Dead Before Dawn 3D (2012) User Reviews

If Nickelodeon had swear words and made horror movies

[last_in_line · 4/10 · 11 October 2012]

I saw the trailer for this and it looked like a decent movie. The review at UHM says that this movie is an example of a movie whose trailer is better than the movie itself. The trailer did it's job for me. I watched the movie. The movie itself wasn't that great.

This movie is what a horror movie would be like if Nickelodeon made horror movies. Not that the language and content are squeaky clean or anything but the overall tone is quite silly which makes it hard to take the movie seriously.

There were a couple of chuckle moments for me in the dialogue department but the idea of the movie falls flat. The zombie demons, or "zemons" as they call them, aren't trying to kill anyone which pretty much tells you all you need to know.

Parts of the movie seem like they were written as sketch comedy show segments. Although entertaining, it just made this movie not for me.

I give this movie a 4 out of 10 due to the few chuckles I had and Christopher Lloyd. If you're looking for a horror comedy on par with Shawn of the Dead, look elsewhere.

Pretty Amusing

[gavin6942 · 6/10 · 6 March 2014]

A bunch of college kids accidentally unleash an evil curse that causes people to kill themselves and turn into Zombie Demons, also known as Zemons! Apparently this received mixed and negatives reviews from the critics, even the regular horror folks (Dread Central and Bloody Disgusting). I have to say I liked it more than they did, and while it may not have had much originality, it had some good jokes -- did no one appreciate the "Wicker Man" joke? And, of course, just having Christopher Lloyd in such a prominent role makes this worth watching, in my opinion. He was great, probably the best comedy role he has had in many years.

A movie I thought was very funny. Full of stupid humor so it's not for everyone. I laughed all the way through. I say B

[cosmo_tiger · 6/10 · 29 July 2013]

"Everything we said at the shop is actually happening! Whoever we make eye contact with is gonna kill themselves, then come back as zemons and kill us...via hickeys" Casper Galloway (Bostick) is a teenager who is very shy and jumpy due to what happened to him as a kid. When his grandfather (Lloyd) asks him to watch his store he is very afraid. After a group of kids from school show up Casper tries to kick them out until an urn breaks, thinking the warnings are a joke they begin to come up with ideas of what a curse would be. Then they realize its not a joke at all. This is a very very funny movie, but it is mainly stupid humor. I really liked it and laughed a lot but I don't think everyone will find it as funny as I did. For example the plot of the movie involves being killed by getting a hickey from a half zombie-half demon. The writing is funny and the acting is good for a movie like this. There really isn't much else to say about this other then if you like movies with humor like Anchorman and Shaun Of The Dead then you will like this as well. Overall, very funny but not for everyone...also hearing Christopher Lloyd say "Great Scott" was amazing. I give it a B.

If GooseBumps' creator had smoked crack...

[AndyVanScoyoc · 3/10 · 26 October 2019]

What a ridiculously stupid movie...even if it IS geared toward kids (which I'm not so sure about) and what's even more disappointing is the number of people I recognize from other films...films that actually meant something and were good.

Unless you're rip snorting drunk or you just like stupid movies, avoid this one... seriously...don't punish yourself.

3D Fan

[gorge-holger · 18 January 2013]

Found this film at the Stereo Media Film Festival in Liege, Belgium.  Everyone should have the opportunity to see this film in 3D.  I heard it was an independent production, but the 3D and the film really blew me away.  It's not a studio picture, but it has all the elements needed to make it truly entertaining.   It was fun, fast and new.  What they did with the 3D was impressive and really unique.  I've never seen a film like this before.  Of course, it being an indy film, there were less special effects and blood shots than I originally thought there would be, but when I realized the type of movie I was watching I just sat back and enjoyed the ride.  Well done.  Again, being a huge fan of 3D it was exciting to see 3D being made in the independent world.  Hopefully this is just the beginning of a new wave of independent 3D films to come.

Good one.

