Dead Before Dawn is a film I thought I'd enjoy to some extent since the trailer made it seem so fun. Instead, not only did I not like it, but half way in I realized that it was also the perfect example of where a movie's trailer is actually MUCH better than the movie itself. There are MANY reasons why this flick failed, but first lets go over its story.

We follow a neurotic young college student named Casper, who finds himself looking after his Grandfather's occult store while he's out for a couple days. Before leaving his gramps tells him not to touch an old cursed urn that's propped up on one of the shelves because it's supposed to contain an evil spirit. Of course once Casper's friends show up to the store (all coincidentally at the same time) they urge him to grab they urn, which he naturally obliges and drops within seconds.

His friends all joke about how they're all cursed now and make up what will happen to them now that it's broken. One friend says whoever they look at will become possessed and kill themselves, while another adds that once they die they come back as Zombies, and they conclude that since they're also Demons that they should idiotically be called "Zemons." After the remaining  friends chime in on other silly details of the curse, they decide that it should officially start at 10PM and then go about their separate ways. Once the faithful time arrives, it's not long before people start offing themselves and our leads are forced to gather together and find a way to reverse what they've done before they're cursed forever.

While the trailer for this film was entertaining and somewhat funny, the movie itself was far from it. Much of the comedy that worked was already shown in the trailer and the amusing appearances of Christpher Lloyd and Kevin McDonald are only on screen for a few minutes. I'll admit I did chuckle a few times, but for the most part the jokes seemed entirely too immature and unfunny. In fact, the film itself seemed to be aimed more towards a younger audience, especially given its lack of foul language, gore, or nudity. I think MTV might've played more violent films in the past than this.

Not that this pic should be taken seriously, but there are just a ton of plot-holes to go along with its sloppy, poorly-written script. My biggest issue involves the cursed urn itself--if they know the damn thing houses an evil spirit, why in the hell is it displayed on a shelf for everyone to see!? And then there's the atrocious acting not only from extras and supporting cast members, but also some of the leads themselves. It just seemed as though everyone (the cast and filmmakers) took everything more serious in the start, but by the end just stopped giving a shit.

Some of the "Zemons" are even worse, as the actors that played them couldn't decide if they should walk or run, while others were frantically waving their arms or just danced in place, WTF?? I think overall the most moronic thing within the movie was how after removing the pin on a grenade a silly ticking sound effect could be heard--seriously guys?? The horrible CG explosion that followed just made things worse.

Dead Before Dawn is a good example of a movie that offers a trailer that's much better than the movie itself. Aside from a few chuckles, a majority of the humor is just immature and unfunny. Topped with a sloppy script, some bad acting, cheesy violence and lack of gore, it just seemed better suited for a younger less concerned teen audience than anything. Unless you can ignore the countless plot-holes and are into the immature nonsense it offers, I'd advise avoiding this one.