Dawn of the Beast (2021) User Reviews

Oddly titled horror movie...

[paul_haakonsen · 4/10 · 16 April 2021]

Well, "Dawn of the Beast" wasn't exactly a grand experience within the horror genre. Sure, the movie was watchable, but it just didn't pack enough punch to be an outstanding horror movie.

And why is that? Well, because the storyline was actually so simplistic that it was sort of becoming boring to watch. The writer, Anna Shields, just didn't offer enough of anything overly interesting or exciting to the audience, which ultimately made for a rather mundane experience. Not to mention predictable as well.

I suppose that director Bruce Wemple was making due with the limitations imposed by an inferior storyline and script. You can't make diamonds out of water after all.

For a horror movie then "Dawn of the Beast" was just a very forgettable movie. I hadn't heard about the movie prior to sitting down to watch it. And I can honestly say that this is not a horror movie that I will ever be watching again, as the movie failed to provide proper entertainment the first time around.

The characters in the movie were not properly detailed or fleshed out, which meant that I didn't really invest any emotions to them, nor did I care whenever they were killed. It should be said, though, that the acting performances in the movie were adequate, but the actors and actresses were just severely hindered by wooden caricature characters.

It should be noted though, that the wendigo and the creatures that followed the wendigo around were actually rather interesting and nicely enough made. They definitely made the movie bearable to watch. And I do like the way that they were always skulking about just at the periphery of the grounds. Now, as for the sasquatch - or bigfoot - well, that was not nearly as interesting as the wendigo and its creatures. Sure, it was watchable, but no, it just didn't bring as much satisfaction for a horror viewer as the other creatures did.

I managed to sit through this 2021 movie, and it is not an overly great movie. Sure, it was watchable, but hardly outstanding or memorable. My rating of "Dawn of the Beast" lands on a four out of ten stars.

Yes, it's Uncork'd, but it's not bad

[zhurvic · 5/10 · 6 April 2021]

Choosing a movie to watch typically I try to do my best not to be shallow and prejudiced. So, coming from my experience, cheap looking posters, obviously bad acting in trailer, no trailer at all and low rating not always can speak for movies' qualities. Onlly such indications as presence of Eric Roberts or others, who discredited themselves, among the cast and rates drastically lower than 4 guarantee a movie a rejection. Sorry, can't watch everything... Besides all this sometimes when I see Uncork'd Entertainment's video introduction in trailer or in a movie's opening I can have doubts about the whole idea of watching it. Fortunately Dawn of the Beast is not the case. Not to say that this one is great, it's not. But still I don't regret spending my extremely precious time on it.

Where the movie succeds is it's ability to look original within horror slasher genre. It follows all slasher trops but manages to deliver something new as well. 5 kinda youngsters or middle-aged students (sometimes it's hard to tell, which category they represent), professor who leads the expedion (typical drunkhead), cabin in the woods (pretty original, ha?), opening scene with some entities, lurking in the forest (which tension managed to give me thrills though)... we've seen it all. But here we have a little more than that. For instance makers' approach regarding the final girl and the crucial battle with upbeat soundtrack closer to the end. All that along with impressive for a tight b-movie budget special effects, created eerie pressing atmosphere, not a bad acting of the cast and obvious dedication to the filmmaking process from all members of the crew make Dawn of the Beast a standout among other cliche'd stereotypical horrors.

On the negative side... Some script decisions are rather questionable, especially when it comes to the way they decided to eliminate a couple of characters in somewhere in the midle of the movie, too boring to my liking. Even though the acting isn't terrible, still it has its downs. Such as implausible screaming and big speeches right in the middle of the blood bath. The second one is more about flaws of the script too, but still. Also unlike the first part with all its tension and macabre atmosphere, the second one is not scary at all. Constant running around the house and hiding become annoying. Overuse of depressing soundtrack, designed to convey the proper mood, with the tension gone makes it irritating. Hopefully closer to the end movie gets back on track and keeps its pace and quality till the very closure.

All in all Dawn of the Beast is a good example of low-budget indie flick, flawed, but with heart. All envolved in the process knew exactly what they were going for, despite lack of money and, probably, experience. So...there you have it)

An honest effort, but too much going on

[ravencorinncarluk · 4/10 · 3 April 2021]

I didn't find the movie exactly terrible. And it was better than the generic paint-by-numbers cheap horror movies that get put out. But it was missing something that could have turned it into a cult classic.

Just too many things were smashed into the plot, but without it ever becoming a mash-up. There's a fight at the climax that shows that maybe someone WANTED to do that; be a bit of a horror-comedy genre-bending romp. Perhaps the next flick from this writer will hit that mark.

Camerawork was all right, but kinda distracting. The acting was mediocre. The only character I liked died, but at least the character who lived had a progression arc.

