Monday, March 15, 2010
Michael Allen
The darkest evils that people must face are their own. Each character in the Dawning must face their greatest fears. However, facing one's inner demons is not enough for the malevolent host in the film. The antagonist is only shown in brief flashes of light and described as "beautiful" (Dawning). An encounter will the unseen demon or entity signals that character's demise. Audience will see the villain as representing something different as very little is explicitly shown in the film. Of course, a viewer's own vision will be augmented or diminished by the size of their own personal demons.
The hidden aspect of evil in the Dawning creates heightened tension, as the imagination wanders to dark places. Without being able to see a foe an audience member or character's fight or flight will be triggered until the story's resolution. Yet, there is no resolution here only more tension. Viewers are likely to see the devil, ghosts, or demons in the darkness, but the villain's identity is never revealed. Only your mind will sort out the creature's identity or the ending.
The mind plays tricks when characters are not revealed and this is what keeps the Dawning sinister. There are no happy endings here and instead only family conflict. The character's in the film also crack under the pressure of an unforseeable demise and their deaths are often self-inflicted. The Dawning is a tribute to some of the best directors of our times and the past. Hitchcockian drama keeps things distracting as Carpenter-esque unpredictability heightens a thrilling mood. Keeping the evil in shadows keeps things interesting and the Dawning is for those who can handle a visit with their own inner demon.
More info' on the film here:
The Dawning Homepage
Writing/story/themes: 8.
Acting/believability: 6.5 (a couple unnamed actors come across as amateurish early, but develop confidence later on, this is a small budget picture so no big expectations here).
Directing techniques/coaching/staging: 7 (good transitions with shots of the moon, a long run in the dark - however too much time is spent shooting in the one location - a cabin - creates cabin fever).
Overall: 7.15 nightmares out of 10.
Sources:
The Dawning Here at 28DLA
Stumble It!
Posted in: 2010,cast,crew,film festival,homepage,horror,independent,movie poster,movie review
2 comments:
Saw this at Nevermore. I had no expectations and was totally open to whatever it would be.
Here's the problem: the characters are completely unsympathetic. Right from the start, they're all snide, abrasive, and snarky with each other. There's no warmth or depth to any of them. That takes the emotional impact out of their disintegration over the course of the film- they never had it together in the first place!
You can't go from point A to point B in a film if there's no story arc. DAWNING starts with miserable live characters, it ends with miserable dead characters. And it never gave me a reason to care about any of their fates.
I wanted to like this- it had some good scares and cinematography, it was very well-acted, and it had some cool ideas. But it was wafer-thin and shallowly written.
And "We're all going to die" is a catch phrase from EVIL DEAD- a far superior supernatural cabin-in-the-woods movie. Plagiarizing that line so blatantly- and using it REPEATEDLY- is inexcusable.
The audience just groaned when the credits rolled- no applause at all. But I did hear a couple people blurt out "That sucked!" I regret every penny of the $16 I spent on tickets for this film.
It's 2010. Horror filmmakers should have figured out by now that if your characters are unlikable, your film will not work.
When you say: "they're all snide, abrasive, and snarky with each other," that sounds pretty real life to me. I am sure this film is not for everyone, but I enjoyed it even with some bias going in.
Thanks for commenting,
Mike
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