Just Before Dawn *** (1981, George Kennedy, Mike Kellin, Chris Lemmon, Gregg Henry, Deborah Benson, Ralph Seymour) – Classic Movie Review 12,279

‘Will anyone survive those hours Just Before Dawn (1980)?’

Director Jeff Lieberman’s strong 1981 horror thriller Just Before Dawn stars George Kennedy, Mike Kellin and Chris Lemmon star as forest ranger Roy McLean, Ty and Jonathan, along with Gregg Henry, Deborah Benson and Ralph Seymour.

Just after midnight’s the time for watching this creepy Deliverance / The Texas Chain Saw Massacre/ The Hills Have Eyes-style outdoor shocker about a group of five students (Mike Kellin, Chris Lemmon, Gregg Henry, Deborah Benson and Ralph Seymour) on an Oregon camping trip being set upon by a pair of psycho mountain twins with murderous intent.

It is pretty tense and exciting, and made with more style, conviction and ambition than expected from this kind of suspense thriller by Jeff Lieberman, traditionally a director of 1970’s exploiters, who cites Deliverance as the film’s primary influence and says he had not seen The Texas Chain Saw Massacre or The Hills Have Eyes when he made the film.

Writers: Mark Arywitz (screenplay), Jeff Lieberman [billed as Gregg Irving] (screenplay), and Jonas Middleton [billed as Joseph Middleton] (story).

Filming location: Silver Falls State Park, Sublimity, Oregon.

The cast are George Kennedy, Mike Kellin, Chris Lemmon, Gregg Henry, Deborah Benson, Ralph Seymour, Katie Powell, Charles Bartlett, Jamie Rose, John Hunsaker, Hap Oslund and Barbara Spencer.

Just Before Dawn is directed by Jeff Lieberman, runs 90 minutes, is made by Oakland Productions and Hollywood West Entertainment, is released by Picturmedia (1981) (US) and Rank Film Distributors (1982) (UK), is written by Jeff Lieberman [Gregg Irving] and Mark Arywitz, from a story by Jonas Middleton [Joseph Middleton], is shot by Dean M King and Joel King, is produced by David Sheldon, is scored by Brad Fiedel, and is designed by Craig Stearns.

Interglobal Video released a version cutting most of the explicit gore but the uncut version was released by Paragon Video.

Lieberman is known for co-writing the police action thriller Blade (1973), his writer-director debut Squirm (1976), Blue Sunshine (1977), Just Before Dawn (1981). Remote Control (1988) and Satan’s Little Helper (2004).

© Derek Winnert 2022 Classic Movie Review 12,279

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