[bbickley13-921-58664 · 5/10 · 11 May 2014]

Dead Before Dawn turned out to be a good Zombie film. The movie tries to be real cute pointing out how stupid some horror plots can be by coming up with a real stupid one. Although technically a good Zombie movie does not need an explanation to why Zombies exist, especially if you have a good gang of characters in the movie which this one does. I noticed a Former Power Ranger playing the best friend of the main character. Christopher Lloyd is in the picture for a small while giving a decent comedic performance. I guest the best part of the movie is that it gave us the Zemon, a half Demon half Zombie hybrid. I doubt it's going to be a contender for the next big horror movie monster, but it was a funny idea. Dead before Dawn is nothing to write home to your mother about but it was a fun 90mins for me. I almost wish I lived in Canada so I could have seen it in 3D.

This was something else...

[paul_haakonsen · 3/10 · 31 December 2012]

Being the big zombie aficionado that I am, I had to watch this one as well, even though I knew it was most likely not going to be a great experience. And true enough, it didn't really turn out to be anything interesting. Perhaps if you were a kid and watched this, you would find it to be interesting.

There is something very Nickelodeon to this movie, but then the movie does make use of some inappropriate language which had me at a loss here, because I thought this movie was meant to be for kids.

The acting performances were as to be expected from a movie of this sort. Most memorable in my opinion was, without a doubt of course, Christopher Lloyd, despite only having a small role in the movie.

It should be said that for a movie of this type, then the movie did make good use of effects without being gory and extreme. The zombies, well zemons (half zombies, half demons), as they call them, were more hilarious than then were scary.

This movie is a kids movie and doesn't offer much for an adult audience. As for the 3D effects, well that is a subject better left untouched.

Waste of time

[bakergarrett · 2/10 · 26 May 2020]

This movie was a big waste of time. It was not amusing or fun. The characters are written to be self-aware but end up being super obnoxious. Devon Bostick is woefully miscast and everyone else (except the 5 minutes we get with Christopher Lloyd) are bad actors. This got zero laughs and the gore sucked due to the small budget. The ending sucks the big one. There is nothing in the movie worth watching.

The usual comedy horror

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 30 January 2018]

DEAD BEFORE DAWN is a pretty silly Canadian comedy horror featuring the usual high school slackers with few brain cells to spare between them. They accidentally unleash an ancient curse which turns the dead into demons, much like DEATHGASM, although the emphasis is very much on zombie flicks here. The usual silly jokes and cheesy gore prosthetics follow, along with mannered acting and unlikeable characters. An early Christopher Lloyd cameo is one of the best things about this otherwise lacklustre production. The main thing that spoils it is the direction, which switches to stupid slow motion every time there's a big action scene and makes some moments almost unwatchable.

I Wanna Say Ten!

[izzojoseph · 7/10 · 14 October 2020]

First ~ this movie is ridiculous, like, not even slap stick humor. It's silly and gross and knows it. It was almost as fun as Zombieland... but not quite... but almost. If you can handle the deliberate campiness, it's fun. I laughed all the way through. Each character played their part quite well. The creators knew what this was and rolled with it and I think pulled it off. A bunch of fun.

A film about rapid zombies without much humor or plot.

[suite92 · 4/10 · 17 April 2014]

Casper has a traumatic experience as a child at his grandfather's curio shop. He still has nightmares during college. A particular vessel drops, his father catches it, and his father is transformed for the worse by it.

Casper is more than a bit on the wimpish side. He agrees to mind the curio shop "Occult Barn" for his grandfather while the grandfather receives a lifetime award. His friends drop by, and he lets them handle the vessel; this is something his grandfather explicitly forbid. One of his friends drops the vessel and it breaks.

The lights go out. The group makes up a curse, in great detail, then say they are done with the curse's rules. The lights come back on. The group agree to meet later to test it out.

So, if someone in the group looks directly into someone else's eyes after 10 pm, the targets kills themselves, then return as a mixture of demon and zombie, or zemon. Unless they reverse the curse before dawn, the group itself will be cursed.

That evening, the number of mysterious deaths mount, but many of the 'dead' do not stay dead. The group re-assembles, realises that they are in deep trouble, then arm themselves. They go back to the Occult Barn, and tell Horus about the incident and the curse. Unfortunately, they look Horus in the eyes, and he kills himself.

Will the group be able to use Horus' book to reverse the curse? Will anybody in town be left as a normal human?

-----Scores-----

Cinematography: 5/10 Better than VHS quality, but not by much. The SFX vary from mediocre to poor.

Sound: 6/10 I could hear the actors' voices and the incidental music, some of which was appropriate for a zombie comedy.

