★ 8 / 10
This is a pretty good low-budget movie about
Bucky R
This is a pretty good low-budget movie about gangs.
This is a pretty good low-budget movie about gangs.
★ 6 / 10
I had no idea what I was getting
Sam N
I had no idea what I was getting myself into with Deadbeat at Dawn. Five seconds in, I had to pause and check that Tommy Wiseau hadn’t somehow played a…
I had no idea what I was getting myself into with Deadbeat at Dawn. Five seconds in, I had to pause and check that Tommy Wiseau hadn’t somehow played a role—such is the sheer chaos of its opening moments. But unlike The Room, this isn’t incompetence wrapped in cashmere; it’s guerrilla cinema powered by pure, unfiltered passion. Jim Van Bebber writes, directs, edits, stars—and probably did the catering too.
It’s scrappy, bloody, and often ridiculous, but it moves—like The Warriors if shot on stolen cameras after a bad trip. Where Wiseau threw money at the problem, Van Bebber used ingenuity and madness to plaster over budgetary holes. The result is violent, anarchic and weirdly beautiful.
The acting’s ropey, the plot’s barely there, and yet it works. Not in spite of its flaws but because of them. Deadbeat at Dawn isn’t just a cult film—it’s a punch to the face.
★ 7 / 10
Jim Van Bebber is a name that’s synonymous
Wayne K
Jim Van Bebber is a name that’s synonymous with the world of low budget exploitation, but is largely unknown out of it. His feature film debut, Deadbeat At…
Jim Van Bebber is a name that’s synonymous with the world of low budget exploitation, but is largely unknown out of it. His feature film debut, Deadbeat At Dawn, is far better than it has any right to be, considering how long it took to make, how little it cost, as well as the on-camera risks the actors faced. You have to hand it to Van Bebber for throwing himself fully into the project, taking serious bodily damage and risking his life for a micro-budgeted exploitation film that he had no guarantee anyone would ever see. Unlike a lot of films of this nature, it’s never boring. Instead it has an incredibly propulsive nature, with constant conflicts, fight scenes and moments of deep self-loathing and despair. I’ve seen films like this that have so much pointless wandering around, coupled with dreary, overlong pseudo-philosophical ramblings that exist purely to fill the runtime, and because they cost very little to film. But Deadbeat At Dawn is a real story, with a beginning, middle and end, and if I was to recommend any part of it, I’d go with the end. The climactic fight sequence, while hamstrung by a lack of resources and post-production faculties, its an incredibly kinetic and bloody battle, the appropriate blowoff for the anger that’s been simmering throughout the film. It demonstrates an understanding of proper escalation and violent set pieces elevating what’s an already emotionally resonant story. It might not be to everyone’s taste, but it’s an incredibly confident debut that would set the stage for an impressive, albeit underappreciated, film career.
72%
AUDIENCE
· 1K ratings
6.4/10
3.2K
