HNUM²

The plot is simple (as you’d expect from a slasher.) Five teens go camping in the woods, they’re warned to leave by several people, they don’t, they die. It’s something you’ve seen dozens of times, but Just Before Dawn, from 1981, comes from right at the start of the slasher boom of the 80s. Unfortunately, even as early as it was, it still doesn’t really bring anything new to the table. In fact, the lack of gore and the mundane kills detract from it. If there was any real tension or scares, the lack of gore wouldn’t be a problem, but this movie is short on those too.

It’s not all bad though. The locations are beautiful, the acting is pretty good (compared to some of its contemporaries) with some faces horror fans will immediately recognize (Gregg Henry of Slither fame, George Kennedy of Creepshow 2 and Mike Kellin of Sleepaway Camp.) The killer was kinda creepy and the direction was, for the most part, adequate. Unfortunately the standard drops whenever tension or scares were needed.

If you’re a big fan of early 80s slashers, you could do a lot worse than this cross between Friday the 13th and The Hills Have Eyes… but I’d not really recommend it to anyone else.