I'm probably giving this movie two stars too many, but what the hell - I admire how hard it tries, how much it does with its tiny budget, and how it gets some genuinely convincing performances from its cast.
The plot - a super-sleazy strip club owner and his asshole buddy rape a young, innocent stripper. Said stripper and her two friends vow revenge. And...well, that's about it.
It's not great. The screenplay could have gone through a few more drafts, and the direction is often slack. But at times it really comes alive, way more so than you'd expect. The stripping & lapdance scenes (there are many) are always convincing but never erotic - you always feel like you're watching women at work, doing their thing, going through the motions until they can go home. And the scene of sexual assault is genuinely disturbing, as are some of the "revenge" details.
The acting ranges from "hey, the director's buddy is doing his best" to genuinely solid, especially from the three leading women, who *really* work hard to sell some of this dialogue. They actually create characters - even when backstories are only discussed in vague cliches, you can really feel the life behind them. These are good genre actresses who aren't afraid to get dirty - or weird. And if Gone by Dawn feels padded (and it does), hey, it has a great sense of place - not just the sleazy strip club, the the freezing-cold, semi-barren Wisconsin setting. There's always something to look at while you're waiting for the plot to move along.
So again - it's not great, but it does what it does. If you're up for a sleazy but genuinely involving little crime flick with lots of nudity, some nasty violence, and a gratuitous twist or two, you could do way worse.
