Just Before Dawn (1981)

Two men, Ty and Vachel, are hunting in the forest when they come upon an old, decrepit church. While drunkenly playing preacher at the abandoned pulpit, Ty glances up at the hole in the church’s ceiling and sees a large man staring down at him. As Ty goes outside to investigate the appearance of the man, Vachel is killed by a machete to the groin. Hearing his friend’s screams, Ty watches as the hulking stranger exits the church while putting on Vachel’s hat and vest, and a horrified Ty runs screaming into the wilderness. 

Soon after, a group of five friends arrive by RV at the outskirts of the forest: Warren, his girlfriend Connie, couple Megan and Jonathan, and Jonathan’s brother Daniel. Ignoring the warnings they receive from forest ranger Roy (George Kennedy!) and a trembling, terrified Ty, the kids head into woods to camp out on an area of land recently purchased by Warren. The group merrily swims, dances, and talk cosmetics, completely unaware that not one but two lumbering killers are following their every move.....

 I absolutely adore Just Before Dawn, and I've always been a fan of movies set in the forest. I'm not sure why, as I've only been camping once in my life and I spent the entire outing crouched in an attack position while brandishing two bottles of Off! Deep Woods bug spray. The scenery in Just Before Dawn is so lush and gorgeous that it makes me want to give camping another try, regardless of the bugs, backwoods killers and lack of proper toilets. The film's haunting, droning score is also a nice touch; it really ramps up the tension and adds to the overall creepy atmosphere of the movie.

 There are a lot of genuinely eerie moments in the film. The aforementioned scene where Ty sees the killer peering down on him is really unnerving. Even a shot of innocent looking twin girls has a creepy Diane Arbus feel to it. The giggling, rasping psychotic brothers make a habit of sneaking up on the campers; I love the scene where Megan and Jonathan are swimming in front of a waterfall, happily splashing and making out, completely unaware that one of the killers has slipped into the water behind them.

The characters in Just Before Dawn are big part of the film's charm. George Kennedy, while not a huge part of the film, is hilarious as a the gentle forest ranger who talks lovingly to his plants and his horse. The five campers are extremely charismatic and fun, and even though they dismiss and ignore Ty's plea for help (they think he's just drunk), they come across as genuinely nice people (and Blondie fans as well, which will always make you okay in my book). The film's standout character is, of course, Final Girl Connie. Quiet and reserved, Connie spends a lot of the film worried about her ability to be as sexy as the make-up obsessed Megan or as wilderness-savvy as her macho boyfriend Warren. When she is faced with danger, however, she becomes stronger than she ever probably imagined, and her method of killing one of the murderous twins has to be seen to be believed. The last ten minutes of Just Before Dawn cemented Connie as my favorite Final Girl in slasher filmdom.