Deadbeat at Dawn

1988 Directed by Jim Van Bebber

Horror Marathon 2024 Day 10 Film 21

Written, Directed, and Starring Jim Van Bebber- this is exploitation horror in raw form. He plays Goose- the leader of "The Raven" gang. The film opens with a low stakes fight at a graveyard somewhere in Dayton OH- depicted as a burnt out city where the downtown has cratered into chaos and rampant drug use. After the knife fight Goose's psychic girlfriend is killed and Goose goes on to seek revenge against the leader of "The Spiders" - Danny.

Danny's portrayal by Paul Harper is especially heinous and cartoon like- his henchmen are all hyped up on drugs and he's beating the women he sleeps with. The gangs are a bit like The Warriors- but the decay of the rustbelt city feels more hopeless. The Midwest is perfect for this kind of dreary hopelessness. Somehow this has great special effects for such a low budget film- hands are blown off, blood spattered in streams of red. Some of this is punctuated with artistic lighting and montages of prisms like we're in some 70s experimental acid trip film.

Goose is equally caricatured- a Kung Fu kickin', ninja star throwin' badass whose downfall into being a crank runner as a product of his environment. His father is this loony bin- portrayed in this heightened scary and frenetic way by Charlie Goetz. The blabbering of the father just blasting his veins with drugs is a nerve-racking scene. Confronted by all of this violence, Goose has to have his kick-ass revenge. . For all the cheezy acting and fucked up edgelord sensibility it's a great film without holding back any of the sleaze.