A superb film which stands head-and-shoulders above the usual backwoods slasher movie.

       The film opens with a couple of hunters being terrorised, and one of them being killed by, a hulking ,barely glimpsed menace that hangs back in the shadows, watching, clutching a meaty machete and sniggering like Muttly (as in Dastardly and Muttly from WACKY RACES!)- something which should be ridiculous, but is, in fact, rather disturbing. One of the hunters manages to flee into the dark, after hearing the screams of his friend- the killer’s sniggering and piggy squealing ringing in his ears... The film then takes what would seem to be a highly generic turn- introducing five teenagers travelling into the deep woods in a mobile home, listening incidentally to Blondie’s ‘Heart of Glass’. They stumble upon the home of the forest ranger- a miscast George Kennedy,( I mean, it’s like Leslie Nielsen, you just can’t take the man seriously after AIRPLANE!- especially as, in JUST BEFORE DAWN he spends a fair bit of his time either talking to plants or his horse, Agatha! ). I digress... Kennedy warns them against camping around the wooded mountain. One of the teens explains that he has been left land there and has the deeds to prove it. "The mountain don’t read", intones Kennedy ominously. Brushing off the doom-saying the teens ignore his veiled warning and bundle back in the camper. Kennedy just manages another jibe- "At least tell me where you’re going so when you don’t come back I’ll know how to fill out the report!", as their vehicle disappears further into the woods. They come across the hunter, who had escaped from the killer, raving about "Demons, DEMONS!". Surmising the only demons around here come from the bottle of moonshine he is clutching, they choose to ignore his inebriated pleas not to be left on his own and leave him staggering and spluttering. As they pull away the man sees the killer jump from the dense woodland and attach himself to their vehicle- unbeknownst to the happy campers inside. Eventually the trail becomes too narrow for the mobile home and they continue on foot, setting up camp by a picturesque waterfall. They go about their care-free teen business; disco dancing around the campfire; skinny-dipping and discussing make-up. Only one of the girls- Constance, begins to sense that something is amiss and starts to become a little jumpy. Her boyfriend reassures her, "There’s nothing out there but God’s little creatures, they’re more scared of you than you are of them."- wrong! It is only on the sudden discovery of a backwoods family- who make their presence known by blowing away the group’s groovy, disco blaring tape recorder with a shotgun (!), that the rest of the group have any inkling of their fate. But despite more warnings to get away from where they are not wanted, the group continues to plunge deeper into the wilderness. All the while a presence keeps a silent vigil watching their every move, the hulking shape with gleaming machete only a few steps behind...

       JUST BEFORE DAWN is clearly part of the backwoods slasher cycle initiated by the success of FRIDAY THE 13TH (1980), but, as with, Lieberman’s other, earlier, genre films- the excellent, and distinctive, SQUIRM and BLUE SUNSHINE (both 1976), it manages to somehow transcend it’s limitations. Despite a myriad of influences, everything from THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE (1974) to DELIVERANCE (1972) and the slew of then-in-vogue teenie-kill epics, JUST BEFORE DAWN carves itself out a special niche. Although, essentially, it is another city people vs. homicidal country folk, the boundaries are a little more blurred than in, say, MOTHER’S DAY (1980)- where the differences and similarities between both camps are purposefully exaggerated to the point of become a live action gore cartoon and broad social pastiche. In JUST BEFORE DAWN the townies do commit faux-pas’, like dropping their rubbish onto the woodland floor, but you get the feeling this isn’t why they are being hunted- they would be hunted down regardless. The teens are also not portrayed as complete fish out of water, Constance, it is mentioned, is a climbing champion. And they seem completely at ease in the wilderness, whilst still enjoying the trappings of modern life- the girls are constantly fixing their make up. They are also not your average bunch of teens. There is a bit of the expected high, and low, jinks, but they are a likeable bunch who are uniformly well played. The killers- there are two, twin brothers (not something the film keeps hidden for long), are complete ciphers. In the same way Michael Myers in HALLOWEEN (1978) had no personality, no face; these shambling hunks of meat similarly are blank canvas’, giggling killing machines with no rhyme-nor-reason. The film hints at the origins of their homicidal tendencies; inbreeding or townies trespassing, but there never is a clear motive. You just kind of get the feeling these graceless monsters just enjoy the feeling of embedding their machetes into flesh.

       The natural surroundings, the woods appear to be both benign and intimidating. Instead of being part of the action like in his earlier SQUIRM, where nature actually revolts, it just appears to be a lifeless, if scenic, voyeur. Watching the action unfold, like a dead fishes eye. Running water seems to be a visual theme and, at times, it is in every shot; be it babbling brook or waterfall. A soothing backdrop, but one which will prove fatal for one of the campers. It also provides the backdrop for one of the film’s most effective moments, where one of the girls, who is skinny-dipping, is grabbed and pawed by one of the killers from under the water. She thinks it is her boyfriend- who had pretended to drown only minutes before, until she sees him stagger from the lake at the waters edge. Kind of updating the classic ‘if-I’m-not-holding-your-hand-then-whose-hand-am-I-holding?’ scare from THE HAUNTING (1963).

       There are two further stand out scenes. The first where two of the teens are kissing- intentionally trying to tease the girls prankster boyfriend, who they think is watching them, but who is in-fact already dead. The boy, who has misplaced his glasses, watches with bemusement over the girl’s shoulder as a blurred, lumbering shape emerges from the bushes and shambles towards them. Not only until the killer is actually almost upon them does the boy realise it is not his errant brother and, by then, it is too late. He falls to the floor, a machete messily protruding from his stomach (click here to see screen grabs from this scene  ).... The second scene is the once-seen-never-forgotten dénouement where the Constance- the film’s final girl, takes the expected fight back scene to a whole new level of shocking absurdism. For those of you who haven’t seen the film, let’s just say it gives the term ‘fisting’ a whole new meaning!...(if you would like to see what I really mean, click here  )

       It may just of been my hangover that gave this film a slightly ethereal feel. God knows, a bad hangover can give the most mundane occurrence a surreal sheen! But no, from watching some of his other genre films it seems that Lieberman has an uncanny knack of taking the most pedestrian and tired material, and somehow imbuing it with, for want of a better word- magic. A sense of unpredictability, that feeling that something is about to ‘go-off’- a cinematic loose cannon if you like, that doesn’t let the viewer relax into anticipation of generic and safe thrills. Unfortunately, Lieberman’s genre gems are rare things indeed, JUST BEFORE DAWN being his last foray into horror. Whether or not he tired of making genre films, or he simply couldn’t raise any money, I don’t know. But his unique talents seem wasted on straight to video kiddie fair like NEVER ENDING STORY III (1994)- which is the last film he directed.

       JUST BEFORE DAWN is a neglected gem. It may be difficult to track down, but it is more than worth the effort.

BODYCOUNT 6     female:1 / male:5

       1) Male run through with machete
       2) Male teen is pushed from cliff top and drowns
       3) Male teen impaled on a machete  
       4) Female teen killed (method not seen)
       5) Male shot dead
       6) Male chokes to death on girl's fist!          

Click here:      to read my interview with Jeff Lieberman!        

Click here:       to see US one-sheet cinema poster