Just Before Dawn (1981)

Just Before Dawn is a 1981 horror film. Just Before Dawn (also known as Survivance in France) was directed by Jeff Lieberman produced by Doro Vlado Hreljanovic.

Plot
Near Silver Falls, Oregon, two hunters discover an abandoned church. The older hunter, Ty, pretends to be reverend as a joke, but notices someone watching him while standing near the altar. He goes outside, only to see his car blowing up. His nephew, Vachel, tries to follow him out of the church, but is approached by a man who closes the church's door. The man teases Vachel using his serrated machete, before shoving it through Vachel's pelvis. Vachel falls over and dies as Ty listens in horror. The killer wears Vachel's beanie and jacket and walks out of the church. Ty sees this, and quickly runs away.

Meanwhile, five friends are driving towards Silver Falls in their RV. One of them, Warren, has inherited a bit of land deep in the forest. He brings his girlfriend, Connie, along with his friends Jonathan, Jonathan's girlfriend Megan, and Jonathan's brother Daniel. They remark about the locals, calling them products of incest, before passing by a ranger station. The ranger, Roy McLean, warns them not to go up there, due to the disappearance of many local hunters. They dismiss him, claiming that they'll be fine. While driving, Daniel claims that he sees someone, and tells Warren to stop the car. They discover a shaken Ty, who claims that he saw a demon killing his nephew. The teen smells the alcohol in his breathe, so they dismiss him and drives off without him. Ty watches from a distance as the killer jumps onto Warren's RV. Ty laughs, knowing that he's not going to die.

Warren parks the RV and everyone sets up camp near a small waterfall. That night, Warren and Jonathan scares Daniel and the girls, making Daniel lose trust in them. The next morning, they are awoken by someone singing. They see a feral girl, dressed in all white, collecting some water. They make a noise, which startles the girl and causes her to run back into the woods. They assume that she's a local and carry one with their day. The group hikes through the woods before coming across an old rope bridge. The bridge crosses a large canyon, so everyone carefully crosses it. They reach the titular Silver Falls. Warren, Connie, and Daniel have lunch while Jonathan and Megan go for a swim. Jonathan gets bored, and swims to the shore, leaving Megan. The killer jumps into the water and grabs at Megan. Megan realises that Jonathan is by the shore, so she quickly swims out of there. She's shaken, but Jonathan reassures her that it was nothing.

That night, McLean hears his horse causing a ruckus outside. He sees Ty, who felt bad about leaving the teens out to die and came to report what he saw. Meanwhile, the group are confronted by the mysterious girl they saw that morning. Her name is Merry Cat Logan, and her family is pissed off that they are camping there. They are threatened by Pa Logan, so they promise to pack up the next day. McLean watches this unfold in the distances, so he decides to return and check on them the next day. The next morning, Merry Cat steals some of Megan makeup without anyone knowing. Jonathan catches her only to see Merry Cat smiling at him. Merry Cat asks Jonathan to make love to her, but he refuses, since it will upset Megan. Suddenly, Merry Cat looks behind her and runs off. Jonathan assumes that the sound of the creek startled her, so he crosses the rope bridge to show her that it's not scary. After making it the the other side, he is confronted by the killer. The killer swings the machete onto Jonathan's hand, making him run back across the bridge. The killer cuts the rope, making Jonathan plumate down the canyon. Jonathan attempts to climb up the other side, but he is pushed off of the cliff by the killer, who seemingly teleported.

Daniel discover the abandoned church and narrowly avoid seeing Vachel's body. He is followed by Megan, who assumes that Jonathan is playing another joke on them. She think she's right when she hears someone approaching them, so she tells Daniel to pretend that he's kissing her just so Jonathan gets mad. The killer stabs Daniel in the chest while Megan quickly runs into the church. She discovers Vachel's body and watches the killer finishing off Daniel. She hears a noise behind her, only to see that it's the killer. It's revealed that the killers are a pair of twins, which explains how they seemingly teleport around. The killer stabs Megan to death while his brother photographs it with Daniel's camera.

Meanwhile, Warren and Connie go back to the campsite, only to find no one there. They go down by the river, only to see Jonathan's body. Warren tries to resuscitate him, but it's too late. As night falls, they decide that it's safer to stay in the RV, but they realise that the keys were with Jonathan. Warren leaves Connie to find Jonathan's body, but can't seem to find it. Meanwhile, McLean meets the Logan family's shack. They claim that the killers are their twin sons, Luther and Lucas. They also admit to the murders, and claim that there is nothing they can do to stop them. Warren finds Jonathan's body, but also finds Daniel's body, so he quickly races back to camp. At camp, Connie is suddenly attacked by Lucas. Connie climbs up a tree, but Lucas chops it down with his machete. Lucas teases Connie with his machete and tries to stab her, but is shot dead by McLean. Warren is with McLean, and they both race back to the campsite. Connie is now ready to kill Luther, and stands outside of the tent. Luther appears and stabs Warren in the abdomen. Connie jumps onto Luther, but Luther grabs her and holds her over his head. Luther is about to kill her, but Connie is able to free one of her arms. She shoves her forearm down Luther's throat, causing him to slowly choke to death. The sun rises and Merry Cat sees Luther's body before running off. Warren begins to sob as Connie stares at Luther's body.

Cast

 * George Kennedy as Roy McLean
 * John Hunsaker as Luther & Lucas Logan
 * Deborah Benson as Constance "Connie"
 * Gregg Henry as Warren
 * Katie Powell as Merry Cat Logan
 * Chris Lemmon as Jonathan
 * Jamie Rose as Megan
 * Ralph Seymour as Daniel
 * Mike Kellin as Ty
 * Charles Bartlett as Vachel

Production
Jeff Lieberman was already a somewhat-known director, most known for directing the 1976 horror film Squirm. He wanted to make a slasher film that was more inspired from thriller films like Deliverance, rather than straight slasher films like Savage Weekend. The original script was written by Jonas Middleton in 1978. The film was originally very religious and would have been set in Tennessee instead of Oregon. Lieberman liked the script, but hated the religious themes. He removed some stuff in the original script, which included gore, characters, and the original ending, where Connie marries one of the Logans. Filming began in the March of 1980, but the eruption of Mt. St. Helens in Washington caused the film to be delayed. Filming officially began in July, after the release of Friday the 13th. They hired veteran actor George Kennedy to play McLean, along with up-and-coming actors Gregg Henry and Chris Lemmon as Warren and Jonathan. The church in the film was a set constructed for the film. During filming, the light went out without an explanation, one of the crewmembers joking shouted, "Let there be light!" and the light suddenly went back on. The schedule of Jamie Rose's nude scene was accidentally leaked, which attracted the attention of some of the local teens. Brad Fiedel was hired to write the film's score. He incorporated rescue whistles into the soundtrack, to provide a unique and eerie feeling. The distributors originally hated the rope bridge since it was too expensive. Lieberman insisted that they kept it, since it would set in apart from Friday the 13th and would also add excitement. The film was released on November 27th, 1981, a year and a half after filming began.

Reception
Ratings ranged from good to bad. Some critics praised the film's cinematography along with the more character-driven plot. Others hated how cheap and dark everything looked. Overall, many considers this film a step up from typical backwoods slasher films.

In Popular Culture

 * The video case for Just Before Dawn was seen in the 1991 film There's Nothing Out There.
 * Themes from this film slightly influenced Wrong Turn.
 * The 2006 film "The Wood Have Eyes" similarly features twin killers.