Search - Dawn on DVD

Daddy's little girl is hungry....

trashcanman | Hanford, CA United States | 06/21/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

""Dawn" is the tale of a child vampire and her bond with her human father. It's a wonderful piece of low-budget black-and-white film that comes highly recommended to any true fan of vampire films. It's a movie that is as touching and sweet as it is disturbing and follows the realistic path of George Romero's "Martin in the way it portrays the hardships a modern day vampire would endure. But in my mind it far surpasses that unique work by focusing on the love between parent and child and keeping the protagonists on the run, which builds a lot of tension. The only reason this doesn't get a higher rating is because the acting is universally wooden to the point of distraction.

As the story begins, we meet 10-year-old Dawn; a sweet little girl traveling with her doting father. There are loving insults and tickle torture involved. Absolutely adorable. As the two hit the road, they find a nice lake and the young girl takes what appear to be dentures out of her mouth and runs into the woods while dad waits in the car. An old man strolling by himself hears a whimper and goes to investigate. As he bends down to comfort the harmless child he finds, she smiles up at him, revealing two fangs. "I know what you are." the man flatly states in acceptance. He is in the late stages of terminal cancer and gladly accepts death's peaceful embrace in the arms of it's cutest employee. Now covered in blood, Dawn rejoins her father in his car and the two drive to the nearest public bathroom where she can change out of her crimson-stained clothing and brush the gore out of her teeth. This is an average kill for the pre-teen deathdealer and this opening sequence hooked me immediately. Is it weird that I think fangs are supercute?

While Dawn features some very effective bloodletting, the film is actually rather sweet in tone. That's where it really excels. The child feels genuine guilt over her need to kill, longs to know everything there is to know about her mother (who died giving birth to her), wants to be able to taste a candy bar, and loves her father more than anything. This is not the tale of a monster by any stretch. This story is purely human, vampires or not. There is actually quite a bit of levity as well. My favorite bit had to be Dawn's father asking a goth girl -who insists she's "hardcore vamp"- what her get-up was all about. When a psychic whose past has been touched by the family who is suffering from MDS picks the protagonists' trail, I really thought I knew how the story had to end. After all, these poorly-acted low-budget affairs tend to fall back on predictable formulas often. I'm pleased to say that I was dead wrong. The ending shook me, but aside from a bit of a plot hole that cost it some points it felt genuine. Make no mistake, this is not a film to pass by. Dawn is that rare obscure gem you sit through all that straight-to-video and Sci-Fi Channel garbage hoping to discover before anyone else. Assuming black-and-white doesn't hurt your eyes and Oscar-grade acting isn't a pre-requisite, Dawn is a must-see for fans of the vampiric. That goes double if you are looking for something more realistic and provoking than your typical cape-and-fang affairs.

4 1/2 stars, rounded down because I HATE those scenes in vampire movies where they tell you to "forget the movies"."

Great movie!

Melinda Hoover | Myerstown, PA USA | 09/09/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I really loved "Dawn." The writers/actors did a great job. The way it ended though was a shame. That poor girl. She couldn't help what was happening to her. I actually felt bad for her.
Also, going along with the previous review, the fangs weren't false--they were real. It was the teeth her father had made to put over the fangs so people wouldn't know she was a vampire that were real. Whenever she needed to "feed", she'd remove the fake teeth. Otherwise, she would wear them to fit in and look "normal." (Which is why, when the cop was ordering them out of the car, she reached for her fake teeth but the cop stopped her...and well, then there were the results...)
Oh and by the way, that was pretty good the way she killed that boy's hand in the store because he was teasing her. Can't say he didn't ask for that one!!!!!

:o)

*~Melinda~*"