dannynsk
I have seen a lot of movies, there is no question there. But once in a while a movie jumps out at me so bad ass, so cool, and so different than anything I've seen in a while, that I need to tell the world. This film my friends is Deadbeat at Dawn.Imagine the revenge elements of Death Wish, the slum scenery of Street Trash, and the gang battles of The Warriors all pent up in one angry themed film. That's the best way I can describe this film's feel in a nutshell.Goose, who is played by the films director Jim Van Bebber, is a relatively nice guy caught up as a leader in a street gang called The Ravens. They do not get along with their rivals The Spiders and the bloodshed between the two is constant.After realizing that he may end up getting killed and leaving his girl high and dry, Goose decides to quit The Ravens and join the working world to start building a better life. But now that he is not connected, The Spiders seize the day and get revenge on Goose starting a hell storm of revenge that ends up becoming one of the coolest paybacks you will ever see in cinematic history.When I first saw a clip of this movie, I was reading reviews on IMDb before I purchased Deadbeat at Dawn. A review stated, "If you liked playing Double Dragon on your Nintendo, you will love this movie!" I saw some clips online and understood what the reviewer was saying. The last twenty minutes of this movie will make you feel like your playing a kick ass video game from the eighties.Van Bebber actually has some fighting skills and is pretty awesome with the nun chucks. He beats a ton of gang members up.The worst thing about Deadbeat at Dawn is that not enough people are aware of this low budget masterpiece. This is a grind house film; not some over produced multimillion dollar budgeted film with a filter over it. This is the real deal Holyfield.The film is all around dirty and gritty, it carries a no holds barred "I'm making a brutal movie" approach throughout, and leaves the viewer in awe.
HaemovoreRex
It's not hard to see why Jim Van Bebber's grimy expose of gang related turmoil has become such a cherished cult favourite; The film delivers equal dosages of OTT violence, blood letting, action and some highly commendable amateur stunt work and this all wrapped up in a grim and nihilistic tale of retribution. Of course, many independent films comprise and follow similar themes; However, this one further raises the bar with its incredibly bleak depiction of sheer hopelessness as experienced by our protagonist and those around him. The scenes featuring our hero returning home to his father and his obvious shock and disgust at the mental deterioration experienced by said parent are surprisingly powerful - far more so than one would expect from a film of this ilk.Having said that, ultimately what really will stick with the viewer is the incredible ultra-violence on display; The finale especially is a suitably nasty affair and lets just say, the outcome pretty much negates the possibility of a direct sequel........Given what Bebber gave us here with this diamond in the rough, it's even more of a shame that he never fulfilled his obvious potential by moving on to bigger things......oh well, even if he were to only be remembered for this effort, it's a heck of a reputation.
youngvagabond
This film could change your life. A friend introduced me to this movie a couple weeks ago, and not a conscious hour has gone by that I have not thought of it. If this seems remotely like your type of film (low-budget action gore) then you MUST see this. It immediately became one of my all time favorites. The cover does not do it justice. Think 'Mad Max' meets 'Polyester' meets 'Cannibal Apocalypse'... and you're sort of on the right track. Really, it's like nothing you've ever seen. I have never reviewed any films on IMDb before, with this movie I felt I had no other choice but to shout it's praises to anyone who will listen. It deserves to be legendary. Prepare to have your mind blown away.
Jimdadinosaurhuntr
This is probably the worst movie I have ever had the opportunity to watch. The acting was terrible, and the story was bland and lacked luster. The only really redeeming qualities of this movie were few and far between and usualy involved me laughing my ass off at how bad it was. for example the father freaking out over his last beer was priceless and deserves and Oscar, the one shot knock over the head with a nunchuck to steal some guys bike was hilarious and deserved a few rewinds, and the director is pretty good with nunchucks. If it were a five minute short film made up of these three things in no particular order and was called "Nunchuck Knockout For Dad`s Last Beer" it would have been amazing. To bad I`m a fan of really low budget stuff, but this didn`t cut it.