20140417: Horror Review--Dead before Dawn

Dead before Dawn

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. Canadian live action feature length film, 2013, rated R, 89 minutes, horror.
2. IMDB: 4.9/10.0 from 2,105 audience ratings.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 'No score yet...' and 38% liked it from 272 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 3.2/5.0 from 60,021 audience ratings.
5. Directed by: April Mullen.  Written by: Tim Doiron.
6. Starring: Devon Bostick as Casper Galloway, Martha MacIsaac as Charlotte Baker, Christopher Lloyd as Horus Galloway, Brandon J. McLaren as Dazzle Darlington, Brittany Allen as Lucy Winthrop, Tim Doiron as Seth Munday, 


2. Setup and Plot
1. Casper has a traumatic experience as a child at his grandfather's curio shop.  He still has nightmares during college.  A particular vessel drops, his father catches it, and his father is transformed for the worse by it.


2. Casper is more than a bit on the wimpish side.  He agrees to mind the curio shop "Occult Barn" for his grandfather while the grandfather receives a lifetime award.  His friends drop by, and he lets them handle the vessel; this is something his grandfather explicitly forbid.  One of his friends drops the vessel and it breaks.


3. The lights go out.  The group makes up a curse, in great detail, then say they are done with the curse's rules.  The lights come back on.  The group agree to meet later to test it out.


4. So, if someone in the group looks directly into someone else's eyes after 10 pm, the targets kills themselves, then return as a mixture of demon and zombie, or zemon.  Unless they reverse the curse before dawn, the group itself will be cursed.


5. That evening, the number of mysterious deaths mount, but many of the 'dead' do not stay dead.  The group re-assembles, realises that they are in deep trouble, then arm themselves.  They go back to the Occult Barn, and tell Horus about the incident and the curse.  Unfortunately, they look Horus in the eyes, and he kills himself.


6. Will the group be able to use Horus' book to reverse the curse?  Will anybody in town be left as a normal human?


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: A film about rapid zombies without much humor or plot.
2. Two stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 5/10 Better than VHS quality, but not by much.  The SFX vary from mediocre to poor.


2. Sound: 6/10 I could hear the actors' voices and the incidental music, some of which was appropriate for a zombie comedy.


3. Acting: 3/10 Weak.  The three is mostly for Christopher Lloyd's short performance.


4. Screenplay: 2/10 Boring, not funny, not engaging.   The central idea of the curse was beyond stupid.