MovieChat Forums > Dead Before Dawn 3D (2012) Discussion > Something of a confused review

Something of a confused review

posted 11 years ago by nrkist2424
3 replies | jump to latest

I would begin by saying this film is worth a watch despite that everything I'm going to say afterwards is going to make this recommendation seem questionable. First and foremost the tone is very confused. It feels like it's written by a 12 year-old who wants to capture the essence of Evil Dead II and has decided to make the framework of his story revolve around a college and college kids. The confused result is an approximation of immature high school kids in an episode of Goosebumps with the forced scooby-doo dynamic of a Whedon project. This gets even more confusing in the costuming as the Cheerleader wears a high school uniform, complete with 'xxHS'.

Successful camp fare works because it swaggers along, confident and unabashed in it's shameful campyness. This film tries so hard to convince you of it's legitimate camptitude that it gets a little frustrating. Along this line is sorta the problem with the crux of the plot of this film. It's stupid. Not wacky, winky stupid. Just plain dumb. It makes no sense, is not a clever self-reference to existing tropes...and as hard as it wants you to think it's a hysterical setup...it just isn't. Scene fizzles hard before we clear the monotonous humourless establishing bits and I almost stopped watching.

There are no scares to speak of.

Now the good stuff. Almost all the actors are people who will make you say, "Hey, I vaguely remember that actor from some other semi-decent project!" The first tentative, ambivalent excitement expected on this level of production suggesting that this might be something enjoyable. All the actors do a fantastic job with awful dialogue. We must mention Christopher Lloyd, who even throws in 2 Back-to-Future callbacks. All the actors bring a really high level of energy, feel invested, and seem like they are genuinely having fun with their characters. This is probably the single thing that salvages this film. The actors really do manage to engage and energize.

The production values are generally pretty good and the cinematography again exceeds expectations.

I went into this expecting a 1, yet it comes out a weak 4.

BTW - you may be wondering about the writer and the muddled characterizations from the first paragraph of this review. He is also one of the actors and was 32-ish at the production of this film. If you give this movie a try, let that sink in for a little bit because you will be all the more confused.

[–] mandycw 10 years ago

Pretty accurate review.

Not the worst movie I've ever seen.

I chuckled a few times.

[–] HouseT 9 years ago

I'd agree on most points. Most notably, the actors and their willingness to fully commit their energy to parts. I started out thinking Dazzle was a stupid character, but by the time they get to his "Adventure in the High School" speech, there was nothing but love for the guy.

[–] dayvit78 8 years ago

I think your review is really clear. I enjoyed this movie a bit more than many other people seem to have, and I think the key reason, which you mention, is that the actors were really doing their jobs.

They were all appealing and made me want to pay attention to their plight and root for their success. One group example was when they were in the shop and scared because zemons were trying to break in. Look at each of the characters - they're all doing something, they're all putting their all into the scene. One individual example was Brittany Allen's character when she turned into a zemon. She didn't just sit there moping, she was actually playing with a piece of paper or something. All the little details the actors were doing made it so enjoyable.