The movie is subpar, in my opinion, but it's also still mostly watchable. Ostensibly about the Sasquatch, it brings in the Wendigo, and I enjoy that the movie touched on other mythologies.

It kills time well enough, and could be fun as a party/drinking movie.

So how many types of creatures are there?

[Bone3011 · 4/10 · 3 April 2021]

Low budget (which is legit) but it was not coherent all the way.

Didn't like it.

I died laughing at the ending

[hecklerandjokmm · 3/10 · 16 August 2021]

So it's evil dead meats wendigo meets Bigfoot. If you told me Max Landis wrote this whilst he was ah hem on hiatus I would've said probably. When spoiler Bigfoot fights the wendigo monsters and dubstep played over it I laughed so hard. One of the worst films of the year.

In the dark woods no one sees you have no money

[the_wolf_imdb · 2/10 · 16 April 2021]

Very, very basic horror movie with too much ideas and ambitions and not enough money nor competence. There is too many different monsters which make the result very messy. They probably had not enough money so they shot most of the movie indoors or in the woods, especially in the woods in the night. The result is not scary, just very messy and somehow bizarre. The movie could be way better if the authors focused on just one storyline, instead of trying to build multiple lines that even do not connect at times. It feels more like a mashup of at least two different movies, maybe even three movies at the same time. As a whole this simply does not work, because it jumps here and there. In the end it is confusing but not scary.

Move Along, Please...

[tmccull52 · 2/10 · 30 June 2021]

Have you ever been by or near a crime scene, or the site of an accident, and some friendly police officer advises, "Move along, please; nothing to see here..."? Well, consider me to be that friendly officer, as I advise you to move along; there's nothing new to see here.

This movie is chocked full of the usual plot points and tropes of pretty much every horror movie ever. People do stupid things that no ordinary person would do, if put in the same circumstances. For example, the movie starts out with Everett and Marie. Everett and Marie are staying in a cabin in the woods. Everett goes outside to have a cigarette, and while he's outside, one of the exterior lights begins to go on and off. Everett goes to have a look see, and as he does, he sees a pair of luminous, glowing eyes looking at him from the dark woods near by. The eyes then suddenly disappear. What does Everett do? He picks up a stick that's maybe 18 inches long, and about half an inch around. Armed with this mighty weapon, Everett goes forward to check the flickering light.

When Everett arrives at the light, it stops flickering. What does Everett do? He stands there and stares at it until he heads growling and heavy footsteps. Alarmed, Everett goes back to the cabin and retrieves a flashlight, and then he tells Marie not to come outside. Armed only with the flashlight, Everett heads off to see what was growling at him, and made those heavy footsteps.

Of course, along the way, the flashlight acts up, because that's what all flashlights do in every horror movie ever. They go out just when they're needed most.

As it turns out, Marie doesn't hear Everett. She goes outside, and then she hears growling. Instead of going back inside, she walks towards the growling, in complete darkness, Armed with absolutely nothing, because, you know, that's what people do in the dead of night, in the woods, when something that they can't see growls at them. Marie is what I like to call "too stupid to live", and Everett watches her get dragged away and killed by some mysterious creature in the woods.

The movie then treats the viewer to more of the usual:

1.) A group of students heading off into unfamiliar territory to find and document a mysterious creature.

2.) Said students are warned by the requisite unfriendly, baleful locals not to go into the woods, because evil lives there, and people go missing on a regular basis right where the students are headed.

3.) The students blow off the warning, and go on their adventure anyway.

4.) The students fund human skeletal remains when they arrive. Most of the group wants to go to the authorities and report the remains. One idiot says that this is a bad idea. What does the group do? They listen to the idiot, and carry on.

Any of this seem familiar, like maybe it's the basis of every flickin' horror movie since the original "Evil Dead"?

5.) The group carries on despite numerous, macabre and eerie events.

6. A member of the group goes missing for a prolonged period of time, and virtually no one is concerned about it.

7.) One by one, everyone gets picked off and dies.

Move along, folks. There's nothing to see here.

A time-consuming joke

[schamarande · 1/10 · 3 April 2021]

I always think that the one thing you can afford even on a low budget is a good plot and character development. Didn't find any. Obvious, boring, too much going on without being tied... And in the end, I couldn't tell if the acting was bad because of the weak dialogues or if it was just bad.

At least, I watched it while being sick so I couldn't do anything besides picking a better movie. My bad.

Not bad!!!

[craigdales · 7/10 · 3 April 2021]

I liked it, which I thought I wouldn't but glad I kept watching. Well worth the watch.

Not worth your time!

[pyperkalips · 2/10 · 9 June 2021]

Thought I'd seen it all.... Can't believe this is a 2021 movie 😫 Reminds me of sasquatch movie, mediocre performance from the characters, ending was a shame.

