DEADBEAT AT DAWN (1988) Blu-ray
Director: Jim Van Bebber
Arrow Video USA

Arrow Video goes underground with their Blu-ray of Jim Van Bebber Dayton-lensed gang war indie DEADBEAT AT DAWN.

Goose (director Jim Van Bebber) is a high-ranking member of Dayton street gang The Ravens who has a personal beef against Danny (Paul Harper), the leader of rival gang The Skulls. After a one-on-one knife fight in which both are badly injured, Goose's girlfriend Christy (Megan Murphy) threatens to leave him if he does not quit the gang and become a responsible adult. He quits the gang just as leader Keith (Ric Walker) announces that The Ravens are joining up with The Skulls and refuses to listen to Goose's warnings about Danny. Once Danny learns that Goose has quit the gang, he declares open season on his enemy and sends Bonecrusher (Marc Pitman) and Stubby (Bill Stover) to kill him. While Goose is out being a responsible adult – that is, dealing crank to yuppies in alleys – Bonecrusher and Keith brutally beat, murders, and mutilates Christy. After a "drunk night of the soul" in which he realizes he was right to walk out on his shell-shocked and heroin-addicted father (Charlie Goetz), Goose is forcibly brought back into the gang by Keith and Danny to participate in a bank heist. Goose knows that Danny and The Skulls are going to double-cross The Ravens, but he may be bringing a knife to a gunfight when makes a stand against them all.

Coming late in the eighties after a protracted shoot and post period, DEADBEAT AT DAWN became one of the indie underground gore horror flicks of the mail-order video period alongside Jörg Buttgereit's NEKROMANTIK films. After reading about the film and seeing Van Bebber's other feature THE MANSON FAMILY (which had an even more protracted shooting phase), DEADBEAT AT DAWN is nowhere near as grueling despite its gore and its badass posturing; on the other hand, it is surprisingly slick for a regional film shot without permits with the crew being chased out of graveyards, stumbling around on populated sidewalks covered in blood, and staging fighting and driving stunts and tossing body parts around in public. Acting is uneven as expected but the rough edges generally work in the film's favor, and the same could be said for the film's special make-up effects created by Van Bebber which are alternately accomplished and amateurish yet effectively deployed (the abruptness of a hand exploded by a bullet or a throat ripped out by bare hands having more of a visceral impact than a head severed by the tires of a passing car or the body of an unfortunate road worker exploding on impact with a speeding car). DEADBEAT AT DAWN does not do anything new with the gang war genre, ticking off the boxes including the self-sacrificing redemption, but the execution is simultaneously scrappy and accomplished.

Released directly to VHS by Ketchum Video in 1990, DEADBEAT AT DAWN was more talked about than seen by burgeoning horror fans whose access to anything less than mainstream was the midnight movies section of your local Tower Records or the bootleg circuit until Synapse Films created a new transfer from the 16mm A/B negative rolls for their 1998 DVD (which originally started life as a laserdisc that was cancelled). The same elements have been utilized by Arrow Video for their dual-territory 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.33:1 pillarboxed fullscreen Blu-ray which also restores a brief portion from the bar scene in which a stumbling drunk Goose attempts a karate kick on a man. The high definition bump up looks great for a guerilla film, slightly rough but retaining the textures of eighties mullets and some prosthetic flesh wounds which occasionally look quite disgusting in close-up. The red gels employed in some scenes are free of noise while grain remains. The LPCM 1.0 mono track is clean, revealing the limitations of the location sound at the high ends in contrast to the added music and effects which were mastered with more polish. Optional English SDH subtitles are included.

