Dead Before Dawn

Director: April Mullen

Writer: Tim Doiron

Starring: Devon Bostick (Casper Galloway), Martha Maclsaac (Charlotte Baker), Brandon Jay McLaren (Dazzle Darlington), Brittany Allen (Lucy Winthrop), Kyle Schmid (Patrick Bishop), Tim Doiron (Seth Munday), April Mullen (Becky Fords), Kevin McDonald (Professor Reginald Duffy), Ellen Dubin (Beverly Galloway), and Christopher Lloyd (Horus Galloway).


College kids release a deadly curse that would turn the citizens of a small town into zombies,  To make matters worse the group has there own chants, that begins the ritual, sets it into place.  they are the beginning and the end of the curse; a mocked version, releases a power that is unknown to them. Understanding that a curse must be finalized with a unique blend of specifics, mocking the very thing that could change everyone in the town, they used words like "Zemons," the wording would turn the town into zombie, demons, or in there case a version of both evil incarnates.

• Casper Galloway (Devon Bostick) had dropped the urn, releasing the demon or power.
• Mocking an evil power isn't always the best way to handle a situation.
• giving the curse power by telling the evil to create a zombie after death, then a slight possession will occur, making it a "Zemon." 

• Continue to mock the curse after you've established a connection,  making them into something, different. Looking at another will turn them into a "Zemon," the true curse, and the beginning, after death the change will begin.

The kids for one, in this film do not look like kids, i understand they're all from a college, but really.  Casper (Devon Bostick) is probably the only character in the story that looks his age.  Dazzle (Brandon Jay McLaren) looks to be around thirty, i get the college thing, but at least have the characters look, and act the age they're supposed to be.

Not only did i have a problem with the characters being immature, it was the lack of real dialog, all the characters were stupid, not one was smart, it was as if the writer said "It's a comedy right?," wrong.  The comedy part i get, but the lack of intelligence was to overwhelming. remember the scary movie films, they were all stupid, but the characters all had there parts, and one was smarter than the other, it all was mixed in  the film which made it funny. 

 Dead before dawn did not have those elements. It started with the curse, which i even could understand skeptics, folks who do not believe in curses, demons, etc. what i don't get is the characters went from not believing to becoming  for a small instant a believer, which is fine but continue that process, and have at least one of the characters know what the heck is going on.

The characters throughout the film are stupid in the beginning, and continue till the very end. Out of the group of stupid college kids, there is one that stands out, Lucy Winthrop (Brittany Allen) is by far the best actress, and the one that stands out in this film, didn't even know she had won best performance award by a female (Canadian Comedy Award), that being said, i picked her which makes me awesome!

One last mention to another great actor in this horrible film, i can't believe they made it 3D. Christopher Lloyd who plays Horus Galloway the occult store owner and grandfather of the very cowardly, Casper Galloway (Devon Galloway). Lloyd is the only good actor in the film, and yes i mentioned Brittany Allen, but i also said she was the best out of the group, not the film. 

 Christopher Lloyd has been in many good films, maybe the director needed a favor, or someone to pull audiences in to this horribly made film, dont know what happened but Lloyd did a wonderful job.  Look, i understand budget, a first time film, all that stuff, but the need to make a movie that makes no sense, even from a comedic point of view is purely unacceptable.The direction it went was so bad, i had to start a conversation with my wife about her work, because the scenes really were boring, stupid, the connections, well, there were no connections, i cheered for the evil "Zemons." 


The story had no beginning didn't have any substance, no direction, here are some points that I've brought up, that would've made this film a bit, a lot stronger than it was. Remember, these points are my opinion only, so don't judge me.

• Christopher Lloyd was used in the film for about 10 minutes, maybe if they used this great comedic actor more, this film could've been funny.
• The occult store was a great idea, but like Lloyd who was the store's owner, if they used the store, with a good background the film would've been better.
• Have one character, or two with some intelligence, maybe a book worm that understands the occult, and a skeptic that rants about, the nonsense of the occult.

• Invest in a better makeup crew, maybe a bit of money into the special effects, that would mean no Christopher Lloyd but, at least you could invest your time in the writing, and other things.

Dead Before Dawn is just one of my first picks, a three part trilogy of bad movies, so when your bored or just feel the need to watch bad movies, check out Dead Before Dawn, or your better off watching Zombieland which is a superior zombie comedy.