Enjoyable but convoluted creature feature

[kannibalcorpsegrinder · 8/10 · 22 June 2021]

Heading out into the wilderness, a group of college students on a field trip studying a rash of missing person's reports finds that not only is the suspected culprit Bigfoot not the only monster in the woods but a pack of wendigo lurk in the area forcing them to fight off the creatures to get away alive.

This was a rather enjoyable creature feature. One of the better features here is how this one manages to execute the ability to keep the creature hidden throughout here. The opening attack is a great example keeping the creature off-screen for the most part except for brief looks at the hands and a way-too-blurry close-up that instead focuses on noises in the distance, animal movements through the underbrush, and brief glares of flashing eyes staring at them in the distance unaware they're being watched. This is carried over into the stories about its existence in the area or the inclusion of the other beings that are introduced which not only incorporates an unconventional feel but gives the film a wild, unpredictable feel due to these various factors being involved. As well, there's a lot to like with the ability to include the various creatures and storylines together. How they're introduced, from the ghost showing up at the side of the road and possessing the victim, the wendigo grabbing a passenger out of a car accident scene, or the hunter taking the hostage out into the wilderness as bait, are all quite fun and offer up some fun scenes. As each of them takes a great action scene, with the wendigo attack on the hunter, the possessed student running wild on the cabin, and the big attack at the end, features all the creatures coming together for a fun battle royale in the middle of the woods. This offers a great chance to see the practical effects work used for the scenes as well as the fun gore effects which are highly effective, give this one a lot to like that hold this up over its few flaws. This one does manage to bring about some flaws. The main drawback on display is the chaotic and jumbled storyline that tries to cram way too much into this one. Featuring the search for Bigfoot, a possession by a strange entity that's never explained, rampaging wendigos, and much more, there are way too many storylines and plots for what should be a simple, straightforward creature feature. As well, the other factor here is the rather sluggish first half getting the group to the cabin and starting their journey. These scenes showing the group going through the woods on their field trip or just interacting with each other at the cabin, are quite full and underwhelming, being full of cliché elements and nonsensical actions to force the issue for no reason. These would've gone a long way to helping this one out as these do lower it enough overall.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.

Diamond in the rough

[ropelawshiel · 6/10 · 4 April 2021]

At last, from all the dross cheap horror comes a fun, well-acted, well-scripted horror film. It is probably 1 out of every 20 of these cheap independent films worth watching. This is a good, fun romp. It has good characters, gory practical effects, fun moments, people you like, and a beginning, middle and a good end(someone survives) and no attempt to push a sequel.

cabin in the woods

[WankerReviews · 2/10 · 12 April 2021]

A group of college students go into the woods to study bigfoot, not aware of the dangers that lurk nearby.

I was expecting a straight forward bigfoot movie, but it has a lot more going on. You got people getting possessed, bald demon monsters that look like those things from the ''Descent (2006)'', you got bigfoot himself, and the wendigo. Basically a bunch of monsters from different movies all in one place. It reminded me of the movie Cabin in the Woods, that did something like this already but a lot better. The bigfoot design was impressive and they should have just stuck with that, along with a better script/actors. I liked the ending though, just before the credits roll.

I'm so Hungry

[nogodnomasters · 4/10 · 14 April 2021]

A group of college grads and their professor head up to the Northeast woods during "Dead Month" when there are a lot of Bigfoot sightings and people go missing. Plot Spoiler: They find Bigfoot and Wendigo. The Bigfoot special effects were not as good as the Wendigo. The film needed better characters and dialogue. It also needed to develop a "final girl."

Guide: F-word. No sex or nudity.

Wow !

[joe_jurianto · 1/10 · 7 April 2021]

This is one of the worst horror films I've ever watched. So, basically you have bigfoot, and ghost, and I don't know what else because I stopped watching after only 15 minutes. Don't waste your time on this one.

Terrible

[NYCAdrian · 1/10 · 11 October 2021]

It's unfortunate movies continue to get less and less innovative. This was the biggest waste of time. Save time and skip to the next movie. Total cliche, typical characters you'd expect. This is low budget meets low budget and then toss in pathetic acting.

Dawn of the Beast is a very busy movie.

[ansell-72879 · 5/10 · 27 September 2021]

In summary, a group of older students go on a field trip in search of Big Foot. Sounds straight forward enough but Dawn of the Beast is a very busy movie. There are monsters, cannibals, zombies, terrified students and, several sub-plots including a romance of sorts and an abduction. Oh, and there might or might be a vampire / zombie as well. The character in question certainly exhibits some vampire like traits.

