Pretty much the total opposite of the last movie I reviewed (Rockers), this movie is not awesome at all, and almost 100% bad. let's say it's 99% terrible, but still has just enough moments of excellence that make it perfect for review. Dudes and other dudes, i present you with DEADBEAT AT DAWN.
Man, this is a stinker. Don't get me wrong, there's enough shit in here to keep me interested, but its pretty fucking heinous. Often suggested (many times by my old buddy Raf) Deadbeat At Dawn is set in Dayton, Ohio, and even though it was written, directed, and produced by the main character Goose (Jim Van Bebber) in 1987, it looks like it was made after the apocalypse happened. I mean I've seen old footage of Akron, but you really start to get a feel for these old burned out cities when watching this flick. The story starts out with a chick speaking with a psychic. She says something that doesn't matter at all, basically you're supposed to dig that this chick is into some voodoo shit. Then when she's trying to split, this bad looking dude grabs her and forces her into a car. The dude is Danny, the leader of a gang called the Spiders. The chick is Christie, the girlfriend of Goose, the leader of rival gang- The Ravens. A cop saves the Christie, but Danny gets away. Then, word gets back to The Ravens and they go to the cemetary to make a move on the Spiders. Danny hates the fucking Ravens bad. So Danny and Goose have it out knife fight style in the cemetary. Goose gets his hand and face cut, but he beats the shit out of Danny. Everyone gets away. Christie cleans Goose up, but then he splits and beats a dude up and steals a motorcycle. Christie tells him she's gonna leave him if he doesn't quit the life. So he says fuck it, and quits the Ravens. Then he goes out to make one last deal (selling a huge block of speed) so that they'll have some bread to start a new life. While he's out, 2 of Danny's goons go over to the pad and murder Christie. On the way over, some of the best dialogue EVER happens which is this:
ok, so then Goose wraps her bloody carcass in a sheet and throws her in a fucking trash compactor! Then he goes across town and breaks into his dad's apartment which is just fucking filthy. His dad is a fucked up Vietnam Vet who is freaking out and turns out to be a junkie. Heavy scene showing him shooting up into his toes made me gag. Then Goose is all feeling sorry for himself, and he tries to kill himself, but his 2nd in command (who's now the leader of the Ravens) shows up and beats the crap out of him and tells him the gangs have now joined forces and theyre gonna rob an armored car. And I won't ruin the ending for ya, but there's a good bit of ass kicking and blood splattering left. The budget was low, so you don't get a dude thrown into a moving train like you REALLY want... but there are some dream sequences with dead girlfriend skeletons, and snakes everywhere, and some nunchucks, and throwing stars... Not sure how to rate this one. I mean, it WAS torture to sit through, but that's sort of the criteria for this, isn't it? Wow, I don't know. I'll bet if i didn't watch this totally sober, it may have been better. How can I sum this movie up? Two words: Kaleidascope transitions.
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