Just Before Dawn (1981)

“There’s nothing out there but God’s little creatures, more scared of you than you are of them.” – Warren

Number of Times Seen – 1 (5 Sep 2020)

Brief Synopsis – A group of teenagers travel into the mountains of Oregon to party on property inherited by one of them but they don’t expect a killer with a machete to show up and start to attack them.

My Take on it – I’ve never been a fan of slasher type horror movies yet decided to give this one a shot.

The story is pretty shallow and they never really give us enough of a plot or exposition of the story along the way which makes this a mediocre and typical slasher film.

Watching this kind of film has two purposes:

Firstly, one wants to see the various ways that these characters will die as they try to run from this machete wielding killer.

And secondly, there might be some curiosity to see which order these characters will die in along with trying to ascertain who (if any) will make it out alive since we all know that most characters in these kind of films are there as canon fodder.

I did like the way that they present the forest atmosphere that makes things look natural and even pastoral in certain scenes despite the fact that they keep plastering it all with blood along the way.

There are a few nice twists in this movie that helps make things slightly more interesting and enjoyable, but unfortunately when looking at it all on a whole, there is not much here that can be considered unique or special.

Bottom Line – Typical slasher film that has very little exposition and plot. The main purpose of watching this movie is to try and see how each kill happens and to try and ascertain who will be the next victim. None of the characters are developed at al and they all are equally served as canon fodder. The forest views are enjoyable to watch when they aren’t plastered with blood. The film has a few small twists that help make it slightly more enjoyable, but overall, there is nothing really unique about this film.

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Director Jeff Lieberman said that countless strangers showed up at the filming location on the day that the scene of Jamie Rose swimming topless was to be filmed. Lieberman said that word of this shoot had apparently gotten out amongst the local Forest Rangers. (From IMDB)

Rating – Razzie Worthy (4/10)