Just Before Dawn

The mountainous woods, young happy campers, a warning by a park ranger and a lurking figure. The ingredients are there for a horror delight, and director/co-writer Jeff Lieberman does an adequate job at achieving it. It's formulaic woodland horror, but for most part the execution is at the top the game and the story (which is quite basic in a trimmed sense) is effectively told in certain realism. Maybe a little more exposition wouldn't have gone astray, but Lieberman's craftsmanship makes up for the material's flaws and typical details with rising tension, moody visuals and a smothering atmosphere created by Brad Fiedel's very ominously lingering score. Whenever that very creepy whistling was cued in, it painted a truly unnerving sense that settled in with the beautiful backdrop. Cinematographers Dean M. and Joel King do a striking job too. There's plenty of style abound, even with its minimal scope and the build-up is slow grinding. At times the pacing can become a stop-and-go affair. It's not particularly violent, but there's still a mean-streak evident even if some of it happens of screen. The latter chase scenes and escalating fear is well done, as it has the darkness coming alive with itS burly killer/s and you get actor George Kennedy riding his white horse in a slight, but wonderful turn. There's a likable bunch of performances; Deborah Benson makes for a strong, dashing heroine. Gregg Henry, Chris Lemmon Ralph Seymour, Jamie Rose, Mike Kellin and Katie Powell round off a modest cast of believable deliveries. The final climax is rather twisted, but the ending is one of those types that leave you thinking… "Is that it?"

A well-etched backwoods slasher item, which probably plays it a little too safe to truly set it apart from the norm.

Liebermans' entry in the original slasher craze is definitely more well made and intelligent than some. In fact, in making it he wasn't so much inspired by "Friday the 13th" as he was "Deliverance". He and his crew make this a powerfully atmospheric outing, utilizing the real Oregon woods to great effect, and turn it into a fun survival-of-the-fittest yarn, even developing the two main characters in interesting ways.

Five young adults venture into the Oregonian mountains to do some camping and check out the local land that one of them has supposedly inherited. Before long they begin to be victimized by a stealthy, heavyset psychopath.

Slasher movie fanatics who watch this sort of thing for gore and/or nudity will be quite disappointed with Liebermans' film, as it's clear he has a different agenda going on. That's not to say, of course, that the women aren't attractive, or that there isn't some effective nastiness to be enjoyed. But what the director really wants to convey is the need to have a respect for nature - because it CAN kick your ass if you're not prepared. He begins with an intense opening set piece and generates some truly unnerving suspense; this is the kind of film that can have a viewer literally on the edge of their seat. It's also stylishly done; take note of one scene transition in particular. Brad Fiedel, who a few years later gained his fame with his theme for "The Terminator", supplies a music score that is chilling in its subtlety. (The whistling is a really nice touch.)

The better than usual cast features some very familiar actors: Gregg Henry, Ralph Seymour, Jamie Rose, Mike Kellin, Chris Lemmon (Jacks' son), and George Kennedy as the veteran forest ranger who's aware that the area is fraught with danger. The gorgeous Deborah Benson, who really should have been able to enjoy a much more visible career, is a standout as the female lead who starts out as a rather tentative character, starts to cut loose, and ultimately finds her inner strength. John Hunsaker is extremely creepy as the killer.

There's one well executed plot twist along the way, and at the end an innovative and memorable way of dispatching our villain. The pacing is deliberate, the camera-work and cinematography excellent, and the scenery beautiful, in what has to be one of the more unheralded horror films of its time. It comes highly recommended.

Eight out of 10.

Just Before Dawn is a gem of a slasher flick, unfortunately not too many of you guys can see it because it was released in the wake of Friday the 13th and considered one of it's rip-offs. The only version I've seen of JBD is on Paragon VHS, supposedly it is available on a compilation DVD, but I've never seen it. Anyways I digress... More like the Hills Have Eyes than Friday the 13th, this film stands on its own due to it's atmospheric look and style and it's commitment to building it's characters. The film is effectively creepy throughout, never wholly revealing the killer to you, instead masking the killer or killers, through shadows and camera work. The film score is quite haunting and unlike other slasher films it doesn't spike up every time someone moves, it just builds along with the suspense and flows with the story. The film was recently re-made, loosely, as Wrong Turn. If you can find Just Before Dawn I highly recommend watching it, with the lights out.

Silver Falls State Park, Oregon, is the magnificent location where "Just Before Dawn" was filmed. Waterfalls, rock formations, and a lush green forest were used to great advantage. The photography is absolutely stunning for this type of low budget, backwoods, slasher, and adds immeasurably. Acting is totally acceptable, and while the two inbred "knuckle draggers" never speak, there is a menacing tone that permeates the movie. Do not mistakenly believe that this is just another attempt to tag an inferior film onto a single name actor like George Kennedy. This is extremely well made and highly recommended. I'll even go so far as to say, one of the best of it's type, and proves that you don't need buckets of blood to make a great horror film. - MERK

As a jaded fan of 80's horror, I'm shocked that this movie actually lived up to the hype. Most "hidden gems" leave me disappointed when finally seen, but this one actually delivered. The movie is relatively light on gore, but the stalking and killing scenes are surprisingly suspenseful because you actually care about most of these characters. The acting is probably the best your going to get from any slasher movie, and cliched/obnoxious character traits are mostly avoided. The directing and cinematography are also above the standard slasher, and make great use of the forest location and lighting.

I see many of the negative reviews of this movie are based on an old dvd viewing. The fact that I watched a new uncut blu-ray version in 2018, might give me a different perspective.