Will Anyone Survive Those Hours Just Before Dawn?
In the Oregon mountains, a pair of hunters encounter a machete-wielding killer in an abandoned church. Meanwhile, five campers arrive to examine some property one of them has inherited but are warned by the forest ranger not to venture forth. Soon after they set up camp, they begin hearing strange noises, encounter a mysterious singing girl and start disappearing one by one.
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Character
Grave, earnest, classical in form and unpretentious.
- gravecomic
- earnestironic
- classical in formformally daring
- unpretentiousprestige
- warmbleak
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Reviews on TMDB
Written by TMDB members; each links to the original. Not part of Tastebuds's numbers.
- Wuchakon TMDB · Nov 20247/10
**_“Friday the 13th” meets “Deliverance”_** Five friends take a trip out to Silver Lake in the Great Northwest because one of them has inherited property in the remote hills, but the ranger warns them of ambiguous dangers (George Kennedy) and there are questionable inbred locals. Will any make it out alive? "Just Before Dawn" (1981) came out a year and a half after "Friday the 13th" and mixes the basics of that movie with “Deliverance.” The underrated "Trapped,” aka "Baker County, USA" came out the next year and was no doubt influenced by it. I suppose this is the least of these four movies, but it’s very effective and far superior to the contemporaneous “Don’t Go in the Woods,” which is a lousy example of the genre. It surely inspired "The Final Terror,” "Berserker” and “Blood Hook” but none of those are as good. What makes it so good? The northwest Oregon locations are outstanding and the dramatics are compelling enough with a quality no-name cast (except, of course, for the well-known Kennedy). Like “Madhouse” (1981), there’s an element that didn’t come into vogue with slashers until fifteen years later in “Scream.” On top of all this is Deborah Benson as Constance, aka Connie.
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Cast
- George KennedyRoy McLean
- Mike KellinTy
- Chris LemmonJonathan
- Gregg HenryWarren
- Deborah BensonConstance
- Ralph SeymourDaniel
- Katie PowellMerry Cat Logan
- John HunsakerMountain Twins
- Charles BartlettVachel
- Jamie RoseMegan
Crew
- Jeff LiebermanDirector
- Jeff LiebermanScreenplay
- Mark ArywitzScreenplay
- Dean KingDirector of Photography
- Joel KingDirector of Photography
- Brad FiedelOriginal Music Composer
- Robert Q. LovettEditor
- David SheldonProducer
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