Dawning

Based on the trailer, I was concerned that this film would be pretentious and boring; I am happy to be wrong! The story is compelling and the characters are believable, which is crucial to the horror genre. There are no cheap quick scares; instead the film is long on tension and atmosphere. The viewers are spared blood and gore. The acting, across-the-board, is fantastic. I especially liked Christine Kellogg-Darrin, who brings heart to the role of Laura, a woman fighting to keep her marriage intact and bond with her resentful step-daughter. For people who appreciate intelligent horror films, "Dawning" is a must.

Terrible movie. It was neither scary nor interesting. I found myself getting irritated because it went nowhere. The movie had no direction. Dumbest ending ever

I have been watching movies for a long long time and I'm sorry to say that this is overall the worst movie I have seen. The acting wasn't terrible, the actors who played a brother and sister acted well....the others, so so! The plot was non existent and very drawn out and boring. The music was great! As far as horror scores go, this was good and I think it the only thing that kept me tuned in. The ending did not make any sense, but then again, most of the movie itself didn't. I'm not a professional critic but I am very open minded to different types of movies and if you asked me about this, I would tell not to waste your time!

"Dawning" is a pretty decent psychological thriller that is marred by some uneven acting and a non-great ending. The director does an effective job with the pacing, and I thought the family drama that played out was realistic and well-acted.

However, some of the acting feels as if they could have run through a couple more takes and it probably would have helped to re-shoot a couple of the scenes, something that the budget probably didn't allow for. That said, I thought the film got many things right, from the tight camera work and the believable, relate-able characters that you wind up caring about to the contrast between the brightly-lit cabin and the dark, wind- blowing-through-the-trees creepy forest.

If you're considering watching this film, and are wondering if you'll enjoy it, here's a simple test: you're flipping through channels late one night. On one channel, a couple Twilight Zone episodes are playing. On another, one of the latter Saw sequels is on. If you're the sort of person who'd rather watch the Twilight Zone episode, then you'll probably enjoy this film.

Okay-ish effort for a no-budget digital feature with some fair performances by a pretty good cast for a film of this size.

My biggest problem with the film is the fact that it treads no new ground. There was some potential here - some genuine suspense but the ending is nothing more than a yawn inducing been there done that sort of affair.

The director clearly has some flair and creates some decent chills. I've read some reviews bemoaning the budget of the film which personally I think is a BS cop-out for lazy scriptwriting.

Having no budget is no excuse for bad writing. Can anyone say EVIL DEAD!!??? This is where the film falls a little flat is in it's scripting - the characters are well drawn and you do give a damn but the interest level fades quickly as the film makes it's way to it's all too lame denouement.