the killer (look for a nice little twist that is hinted at towards the start of movie about the killer) is chumby, he is very quiet. At times I was very surprised at how close the killer was able to get to the campers at times without being heard and realized that the killer probably grew up in the woods and has learned how to be as quiet as he can. Some more nice things was the use of light and shadow in some of the night scenes. Watching Jonathan and Megan swim in a lake and then seeing the killer slip into the water in the distance was also a nice touch. Speaking of touching, while swimming around, Megan feels Jonathan rubbing and touching her from under the water. We see the killers hand I just assumed that the killer had grabbed and killed Jonathan while he was under the water. This goes on for about a minute or so then Megan see's Jonathan getting out of the water by the shore. That was a pretty creepy moment.

Just Before Dawn could have been better in truth but there have been a lot worse slasher movies. Like the acting, it is hit and miss. If you are a fan of this genre in horror then I suggest you give it a look. I don't think you will be to disappointed by it.
3 out of 5 Squealing like a pig killer