I had previously seen the first movie from this director called "Nest of Vampires" which had a super confusing plot and was hobbled somewhat by bad practical effects. However, it was clear, even then, that Sanders would be somebody to watch in the future.
With this offering, "Demons at Dawn", it is very clear that he has learned a huge amount from his previous movie and his craft has improved dramatically.
Without spoilers, the basic synopsis of the plot is that a retired hitman, Mickey, is forced by circumstance and a gambling addiction to take one last job to clear his debt load with his previous "employers". As the movie title no doubt reveals, things don't go as planned and take a supernatural turn for the worse.
For the most part, the movie is strongly driven by dialogue and pretty solid acting. Almost all characters are fleshed out with real motivations and backgrounds and unique personality quirks. The camera work and lighting is absolutely spot on. A solid plot invests the audience in the fate of the characters with the correct amount of believable tension. All the scenes drive towards a solid and satisfying conclusion.
Now, originally, my thought was to give a rare 10/10 review based on the solid storytelling and cinematography, made even more impressive by the tiny budget it was filmed with. However, there were a few niggles that I decided to drop a couple of points for. First, there was a scene where some cultists are actually summoning the "demons" and the acting in that scene was pretty cringeworthy. Likewise, a scene with a judge which was similarly very cardboard acting and pulled the audience somewhat out of the movie for a moment. I'm not sure why these two scenes were not up to the same solid acting standard or proofed as with the rest of the movie. The second issue I had was with "Mickey" himself. His acting skills were impeccable, his character well developed and solid and his dialogue and emotional range absolutely carried the movie. However, he was set up as being a highly trained hitman and that was not even remotely evident in the movie. He came ill prepared with the "tools of the trade" to complete his assigned mission and appeared not well trained in how to appropriately use or handle weapons. Ie, although his character was solid and relatable, he appeared to be, at best, an amateur assassin and not the stated "best in the business" that the other support characters set him up to be. The makeup, for the most part was solid although there were a couple of points where the low budget gore was evident. However, these were relatively minor unless specifically looking for them.
Minor niggles aside, this was a very entertaining movie that stands up well against considerably larger big budget movies out there. The ambient background sounds and creepy music really helped to build tension with the audience. Some very clever cinematography techniques helped to show the passage of time or flashbacks. The cuts and lighting were spot on and there was very little in the way of filler getting in the way of the story. Also, there were a couple of satisfying twists including a solid one at the very end.
All in all, well worth the hour and a half time investment. If you love Indie horror, this is one of the better ones. A phenomenal achievement with an extremely limited budget. Well done!
