Just Before Dawn
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Will anyone survive those hours Just Before Dawn?
—Tagline
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Just Before Dawn is a Slasher Flick from the year 1981. It was filmed by Jeff Lieberman, who also directed Squirm, Blue Sunshine, and Satan's Little Helper.
The film is set in the Oregon mountainside, where a group of kids embark on a camping trip. They are warned by a local forest ranger to not to go too deep into the woods, but they ignore the warnings and find out the hard way how dangerous the forest can really be...
The film has become a small cult favourite for its surprising originality and beautiful cinematography.
Tropes used in Just Before Dawn include:
- Blind Without'Em: Jonathan's nearsightedness costs him his life.
- Cassandra Truth: Youths don't believe Ty when he tries to tell them that there's evil afoot due to his drunken state.
- Creepy Twins
- Cruel and Unusual Death: The second twin dies by suffocation when Connie rams her fist deep into his mouth.
- Cue the Sun: As implied by the title.
- Death by Mocking
- Don't Go in The Woods
- Every Car Is a Pinto: Ty's and Vachel's pickup truck, which engine explodes when it strolls down a hill and hits a tree.
- Evil Laugh
- Final Girl: Connie.
- Machete Mayhem
- The Other Rainforest
- Outdoor Bath Peeping: While Megan and Daniel are bathing, Merry Cat is seen peeping on them. So is her brother...
- Shooting the scene turned into an example as well, as Megan's actor's nudity attracted quite a few onlookers.
- Outside Ride
- Peek-a-Boo Corpse
- Rope Bridge
- Scenery Porn
- Serrated Blade of Pain: The machetes used by the killers.
- Shirtless Scene
- Trampled Underfoot