Acting: 3/10 Weak. The three is mostly for Christopher Lloyd's short performance.

Screenplay: 2/10 Boring, not funny, not engaging. The central idea of the curse was beyond stupid.

Surprisingly fun take on the zombie film

[kannibalcorpsegrinder · 8/10 · 27 August 2014]

After accidentally unleashing a strange curse, a group of friends find their small college town overrun by vicious demon-possessed zombies and must try to fend off the creatures before the true nature of the curse reveals itself.

This was a surprising amount of fun and really had a lot of great points about it. One of the best points to this one is that this manages to introduce a rather novel concept here for unleashing the curse in the form of the possession angle by featuring the curse causing everyone around them to commit suicide before becoming among the horde of ravenous undead. As well, it changes around several big cues in their behavior according to this new concept of fueling their ranks which makes for a pretty fun time throughout as this manages a few pretty original and rather inventive concepts. These not only give the film a rather nice amount of action throughout but also gives this some rather impressive comedic chops here that are wholly welcome in this so it's got a rather funny air about it at times. Even without the comedy, though, there's enough action here to be truly enjoyable and still maintains that kind of silly tone to where the jokes and physical humor can work with the more serious themes which is well handled with the ability to keep the creatures as threats throughout so they're still something to be feared instead of a joke that doesn't warrant the kind of extreme behavior they undergo in trying to keep themselves out of harm's way. For all the fun it has, there's still some problems in the fact that this features the utterly annoying trope of having the finale make everything completely useless and renders the film a complete wash. It had already done fine with the original ending presented here, yet the fact that it tacks on another makes for quite a frustrating ending since it comes off as a total cliché on its' own right. As well, some of the jokes and attempts at re-writing the zombie rule-book that it presents here do cause this to come off as a little amateurish when it really shouldn't be, not really offering enough to make the changes worthwhile and getting in select humor that might not appeal to all. These here aren't up to really knock off the positives so it makes for a rather fun time all-around.

Rated R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.

Goofy, cheesy, funny, great to watch with a group of friends.

[SecretAsianMann · 7/10 · 12 September 2013]

Zombie Type: "Zemons" (demon zombies); basically fast-walking (they don't really sprint) undead Outbreak/Apocalypse Phase: Initial outbreak (characters experience the outbreak as it happens) Sub-genre: Goofy Horror, Dark Comedy

Dead Before Dawn had an awesomely cheesy late 80's/early 90's vibe right from the start that carried the fun all the way to the very end. I'm a sucker for 80's cheese (hell yeah gimme some cheddar), so throw in some zombies and it's like crack for me. I had a good time watching this movie.

The first 20 or so minutes were a bit slow, but it's all fun once the stuff hits the fan. The basic premise involves a group of college kids fighting off the zemon menace. Main character Casper Galloway (played by "Diary of a Wimpy Kid's" Devon Bostick) is the grandson of Horus Galloway (great Scott, he's played by Christopher Lloyd!), the owner of a store called "Occult Barn." When Casper agrees to watch the store while the elder Galloway steps out to grab something, his friends accidentally unleash a curse that turns its victims into "zemons" and spreads itself from person-to-person either via eye-contact with Casper and his friends after 10pm or hickeys from the already infected. But wait! The zemons can be turned into your personal slaves if you seduce them with a French kiss! Needless to say, this movie's charm comes from the fact that it doesn't take itself the least bit seriously.

That's all you need to know. Dead Before Dawn is a bit over-the-top (not insanely crazy, more slapstick and funny than anything), surprisingly funny, cheesy, and fun to watch. I'm lucky to have found so many enjoyable zombie movies over the past month after years of sifting through random crap on Netflix.

Final Verdict: Recommended. Goofy, cheesy, funny, great to watch with a group of friends. If what I just typed doesn't immediately turn you off, go watch Dead Before Dawn!

Stupid Zombie Flick

[dalesamms · 2/10 · 31 August 2013]

I saw this terrible movie for two reasons...

Reason #1... Christopher Lloyd. I have loved the guy since the first time I saw him on TV. His is the real deal for funny.

Reason #2... I LOVE ZOMBIE MOVIES! I am one of those zombie movie nuts. No matter how stupid or cheap a movie looks I will see it.

