Deadbeat at Dawn

If you liked playing Double Dragon on your Nintendo, you will love this movie! It's about the kind of blokes you'd have in the video game but now it's just about as psycho crazy and atmospheric as Abel Ferrara's Driller Killer. A street-brawler kid quits his gang to live with his girl, but off course it's not that easy to turn his back on the gang.. It's a very simple plot, but it has a certain style and intensity that make up for that lack of complexity. The style, to compare, is a bit between Driller Killer and Richard Kern's short films (The Hardcore Collection). A sometimes psychotic montage with lots of stylish and semi-shocking images and great action scenes with intense gore and a haunting musical score. Or maybe it was just really good weed. Who knows..

...and it´s a damn shame. DEADBEAT is one of the best action flicks ever, a rare gem. a simple plot, unknown actors, and mind-boggling fight scenes. it´s a pity that we lost jim van bebber to drugs, he would have been the new sam peckinpah.

Even without taking a look at the budget, this is one of the most amazing indies I've ever seen. The sheer energy alone bypasses the overused action plot. Kudos to whomever sat down, wrote this, and got enough time to perfect the choreography. It's more believable than most films nowadays.

See this film. Why this film isn't a classic shows that there is no justice in this world. Five stars out of four. A reason to get a DVD player.

While watching Deadbeat @ Dawn I was having a pretty difficult time trying to put a finger on what my feelings were about this film until Keith from the Ravens (I think that's who it was) took a swig of Jack Daniels and chased it w/ a mouth full of Bush beer. I laughed gagging (not the first and definitely not the last time while watching) because that was exactly the taste that this movie was leaving in my mouth : bitter/sour and cheap but a pretty wicked buzz after awhile. Producer/writer/director/actor/editor/stunt choreographer/ special makeup effects artist Jim Van Bebber pulls off some fairly excessive stylized screen violence w/ a minuscule budget but the weakly scripted directionless performances stretches it thin. It's amateur shines through in many scenes containing dialogue and lose editing (especially in the first half) throwing off the pacing; making a fairly short film seem long in the tooth. In the end it feels like Troma w/out any zaniness…Well a little zaniness. Ninja stars and golf club beatings are pretty zany.

It's not hard to see why Jim Van Bebber's grimy expose of gang related turmoil has become such a cherished cult favourite; The film delivers equal dosages of OTT violence, blood letting, action and some highly commendable amateur stunt work and this all wrapped up in a grim and nihilistic tale of retribution. Of course, many independent films comprise and follow similar themes; However, this one further raises the bar with its incredibly bleak depiction of sheer hopelessness as experienced by our protagonist and those around him. The scenes featuring our hero returning home to his father and his obvious shock and disgust at the mental deterioration experienced by said parent are surprisingly powerful - far more so than one would expect from a film of this ilk.

Having said that, ultimately what really will stick with the viewer is the incredible ultra-violence on display; The finale especially is a suitably nasty affair and lets just say, the outcome pretty much negates the possibility of a direct sequel........

Given what Bebber gave us here with this diamond in the rough, it's even more of a shame that he never fulfilled his obvious potential by moving on to bigger things......oh well, even if he were to only be remembered for this effort, it's a heck of a reputation.