Director: Jim Van Bebber
Notable Cast: Jim Van
Bebber, Paul Harper, Megan Murphy, Marc Pitman, Ric Walker
Diving into the new Blu Ray release of Deadbeat at Dawn from Arrow Video was something for an adventure
for me. Mainly, I had never even heard of the film prior to its announcement by
the cult cinema releasing label. When it was announced, my initial reaction was
to not do any research on the film prior to seeing it and go in completely
blind. It’s not often that I am able to do that with films – particularly those
released by a larger label – so even the idea of a fresh experience was
somewhat exciting. Intriguingly enough, what I found with Deadbeat at Dawn was the epitome of a DIY film that looked like it
was made for $200 and a bottle of whiskey. Even with its incredibly raw and
rough around the edges approach, it’s easy to see why the film has garnered a
cult audience with its almost punk-like approach and energetic appeal to low
budget cinema. This isn’t a film that reaches too far above its means, like The Driller Killer or something of that
ilk, but it is a film that has plenty of admirable qualities that generally
even out its rough patches.