The Synapse DVD featured an audio commentary by Van Bebber, producer/director of photography Michael King (DEMONICUS), and actor Pitman moderated by Severin Films' David Gregory. This track has not been carried over but a new track has been commissioned with Van Bebber, actor Harper, and guest Cody Lee Hardin, moderated by filmmaker Victor Bonacore. Van Bebber discusses his shorts, the influence of Bruce Lee and his interest in martial arts, and the lengthy shoot with input by Harper. They also note the presence of future THE MANSON FAMILY star Marcelo Games who did the film's sound and appeared in what might be either two bit roles or the same extremely unlucky character. The discussion is scattershot but amusing while a more focused documentation of the film comes from Bonacore's "Deadbeat Forever" (79:36) which starts from his beginnings as a preppy-looking high school wrestler who started making short film – screening his earlier DIY short horror effort INTO THE BLACK at his Catholic school charging his fellow classmates twenty-five cents for a ticket – through to DEADBEAT AT DAWN with input from Harper and Pitman who also is around for subsequent discussion of the decade-long gestation of THE MANSON FAMILY through to his subsequent short films and music videos. One assumes that some of the footage from this film came from Bonacore's other feature-length Van Bebber documentary DIARY OF A DEADBEAT.

Next up is an archival 1986 behind the scenes documentary about the original failed 1986/1987 shoot (18:41) which consists mainly of fight blocking amidst a lot of goofing around and beer drinking. Outtakes (2:59) from the film include Goetz burning his hand with a cigarette, some drug use (simulated, presumably), and a couple blown takes. A selection of short films includes the aforementioned "Into the Black" (34:42) in which two inmates escape a prison in a post-apocalyptic wasteland to save a woman's child kidnapped by a street gang. Van Bebber mentions in the optional commentary that it was the film that got him a scholarship to film school. Shot on regular 8mm, he projected it for the school board with a separate soundtrack featuring Pink Floyd, The Who, and Black Sabbath (all of which has been replaced here). More accomplished is 1993's MY SWEET SATAN (19:03) reportedly based on a real life murder case in which Satan-worshipping Ricky (Van Bebber) amasses a following with free drugs, among them Jimmy Thompson (Terek Puckett), who one night make a sacrifice of junior member Gary (Mike Moore) in a drug-fueled rage. On the commentary track, Van Bebber mentioned that the aerial footage was made possibly by photographer Mike King's job at a local news station and that Jeff Burr (LEATHERFACE: THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE III) was one of the film's financers. 1994's "Roadkill: The Last Days of John Martin" (14:17) is an extract from a feature script about a roadkill eating psychopath (Mark Gillespie, THE MANSON FAMILY) who decides to move up the food chain when he gives a lift of a couple (DEADBEAT's Marc Pitman and AMERICAN GUINEA PIG: BLOODSHOCK's Maureen Allisse). On the commentary, Van Bebber recalls that the film was shot in the home shared by himself and Pitman who moved out shortly after because of the smell of the real roadkill and the rats it attracted – all of this providing even more of a motivation to finish the film quickly – that a faulty film gate in the first camera used (footage of which survives in the film) required the scene of Pitman strung up and butchered to be shot twice. Lastly, there is the 2013 digital short "Gator Green" (15:48) – previously included on the Severin Blu-ray of THE MANSON FAMILY and funded by a Kickstarter campaign with Unearthed Films' Stephen Biro – in which the director plays Vietnam vet Captain Jack Andrew, the proprietor of the titular alligator-shaped tavern who – with the assistance of his disabled (and equally unbalanced) former sergeants Harry (Troy Grant) and Bobby (Rogan Marshall) – feed draft-dodgers (and marines) to the surrounding swamp’s gator population EATEN ALIVE-style. It’s all very broad and a feature length might have better developed something of a social commentary; but one can assume that Van Bebber was serious when he said in the optional commentary he wanted to get away from the realities of THE MANSON FAMILY in favor of pure entertainment. Finally, there is "Chunkblower" (3:59), a promo for an unfinished feature film by Gary Blair Smith who would subsequently produce the Skinny Puppy music videos directed by Van Bebber. Van Bebber's music videos are also included for Pantera's "Revolution is My Name (Long Version)" (5:00), Damien Storm's "The Legend of Damine Storm" (27:41), Superjoint's "Fuck Your Enemy" (1:46) and "The Alcoholik" (2:35) along with image galleries for DEADBEAT AT DAWN, "My Sweet Satan", "Roadkill: The Last Days of John Martin", and "Gator Green". Not provided for review were the reversible sleeve featuring newly commissioned artwork by Peter Strai or the 24-page booklet by Scott Gabbey and Graham Rae included with the first pressing. (Eric Cotenas)

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