DVD Release
Several months back I read about a little black and white indie flick called Dawn. As is the case with many cool sounding indie films, it disappeared without a trace. That is, until I read it was to finally come out on DVD through…wait for it…TEMPE VIDEO.
If you’re scratching your head and asking, “Who?” that’s understandable. Tempe isn’t exactly “out there”, so to speak. The company is run by legendary low budget filmmaker J.R. Bookwalter, the fiend behind such low budget classics as Dead Next Door, Ozone and Skinned Alive as well as a slew of positively horrible, but always fun, Full Moon flicks.
Truth be told, I’m not one of the biggest Tempe fans. Call me elitist or a snob, that’s fine, I’m just not a big Z-movie, microbudget, shot-on-video kind of guy. I do enjoy my share of low budget films as well as S.O.V. films but Tempe’s films never interested me much. Can’t win them all, right?
Director Jay Reel has created a truly engaging little vampire film though and I quickly found myself purchasing this Tempe Video release without hesitation.
Dawn tells the story of a little girl named…you guessed it…Dawn (Kacie Young). Anyhow, Dawn is “on the lamb” with her father, John (Ray Boucher). Apparently, she’s not quite like other girls…she’s a vampire; half-human, half-vampire to be exact.
John and Dawn are forced to drift from town to town in order for Dawn to feed. See, Dawn isn’t your typical ferocious bloodsucker; she has this psychic ability that allows her to home in on the sick and elderly. Once in their proximity, she “helps” them to pass on without pain, well just a little pain. This doesn’t seem to arouse too much suspicion until an obsessed psychic “bloodhound” named Carlton Reed (director Jay Reel) begins searching for Dawn.
Apparently, Dawn’s mother Sarah (Mindy Raymond) drained his mother years ago in order to give birth to Dawn. As you can imagine, this act didn’t go over too well with Carlton. Thus begins his mad pursuit of the creature that did this to his mother. When the trail grows hot and all signs point to a little girl, Carlton begins tightening the noose with some local police in hopes of capturing the creature alive.
Forget everything you know about vampires because the vampires in this film aren’t repelled by crosses, aren’t undead and don’t live forever. Another intriguing angle in this film is Dawn’s growing, almost uncontrollable, vampiric rage that gives her horrific nightmares and vicious bouts of violence. See, Dawn is special because no vampire has ever birthed a half-human child, she’s a completely new type of being.
Therein lies this film’s greatest downfall…unresolved storyline. We get to know this adorable little girl and her long-suffering father John and we truly feel for Dawn as this new primal instinct courses through her veins. Neither she nor John really knows how to control it. What is Dawn? Why is she having these horrible nightmares? Are these new emotions something vampires all go through?
Unfortunately, the film doesn’t answer those questions. While I don’t always NEED answers, sometimes it’s just necessary. I mean I truly wanted to know if Dawn was metamorphosing into something never seen by vampires or humans and yet…nadda. Instead of this film going out with a fight, it goes out with a bang…literally.
Despite feeling a bit dissatisfied with the lack of in-depth story, this film was incredibly engaging and in my opinion was a spectacular concept. I thought Dawn, John, Sarah and Carlton were believable and interesting characters. Aside from some stiff, low budget acting Dawn is definitely a worthwhile film.
I would quickly like to point out that this release was barebones aside from a 17 minute blooper reel and a trailer. What a shame there wasn’t more.
Do yourself a favor though and give this flick a rent and if you dig it, like I did, a purchase.