Well I actually had my hopes up for this one and it turned out to be a real awful flick. Christopher Lloyd is actually really good as always but his part is super small. I don't want to ruin it but he is only in it for a short while and is the only entertaining character and only really good actor.

Avoid this movie! It is very poorly written. Not badly produced but the effects are pretty stupid and the story is REALLY stupid with a lot of terrible over the top acting that is trying so hard to be funny that it is just sad.

Who's the target audience here?

[sbabb-511-510139 · 24 October 2012]

The plot: a group of kids unleash a horrible zombie-demon ("zemon") curse on a small town. Everyone who makes eye contact with the kids kills themselves and comes back as a zemon, bent on killing the kids by giving them hickeys. And the kids must race against the clock to break the curse before sunrise. Starring Christopher Lloyd for a couple of scenes, Kevin McDonald in another couple of shots, Jimmy Fallon's college-age clone, and some other people you might recognize as having been in that one thing filmed in Canada.

So you have a band of 30 and 20 somethings, that are supposed to be teenagers, in a film that appears to be targeted at adolescents. What could go wrong? Well, here's the problem: the movie wants to be a light hearted zombie comedy, but it's simply not funny. Lloyd and McDonald are woefully underused and most of the jokes simply fall flat. There -are- a couple of chuckles to be had, but simply not enough to make the movie worth watching as a comedy. As a horror film the movie similarly falls flat; the whole premise of "kids get to narrate how their cursed, and decide to come up with a plague of monsters whose name rhymes with 'semen'" kinda' kills any chance of people taking the movie seriously enough for it to be a horror film. There -are- a couple of potentially scary shot though, reminiscent of an early David Cronenberg perhaps, but there's not enough for the movie to work as a horror film either.

As for the production values themselves... we're talking shots where not-Fallon is talking to Lloyd on the phone, and Lloyd appears in a little bubble as he talks into the phone. Overall the movie is better than that, with hints of a small budget, but how a stinker of an idea like that made it to print is beyond me. I've seen better production on a tweeny Nickelodeon show, which seems to be the film's desired target demographic.

If it weren't for all the people killing themselves, and drooling blood, and getting hacked up, I imagine most parents would be fine leaving their tweens to watch it. Personally though, I'd rather my kids watch films like Shaun of the Dead, Fido or even Wasting Away instead if they need a zom-com fix, because this movie would likely just end up making them feel insulted. Heck, House of the Dead makes for a better zom-com, and it wasn't meant to be a comedy.

On the other hand, Brittany Allen as a blonde cheerleader was kinda' hot. So the film has that going for it.

10 minutes in and it's already the worst

[Mark-457 · 1/10 · 13 November 2022]

A waste of well worn teen movie tropes shoehorned in, the movie that doesn't even bother to use its 3-D effectively. Hero is slacker with friends almost indistinguishable from users and bullies. The set ups and plot are so clumsy and obvious that you have to assume it's deliberate. Trying to be a parody? It doesn't appear to be self knowing though it just comes out as utter rubbish. The acting is all hammed up and over the top, even by horror film parody levels. There is not one likeable character or well done scene in the entire movie. No gore, no laughs, no engagement. Only the titles at the very end seem to make use of the 3-D.

I am Vote #3000!

[jswansburg1981 · 2/10 · 22 September 2018]

Yeah you're right that's not very cool. Anyway I thought this movie had funny parts but mostly was pretty stupid overall. The effects need to be better but I'm sure they had no budget.

whoa I did not expect that

[atinder · 6/10 · 23 June 2013]

I didn't not expect that at all, I found this movie very funny a bit to funny and I laughing number of times this movie, yes some of it seem silly at times but very funny.

I loved the plots of the movie, great idea spoof Zombie and Demon

The plot: a group of kids unleash a horrible zombie-demon ("zemon") curse on a small town. Everyone who makes eye contact with the kids kills themselves and comes back as a zemon, bent on killing the kids by giving them hickeys

It; was really fun and very enjoyable fast moving movie and really enjoyed how come people kill them self in this movie before they turn into Zemons.

Some of kills scenes is movie were very funny in this movie and there few splatters moment in this movie as well but I think could done more gory deaths thought then they were.

The acting was really decent, It hard to tell if they pretend to play dump in some scene.

