mrbunghoolio Eerie. Creepy. Bleak. Wilderness slasher horror. Jeff Lieberman's «Just Before Dawn» is a somewhat overlooked slasher movie, but it is the quintessential of what a slasher movie should be. In my early teens (mid-eighties) my friends and I used to watch this gem over and over and over. As much as it scared us, we really loved it. The plot is pretty basic: Five campers (you got the stereotypes, the hunk, the babe, the geek etc.) go to some red neck mountaintop to indulge in youthful ... whatever, despite ignoring several warnings from the local forest ranger («there's demons in the forest» - which turns out to be some inbred, mutant hillbilly maniac killers). Of course the loonie mountain men stalk the campers. And then the fun begins. No, it's not «Seven» or «Zodiac». It's a low budget slasher movie from 1981, but it still stands the test of time. Think «The Texas Chainsaw Massascre meets «Deliverance» and «The Hills Have Eyes». The soundtrack is bleak, low key and blends natural with the forest sounds to create a dark, sinister mood. The acting is pretty solid, and the machete swinging killers are your worst nightmare. 8 stars out of 10.

Fella_shibby I first saw this on a VHS in the late 80s. Revisited it recently on a DVD. The movie begins in a forest where two hunters stumble upon an abandon n dilapidated church in the middle of nowhere. Suddenly one of the guy sees somebody on the rooftop n he goes out to check. A psycho rams a machete in the other guy through the crotch and it comes out of his ass. This kill is easily the best one in the whole movie. Sadly, the rest of the death scenes are unimaginative, off screen n pale in comparison. The movie changes into a typical slasher one from now on. A group of 5 people, a very young Gregg Henry among 'em, heads towards the same mountain side to visit property inherited by one of them but r warned by the forest ranger (George Kennedy). Sadly Kennedy wasn't there too much. I was expecting a fight between him n the huge frame psychos. But there wasn't any duel. Director Jeff Lieberman does a truly outstanding job depicting the raw backwoods country. The movie dragged at times, unnecessary camp fire jokes, bad dancing, bad nudity, some bad acting n very bad editing. The lake scene was creepy n tension filled though. The best part were the sceneries. It has some really good cinematography n atmosphere. Some cool waterfalls, lakes, cliffs, rocky terrains, etc.

gwnightscream This 1981 horror film stars George Kennedy, Deborah Benson, Gregg Henry, Chris Lemmon, Jamie Rose, Ralph Seymour and John Hunsaker. This tells of 5 friends, Constance (Benson), Warren (Henry), Jonathan (Lemmon), Megan (Rose) and Daniel (Seymour) who head to the wilderness to camp. Kennedy (The Naked Gun) plays Roy, a forest ranger who warns them that it's unsafe and should go back where they came. Of course, they don't listen and go anyway. Soon, they're hunted by a crazed killer (Hunsaker) until Roy comes to the rescue. This is one of the most underrated slashers following in the footsteps of "Friday the 13th" with nice, remote settings and an eerie score. It's not bad and I recommend checking it out if you're a fan of the genre.

fedor8 I don't think these kids needed serial-killing hicks at all. Judging from their pre-attack forest activities, they would have done themselves in without anybody's assistance. Walking over a wafer-thin bridge, and quite literally rolling like balls down a steep hill is probably more of a threat to the average human than machete-waving hell-fire twin demons ever could be.Especially fat "demons". These spree-killing hicks must weigh at least 150 kilos apiece, which makes me wonder: how come they don't shed any of that weight while on their speedy forest trips? You ought to see how one of them throws himself on a moving van, and then climbs all over it like a spider. Utter nonsense, because the movie isn't a supernatural horror flick.Then again, this IS a slasher film. No need to go into too much detail over its continual idiocy. There is certainly no need to mention that the blond guy leaves his girlfriend ALL ALONE in camp at night, while he looks for their missing friends. I also see no point whatsoever in mentioning that a little later one half of the killer twins chops down a tree in what must be a new logging world record in machete-cutting, while the blond screams hysterically atop it. Forests are generally quiet – certainly compared to cities – but there is no sense in me telling you that Sheriff Kennedy failed to hear either her ear-piercing screams or the noise of the tree-cutting in spite of being in the vicinity.Should I mention that the red-head is fondled underwater by unseen human hands which brings her into justifiable hysterics? Yet, later that evening she is happily dancing, apparently having completely forgotten her harrowing "super-natural" experience; this is one of the quickest mental recoveries from a bone-chilling incident ever witnessed in a horror film. However, that didn't help her much when she got hacked to death a day later. In fact, she was far too relaxed considering that an invisible "demon" had just fondled her in a lake a little earlier.While you know that JBD is a retarded slasher film, there is one thing you definitely don't know: the movie has telepathic powers. No, really, it does. It read my mind and had somebody shoot down the stereo playing that awful 80s pop music. Just how did the movie know I wanted to shoot it down myself? Magic.It's hard to believe the premise that a spectacular waterfall would somehow be an out-of-the-way don't-go-there type of place, when in reality the locals – in-bred or not - would be making bundles of money from tourists flocking to see it. This is one of the movie's main attractions, the waterfalls, and the locations. That and the red-head's boobs. The female cast is very attractive.Still, there is an element of weirdness (even a trace of, dare I say, originality) amidst all the clichés, but I can't quite put my finger on it, or at least not all of my fingers. I might put my index finger on the scene in which the blond girl kills one of the hicks by sticking half her arm inside his throat, chocking him to death. I half-expected him to bite her hand off but for some reason fatty Leatherface didn't think of that. That entire last bit is bizarre.