Lost Treasures & Guilty Pleasures: Deadbeat at Dawn

Last year, when it came out that Tarantino and Rodriguez were making Grindhouse, a tribute to Exploitation Movies of the '70s, I was pretty excited. Quite honestly, this is the absolute best genre of movies (if you like shitty movies, that is). They claimed they were going to be period authentic, with low-budget looks and vintage soundtracks, everything down to the heavy film grain that plagued all those well-loved prints. I was excited because I love those crappy movies.

Then Grindhouse came out. And it wasn't good.

Tarantino made...well, I don't know what he made, other than a masturbatory homage to things only he loves. And while Rodriguez did make a cheesy Zombie Movie, he used the whole "vintage" thing for dramatic effect more than anything. Basically, what you ended up with were two big-budget films that were dudded down to look cheap. (It's sad that the most "authentic" part of Grindhouse was the trailers that connected the two halves.) They pretty much failed at what they were trying to do by trying way too hard.

Enter Jim Van Bebber.

In the late '80s, Van Bebber, encouraged by the success of low-budget movies like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Evil Dead, decided he wanted to make a low-budget movie that would catch fire, as those other movies did. He found his inspiration in the really bad gang and biker movies of the '70s. He sought to replicate those movies, not only in feel, but, hopefully, in success, as many of them became cult hits when they hit the "grindhouse" circuit that Tarantino and Rodriguez are so enamored with.

What he came up with was Deadbeat at Dawn.

For first-time viewers, there is nothing to indicate that this movie was made in 1988 (other than the cars, and even that's a stretch). Van Bebber used vintage wardrobe, music, even going so far as to use vintage 16mm filmstock to replicate the grainy transfer of those old movies. He did everything right in replicating that period feel that Tarantino and Rodriguez did wrong.

And what is there not to like about this movie? Every character is an irredeemable asshole. They all do drugs. They carry nunchucks and throwing stars. They fight each other with ridiculous karate moves. Everyone does their own stunts. There are gallons upon gallons of blood. Literally everyone dies. This is a movie that you think would show up on Mystery Science Theatre, except I think it does so well as an homage that it actually classifies as a good movie (if that makes any sense).

If you like those grindhouse-type movies, Deadbeat at Dawn is a must-see. Unfortunately, Synapse Films, the film's distributor, no longer sells the movie. There is a copy of it included in the upcoming Films of Jim Van Bebber set, but that DVD isn't as good as the Synapse version. It's still out there, if you care to look for it. I really can't say enough about this movie, other that to say, "check it out."

Seriously, check it out.