It's a B movie which gets cracking almost from-the-get-go. Once it would have made great drive-in material though it's gore quotient would have made it a stand-out. It's not especially gory by todays standards but it certainly is compared to the days when William Castle ruled the world of window mounted speakers.

It is no great secret, but the film is dripping with Wendigos. Being Australian, I had to look them up. I discovered there is a psychosis called Wendigo psychosis. It is a fear of developing a lust for human flesh or becoming a cannibal. It pretty much sums up the film - fear, experienced by the cast if not always the viewer, cannibalism and, a smattering of gore.

In the end it comes down to a battle between monsters, but an awful lot of stupid decisions are made by the cast of characters before, and after, this. It is difficult to pick a stand-out among the cast. All are adequate, none are particularly brilliant. Perhaps they weren't expected to be. In these days of gender equity, it is nice to see a scream queen and a scream king in competition.

The real stand out is Jared Balog who is responsible for some of the monsters' make-up and I'm guessing the gore and entrails.

Production values are OK. (I suspect there wasn't a huge budget.) Anna Shields' script is also OK, the cast are suitably tongue in cheek and the monsters are quite good. Director, Bruce Wemple, keeps things jollying along.

Dawn of the Beast is OK in its own terms. It's a movie for a few mates (girls are mates too), a few beers and a big bowl of corn chips.

In a word...dreadful

[Leofwine_draca · 2/10 · 22 August 2021]

Another dreadful modern indie flick. Supposedly about a group of hunters in the woods looking for a wendigo, but in the end it turns out to be nothing more than a cliched old demonic possession type movie with horrible horrors popping up in attempted scare scenes. Very dark cinematography throughout, unlikeable characters and huge cliches from beginning to end.

Good low budget creature feature

[birrml · 7/10 · 30 August 2021]

I enjoyed the film.

The "other" creatures people talk about are also Wendigo. If you missed that, you weren't paying attention. The story was well done, as it explained everything, didn't leave any loose ends. Dialogue could have been improved, but wasn't bad, just very typical of character archetypes.

Anyone rating this under a 7 probably hasn't watched many low budget movies. This is extremely well done for no budget.

Please let me rate it a zero

[babyguns · 1/10 · 27 October 2021]

This movie is complete trash. It put together a cool 8dea of Bigfoot vs wendigo(s) but that fight last only a minute with the same two scenes played over and over again but flipped to give the impression there's more action than really there is. Also there's this green stone that holds some significance but it never explains why. Nor why Bigfoot and wendigos are enemies.

The acting is just as horrendous as the story is. Save yourself the time and don't watch it.

Also if the director sees this stop making garbage films with your friends, they are horrible and you should feel bad.

Great callback to classic horror!

[victoriafratz · 10/10 · 10 September 2021]

This was a really fun watch. The tone reminded us of Sam Raimi's Evil Dead. It doesn't take itself too seriously and offers all the thrills of a fun, bloody horror flick. Definitely recommend to anyone looking for a good popcorn flick!

Rock solid.

[jcallender121 · 7/10 · 18 July 2021]

This is a great little, clean as a whistle no nonsense survival horror type situation. Ancient Good and Evil clash in the woods and some better than usual mooks get caught up in the carnage. There's a grizzled geezer with an eyepatch, know it all locals who are seemingly quite happy to let the slaughter unfold after the usual warning to the city slickers, Wendigo monsters spilling out of every dark corner they can find, and The Big Lad is cast in an almost cameo role as a good guy, brilliant. Shadows and light are used very effectively, if a snifter too often, to get you squinting into the screen, setting you up for the jump scare but it's done really well and gives the whole film a creepy vibe right from the beginning to the slightly drawn out ending, small complaint. If you just want to sit back and be scared for a while this is your boy, let the glowing eyes and growling suck you in to the darkness and even though you know the "yaaaahhh!!" is coming, indulge it like I did and you'll have a great time.

Why so bad?

[lukaglisic · 1/10 · 19 October 2021]

When u have 0 budget for movie just dont make it. Save your time and dont watch this bs........................... This producers just needs to quit his job and stay at home!

Not he worst low budget horror but far from good

[RandomTard · 2/10 · 30 November 2021]

It's difficult to review this movie without spoilers. It's a low budget attempt at horror that tries to be too much. Now I like that there was a lot of things going on, but the movie would of probably been better if they'd kept it a bit simpler.

The acting wasn't all that horrible. The special effects were, well cheap. Somebody doing the masks clearly had been listening to Iron Maiden. The story was all over the place and made very little sense as is often with these kind of movies. And finally the sound balance was a disaster - how hard can it be ffs.

2021 production?

[doujyr · 3/10 · 4 April 2021]

I had to double check this is made in 2021 and apparently it was. It looks more like a film from the 60's or 70's. Really poor. Awful acting, awful plot. Not even any decent t&a to save it.