Review of Just Before Dawn (1981) by Alex R — 30 Sep 2011

Just Before Dawn can be seen as an obscured gem in the Slasher genre. Released in the early 1980's, Just Before Dawn barely made a ripple in the thriving Slasher genre of the early 80's. I think this is a great shame because upon watching this film, you realize that Just Before Dawn is not like your typical Slasher film that relies solely on the blood and guts routine.

Yes, there's some bloody killings, but it's pretty minimal stuff. What makes this Slasher film better than most is the fact that the director uses creepy atmosphere with a slow buildup to create the tension, and that is the key to why the film works so well.

Just Before Dawn limits the violence the violence factors and uses more convincing tactics I order to build the horror in the viewer, that's where the eerie atmosphere, suspense and dark and creepy film score come into play.

These are some of the elements that made Halloween such an effective horror film, and director Jeff Lieberman has crafted something that is quite frankly better than many of the big slasher films that came out during this period.

Just Before Dawn, along with Halloween proves that you don't need massive amounts of blood and gore to create an effective, and terrifying Slasher film. With the right elements you can create something spooky that will deliver the thrills that horror fans crave dearly.

A well crafted atmospheric slasher film that delivers good acting, great scares with good bloody kills, and doesn't try to go overboard either. A must see for Slasher film fans.