User reviews

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)

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.

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.

The start feels rough with bad acting/unbelievable characters but I felt like it ultimately payed off so hang in there. Sure there are alot of missed opportunities to be funny or scary, perhaps from the low budget, but its still unique and fun. Worth a watch, good cinematography. Acting got better as it went on. I enjoyed it as a fun B movie, alot better than most of what passes for horror these days!!

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.

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

Didn't like it.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

My wife and I were so scared at the first half with a "less is more sense" once big foot was fighting the demon creatures with dubstep rock playing in the background I lost it in laughter, and the ending sequence was unnecessary .. the first half had a real creepy scary feel to it though and I was on the edge of my seat.

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 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.

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!

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.

Bad acting bad senario bad story Unlogical and even shodnt be put in horror movies section it must be in comedy or drama section.

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.

I knew this film was going to be bad after watching the trailer. I still decided to give it a shot. I ended up turning it off after 15 minutes. 3 stars.