Damned by Dawn

There are many mythical and fairly recently (within the last 200 years anyway) created monsters from the vampire to the zombie, werewolf to the 'unnamed thing', such as Frankenstein's monster but one that has been fairly neglected in horror cinema has been the banshee. This important piece of Irish folklore tells of a woman, sometimes a repulsive hag and sometimes a woman of rare beauty, who is seen near the graves of people who have recently died and is generally thought to be a messenger from the 'Otherworld'. If you follow more recent interpretations, a banshee is associated with a high-pitched scream - the wail of the banshee and something utterly horrendous.

Attempting to right the wrong and restore the banshee to public consciousness is the Israeli and film Damned by Dawn in which a young woman, Claire, receives a strange gift from her dying grandmother and decides to travel to the country to spend time with her father, sister Jen and Nana. She also decides that this will be a good opportunity for her to introduce her boyfriend, Paul, to her family, something he expects her to reciprocate in the near future. When she arrives, Claire finds it hard to have a meaningful conversation with her heavily medicated grandmother who is drifting in and out of consciousness, muttering something about a female spirit coming to take her soul.

This being a genre film, the house in the country isn't your typical welcoming dwelling with bright décor, roaring fires or central heating and bright lighting throughout, but a fog shrouded isolated stone building that looks like something from a Hammer Horror film! It turns out that Nana isn't one for creature comforts and is very much set in her ways. Furthermore, when Claire and Paul show up and see her father, Bill, he is p***ing on the bushes at the front of the house.

One night, during a huge thunderstorm, everyone is woken up by some fearsome screaming from outside and they look out to see what can be making such a noise and are, as you would be, surprised to see a woman in a white gown. It doesn't take long before Claire has had enough of this wailing woman and pushes her off the balcony, causing her to fall onto the white picket fence below where she apparently dies. Big mistake. This act of defiance doesn't solve anything and only makes matters worse as killing a banshee isn't that easy and, soon enough, all the graves in the neighbourhood begin to open up with their inhabitants coming out to play.


This is the precursor of things to come as, when the old lady dies, someone - or something - has written 'Damned by Dawn' on her wardrobe and Claire finds a journal hidden under the mattress in which her grandmother has been covertly writing down details of what happens when someone nears death and a banshee comes calling for their soul. This isn't the sort of journal you would expect an old woman to keep but, then again, in her final days, Nana wasn't exactly her usual self.

It transpires that Claire, Paul and Bill aren't up against one banshee, but the entire forces of the undead including a dead but extremely lively Nana who is now possessed by an entity who is extremely annoyed. There is more than a little Evil Dead to this aspect of the film with Nana even asking Claire to 'Join us', plenty of bizarre violence and bloodshed, some of which ends up on the camera lens.


There have been some top horror films emanating from Australia in recent years such asWolf Creek, Rogue and Dying Breed but this is really the first supernatural film I can remember seeing from 'down under'. This marks director Brett Anstey's feature film debut, which he co-wrote with Russell Friedrich (who he worked with on his short Atomic Spitballs) and Rob Townshend and is a reasonably accomplished piece of work. There are some flashes of real talent in the way that Anstey moves the camera, develops the story and gets the most from his actors but it isn't perfect and there are some occasions when the pacing drags slightly.

All in all, this is a highly watchable film with no shortage of screaming, some well worked jumps and plenty of innovation. All this means that the action isn't confined to the house but moves out into the fields, tunnels and catacombs below (something that Bill didn't know about, despite having spent his entire life there! and a final confrontation between Claire and the banshee who has come for the last in the family line. There is enough evidence here to suggest that Brett Anstey could have a successful career making horror movies and actors Renee Willner (Claire), Danny Alder (Paul) and Peter Stratford (Bill) could go along with him. Also, if ever the 'Wilhelm scream' isn't quite good enough for your film, I'm quite sure that Bridget Neval, who plays the banshee, can provide you with something suitably loud and bloodcurdling!

The Disc

Extra Features
The first point of call is probably the commentary which can be accessed via the setup or bonus menus and features director Brett Anstey, producer Luke Gibson, editor and associate producer Dave Redman plus 'Fog Wrangler' Darren 'Dags' Maxwell. They all introduce themselves at the beginning but, after several minutes, they all begin to sound alike and, by the halfway point not quite sure which one of the four men is speaking. Nevertheless, they do speak extremely well about the film, the fog and the effects whilst giving opinions on the actors, the screenplay and the filming process.

Making Of The Damned Film (55:34) begins with a section on 'The Early Days (1984-2004)' which shows how Brett Anstey came to meet Luke Gibson and other people when he wanted to be a cross between Tom Savini and Ray Harryhausen in which Anstey and others talk about a banshee, horror films and filmmaking before it moves onto pre-production, production and post-production. Interspersed with retrospective interviews, you see such things as how certain effects were done, what happened when the generator met a cliff and why mattresses are invaluable to a stunt performer!

There is also a trailer to round off the package.


The Picture
Because this is produced by 'The Amazing Krypto Brothers',, the film boasts that it is presented in ' Kryptovision', which is a good gag but doesn't actually mean anything! By and large, this is a disc with very pleasing visuals as, although there is more fog than inThe Fog and the three Chinese Ghost Story films combined, detail and definition aren't really affected thanks to the high black levels. Colours are similarly good with strong and vibrant reds, especially evident in the banshee's bleeding eyes and when Simmo, a bloke from next door who has come to hang out with Jen, meets someone with a scythe in the garden!

The SFX make-up is extremely good, turning Bridget Neval into an ashen faced Demon with bleeding eyes and extremely destructive vocal chords. Similarly, Dawn Klingberg's transformation from an ordinary Nana into something much more frightening is very convincing although not quite up there with the work that Dick Smith and Marcel Vercoutere did with Linda Blair whilst making The Exorcist. There is also a very neat scene when one character vomits cockroaches before his guts spill out because his belly has been sliced open!


The Sound
The only audio option is a Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track which uses all six speakers to good effect, employing the front and rear surrounds for both 'jumps' and atmosphere with the screaming and wailing of the banshee becoming so loud and high-pitched that it borders on the unbearable - exactly how it should be. The dialogue, predominantly coming through the centre channel, is clear and easy to make out, no matter how loud the forces of undead become.

Helping to increase the tension and make the 'jumps' even more effective is the fine score by Phil Lambert and Scott McIntyre which is always there is no background, never becoming too loud or outstaying its welcome.

Should you require them, there are clear and well written English subtitles.


Final Thoughts
I didn't really know what to expect from Damned by Dawn as information was fairly ambiguous but I liked the title and thought the cover art looked cool - two opinions that have changed! It may not be the greatest horror film that I will see this year but it is certainly very entertaining, well made and a film I intend to watch again shortly. If the film has only shortcomings, it also has a banshee, tunnels to hell and flying skeletons - brilliant!