Yes, it’s true. I actually review movies. It has been quite a while. I’m also feeling a little windy, so bear with me.

Just Before Dawn is an old school slasher that I remember watching as a youth, back in the very early 80’s. I have a vivid memory of this time of my life for some reason. I remember this movie scaring me to the point that I walked out and didn’t watch the rest of it, despite it being in the middle of the day. I’m not sure why I tortured myself with these things. I have been looking for old obscure movies of this genre to revisit my childhood. Apparently I was onto something way back then, because at the Horrorfind convention a couple months ago, every vendor I visited had a stack of Just Before Dawns. Nobody had it the year before. Hopefully when I go back next year they will all have a stack of Boarding Houses.

The story is about a group of campers (3 dudes, 2 girls) who go off into the deep woods to look at a piece of land that one of them has recently inherited. We are talking deep woods here (in real life it is in Oregon somewhere). Anyway, they end up crossing paths with a cruel inbred killing machine who shows no mercy on their greenhorn asses.

This really is a movie apart from your ordinary slasher. It’s really quite smart. I also watched the director’s commentary for this movie, so I feel I know a little more about it. The character development is done very well. Everything is not what it seems. The manly outdoorsman Warren turns out to be frightened and useless, while the squeamish city girl Constance evolves into a battle tested survivor type. It’s really a unique transformation, in that the more womanly she gets, the tougher she gets. In the beginning she dresses like a tomboy and is very nervous. As the movie progresses she gets tougher. She also starts putting on makeup and wearing high cut shorts and sexier outfits, all while in the middle of the woods miles away from civilization! Anyway, very unique.

Another aspect of this movie is the tension and certain circumstances of some of the scenes. In some scenes, dramatic building music is left out. In one chilling scene, you see a girl and a guy swimming around in a pond in the woods. In the background you see the killer jump from a waterfall into the water and start moving towards them. There is no dramatic music at this point. There is nothing. Despite the fact that the backwoods killer then does some impressive breathholding and underwater navigating, the overall effect is quite thrilling. In another scene, the killer jumps right onto the top of the camper they are driving around in. The driver would easily see the guy hanging on the back of the camper except for the fact that one of the girls is using the rear view movie to put on makeup. This creates an eerie reality that the killer is feet away from the campers WAY before the heads start rolling.

The gore in this movie is effective but not in great abundance. I still question whether I got the uncut version or not. I can’t imagine somebody re-releasing a movie in double disc format after 20 years and not giving me the uncut version. Stranger things have happened. I actually read a thread that says this movie is indeed cut. I can’t confirm this. If this is the case, for the people who cut this, please fucking die.

There isn’t much nudity in this flick. You get a half naked girl (and guy) frolicking in a pond. You would expect more from an 80’s slasher flick with teenagers in the woods.

The scenery and atmosphere of this film are breathtaking. This was actually filmed in the middle of the woods far away from people. You see massive waterfalls and beautiful country and stuff.

The acting in this movie is pretty good. Some of the scenes are a little hokey (dancing around a campfire to a terrible 80’s tune), but for the most part the acting is pretty authentic. Throw in George Kennedy as a forest ranger to boot. The actor playing the killer is downright creepy as shit. He’s a big fat dirty redneck and he’s brutal. He giggles like a little kid and knows how to use a machete. I firmly believe that he is what made me walk out of my living room in mortal fear as a young Paynecraft.

There are a few WTF moments. In one instance, a girl loses her makeup. She exclaims that a raccoon must have taken it and she tells her boyfriend to go out into the middle of the woods and go look for it. The boyfriend sees nothing wrong with her reasoning and happily obliges her. I would have attacked her argument on several different levels, not the least being that I’m a lazy bastard and wouldn’t wanna go nosing around in the woods waiting for a grizzly bear to shove a bee’s hive up my ass.

Well, I’m approaching 1,000 words, so I better wrap this up. Overall, this is a great slasher film. You might think it resembles a cross between Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Deliverance. The director himself nods to Deliverance inspirations, but admits that he has never seen Texas Chainsaw Massacre. At any rate, it stands on its own. Somebody did a great service by re-releasing this, though they did a greater disservice if in fact they did edit it. I recommend it to everybody. Paynecraft the Longwinded gives this movie 8 out of 10 Fistings I would never want to be a part of. Ordinarily, I would at least entertain the idea.

Damn, I almost forgot about the little whistling theme to the movie. A VERY creepy six note tune, especially in the context of the movie.