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In recent events, Bruce Wemple appears to be on an interesting track. The New York City-based director has been at the helm of several creature features as of late. His Bigfoot thriller Monstrous was released last summer, and then he premiered The Retreat in November, a horror film focused on the Wendigo mythology. Now, only five months later, Wemple features both creatures from his previous two projects because, in Dawn of the Beast, Bigfoot and the Wendigo share the screen.
The professor is searching for Bigfoot, hence he takes a group of graduate students into the forest, Chris and Marie included. Chris, the nerdy and awkward character, tends to annoy everyone with his dad jokes, while Marie feigns being dominant to him. On their expedition to find the most infamous mythical creature, they encounter something far more mystical a Wendigo. Now the group is stuck in the middle of the forest, surrounded by two sinister creatures: Bigfoot and the Wendigo. Will they make it out alive?
While Wemple’s previous films tackled the plot more than the creatures, in this new one, he portrays the reason behind the plot’s premise: the creatures. Wemple puts the focus on the horror aspects of the film and, as a result, delivers better than expected in that department.
As he did in The Retreat, he uses the same creepy and menacing design for the Wendigo and it works for the most part, but it could have been at least a little more effective if he altered it a bit. The film is filled with a lot of jumpscares, which are all earned and genuine due to the entertaining buildup of suspense before them. Shocking images and artistic camera angles add to the assault of frightening visuals.
Sadly, I must admit that there are parts of the film that truly frightened me, but it misses the mark in most other departments. Chris and his girlfriend Marie are the only well-thought-out characters in this film. Aside from them, everyone else is your run-of-the-mill forgettable horror film character. Most of the acting performances range from bad to horrible, except Burke’s Chris whose performance was acceptable at best. The cast is also not aided by the writing, as the dialogue was delivered so bluntly that lines came out awkward. The film also suffers from poor music choices, like the ridiculous techno song that accompanies a fight scene. The film is also heavily predictable, as any seasoned veteran in horror will easily guess whatever is about to happen next. The best part of the film is arguably the closing scene, but like everything else, it is overly shouldered with unnecessary decoration that drags the runtime.
The ending is what personality this film has. Cramming several ideas into the box, while it could have contained one and expanded upon it makes the movie fall flat in terms of plot development, character arcs, performances, and writing. It is hard to say anything about the protagonists. While Chris does have a very unique development by the end, he is afterward the only character with anything remotely resembling an arc. The conclusion of the film offers some fresh perspectives, and I enjoyed that, but again this is not enough to salvage the film from defeat. Enthusiasts of Bigfoot and the Wendigo might enjoy the idea of them sharing screen time, otherwise, the movie can be enjoyed as a disposable horror flick that will surely spook the viewers. However, Dawn of the Beast does not capture what could be done by mixing Wendigo and Bigfoot. I would like to see the concept cover a more compelling tale.
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