I wasn't really happy how the movie came to a end, it kind of feel bit cheated by and in the last scene of the movie is very predicable

I enjoyed most of the movie before the 10 minutes I may I rated higher but it still get decent 6 out of 10

Christopher Lloyd just got cooler

[iheartflix93 · 10/10 · 22 January 2013]

I love this movie. LOVE THIS MOVIE !!! Christopher Lloyd is so cool, and, just got way cooler for being in this funky film ! This movie is about Zemons; zombies + demons ! So they are smart zombies that have their old human characteristics. Lloyd is the obviously the best Zemon because he uses his own trophy to kill himself. OMG and I can't believe you can get a hickey from Zemons. I would pretty much give a hickey or get a hickey to and from everyone in this movie. There are a lot of sexy people in the film. The soundtrack is so cool too. All the Zemons and non- zemons seem to move with the music in the film, the music sounds made for the movie. I loved it all.  I hope they make a DBD #2:)

ONE, TWO, THREE, CURSE!

[nogodnomasters · 6/10 · 22 April 2018]

The teenage kids vs. zombie comedies have become popular and have boasted some success. Some are funnier than others. This is an "other."

In this film Casper (Devon Bostick) and his friends break a cursed urn belonging to his grandfather (Christopher Lloyd). The people they look at become suicidal, then turn into demonically possessed zombies called "zemons" although they weren't any different than regular zombies. They attack by giving hickies and can be controlled by giving them a French kiss, although these last two aspects were not overly utilized making this a "me too" comedy zombie film.

To give you an example of the writing, a funny one-liner from the film: "I remember my first trophy. Most improved hygiene."

This is a Canadian production, with all the spice of mayonnaise. The actors did well to deliver their lines, which were hit and miss, with too many falling into the "miss" category. The writers did better on the build up to the action than it did during the action.

Recommended as a rental.

Parental Guide: No f-bombs, sex, or nudity. Sex talk.

Absolutely terrible film

[FilmDudeToronto · 16 July 2016]

It baffles me why morons like this get money to make films. Though I suppose women are more likely to get funding now that there is a push for all of this "equality" or what have you.

The plot was both campy and highly predictable, Christopher Lloyd despite his star power could not save this movie, and it's clear it was just written by the producer April Mullen because she cannot get any other acting work so she has to write for herself.

Overall there was a lot of bad acting (did nobody bother to give their background players any sort of direction? Obviously not, but they weren't the worst of the over-actors to be quite honest) and the production team clearly wasted the budget on god knows what, because it certainly didn't go into the film.

Really not worth the time wasted watching.

Well done zombie comedy

[RandomTard · 7/10 · 29 June 2022]

Watched in 2D so I can't speak for the 3D version.

They clearly had decent budget for this. There are actual actors and the production is solid. The explosion effects on the other hand - well I guess we'll call it comedic style. The story is way better than your average zombie splatter comedy and it's actually entertaining and funny. Even the sounds are balanced. The only complain I got is the overacting by the Back to the future professor.

Fast, Fun and Funny

[kathy-simmonssss · 10/10 · 21 January 2013]

I don't normally like horror films, but I was intrigued by Christopher Lloyd as a zombie. But he is not a zombie, he is a Zemon, and Zemons are Fast and Funny. The film itself isn't too scary, but had a colorful storyline. I still jumped a couple times but I laughed more.  Set at a rock and roll pace, there are loads of hilarious moments. The "Bees" call back is TOO GOOD, way too good ! Followed by the hot dog mug and gas station scene, I almost pee'd my pants ! It's really one of the funniest movies I've seen this year. Did I mention the 3D doesn't make you dizzy at all, it just brings the scenes to life, it was so well done. I was laughing so hard at one point, my 3D glasses fell off. I actually loved the entire film, long live Zemons!!!!!

Like a funny train wreck????

[blevy-85776 · 8/10 · 25 January 2019]

I cried...I laughed...I wondered why I was still watching...then I was laughing again. In the end...some good laughs.

Campy fun zombie movie!

[lmorgan23 · 8/10 · 18 October 2020]

I thought this movie was hilarious and entertaining. Don't take it so seriously as it is tagged as adventure comedy! Fun, Halloween season, relatively family friendly flick!