Dead Before Dawn 3D (2012) Reviews

• If Nickelodeon had swear words and made horror movies

  last_in_line2012-10-11

  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.

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• Pretty Amusing

  gavin69422014-03-06

  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.

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• 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_tiger2013-07-29

  "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.

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

  SecretAsianMann2013-09-12

  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!

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• Surprisingly fun take on the zombie film

  kannibalcorpsegrinder2014-08-27

  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.

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