The story revolves around a group of college students researching a the legend of Blood Lake. "Dawn Of The Crescent Moon" is what I would image the deacon at a church would check out and say "hey this is actually okay enough to show the kiddies in the daycare" or something close to that, anyway it is milder than the over-dramatized screaming teams squalling over their aborted fetuses.
The story is framed around what should be a pretty scary legend, filled with plenty of rich material. Why this film was watered down to a melodramatic farce I have no idea. I really wasn't expecting much from the film, but I was expecting something. Basically the story arch feels contrived and staged in segments- a bit polished and cookie cutter. With all the yummy flavor of a rice cracker. The characters were written to the point of being grandiose. Some moments are just ridiculous.
The cast give decent performances, even though the dialog, backstories and set-up were a bit to epic for a story about college friends doing a simple project about a known legend for some mythology course. I have really only seen these kinds off narratives on daytime and primetime drama series. The cinematography and sets are pretty awesome and would have provided for some really nice chills. Again I just don't know why they bothered to tell a "horror" story without the horror. It was just drama. I swear it is like some church came up and said "hey lets tell a spooky story to the kiddies".
There is basically no real special effects to note. What does make its way on screen is basic cable drama effects with simple CGI. There were two moments I think that trickled some blood but nothing really "boo radley" worth mentioning. The sound effects and camera work are the only things that tease any sort of horror element to "Dawn Of The Crescent Moon". I didn't enjoy the film, I kind of felt let down. But again if you wanna suggest this to your church to show during the Halloween season then go for it.
