Deadbeat at Dawn
1988·Action·1h 21m
7.1
★
Goose leaves the gang life behind after pleas from his girlfriend. But it isn't long before he's pulled back into the world of violence.
Directed by Jim Van Bebber
IMDB
N/A
Where to Watch
Cast
Jim Van Bebber
Goose
John Bradley
Steven Bognar
Julia Reichert
Waitress
Crew
Jim Van Bebber
Director
Jim Van Bebber
Screenplay
Jim Van Bebber
Editor
Mike King
Director of Photography
Mike King
Producer
Jim Van Bebber
Makeup Effects
Marcelo Games
Sound
Steven Bognar
Additional Photography
Marcelo Games
Additional Photography
Popular Reviews
20 reviews
Teej
10.0★ · 06/18/26
I went into this film expecting a brutal, gory, gang violence film, and I got exactly that, and so much more. The hyper-violent, low budget gore was to a comical degree, yet it fit amazingly into the grindhouse style and made up for the limited plot. This film packed so much into such a short spans of time. It began feeling like a home video movie in the best possible way, and while this continued through out the course of film, the intensity of the practical effects only increased, resulting in brutal and graphic action scenes. The intentionally hyperbolic and extreme nature of the movie allowed it to utilise its low budget and format to its advantage to produce an exaggeratedly diy and surprisingly modern ‘amateur’ film. The cinematography, though simple, was intentional and well edited to form a visually entertaining story, and one that both integrated and contrasts the blood splatter and gore in every other frame.
The underlying themes of misogyny and violence against women, and both the subtle and explicit depictions of such were so incredibly realistic and uncomfortable to watch I genuinely felt ill. The interactions between the Spiders and the women they encounter, and even Goose’s treatment of Christy demonstrates the influence of gang and machismo cultures and how they breed implicit and explicit physical, verbal, and sexual violence, and normalise abuse.
This film, whether intentional or not, is a gritty and realistic commentary on and depiction of the continuous theme within hyper violent movies of exploiting female characters and reducing them to victims unto which violence is inflicted, either as a plot device, or background dressing to demonstrate the setting of characterisation of male characters.
In many circumstances, even potentially in this one, violence against women in the horror and action genre is, if not simply normalised, used without regard for the characterisation of the women themselves, which I do still believe this film in some regards is still guilty of. While I believe a lot of the sexual and physical violence was excessive, it is unfortunately highly accurate. Most, if not every male character commits some form of violence of assault against a woman, or in some alternative way objectifies them, which sours the view of every one of them. While I think artfully tacked, this films commentary on violence against women relies heavily on subtext and the understanding of the audience. A viewer existing in a society or environment where the casual and explicit violence against women is normalised as it is within the film, or they even contribute to it themselves, this entire point of the film can be missed.
This film has no good guy, no hero. Goose is not a good man and neither is anyone else, but maybe that’s the point.
The underlying themes of misogyny and violence against women, and both the subtle and explicit depictions of such were so incredibly realistic and uncomfortable to watch I genuinely felt ill. The interactions between the Spiders and the women they encounter, and even Goose’s treatment of Christy demonstrates the influence of gang and machismo cultures and how they breed implicit and explicit physical, verbal, and sexual violence, and normalise abuse.
This film, whether intentional or not, is a gritty and realistic commentary on and depiction of the continuous theme within hyper violent movies of exploiting female characters and reducing them to victims unto which violence is inflicted, either as a plot device, or background dressing to demonstrate the setting of characterisation of male characters.
In many circumstances, even potentially in this one, violence against women in the horror and action genre is, if not simply normalised, used without regard for the characterisation of the women themselves, which I do still believe this film in some regards is still guilty of. While I believe a lot of the sexual and physical violence was excessive, it is unfortunately highly accurate. Most, if not every male character commits some form of violence of assault against a woman, or in some alternative way objectifies them, which sours the view of every one of them. While I think artfully tacked, this films commentary on violence against women relies heavily on subtext and the understanding of the audience. A viewer existing in a society or environment where the casual and explicit violence against women is normalised as it is within the film, or they even contribute to it themselves, this entire point of the film can be missed.
This film has no good guy, no hero. Goose is not a good man and neither is anyone else, but maybe that’s the point.
I went into this film expecting a brutal, gory, gang violence film, and I got exactly that, and so much more. The hyper-violent, low budget gore was to a comical degree, yet it fit amazingly into the grindhouse style and made up for the limited plot. This film packed so much into such a short spans of time. It began feeling like a home video movie in the best possible way, and while this continued through out the course of film, the intensity of the practical effects only increased, resulting in brutal and graphic action scenes. The intentionally hyperbolic and extreme nature of the movie allowed it to utilise its low budget and format to its advantage to produce an exaggeratedly diy and surprisingly modern ‘amateur’ film. The cinematography, though simple, was intentional and well edited to form a visually entertaining story, and one that both integrated and contrasts the blood splatter and gore in every other frame.
The underlying themes of misogyny and violence against women, and both the subtle and explicit depictions of such were so incredibly realistic and uncomfortable to watch I genuinely felt ill. The interactions between the Spiders and the women they encounter, and even Goose’s treatment of Christy demonstrates the influence of gang and machismo cultures and how they breed implicit and explicit physical, verbal, and sexual violence, and normalise abuse.
This film, whether intentional or not, is a gritty and realistic commentary on and depiction of the continuous theme within hyper violent movies of exploiting female characters and reducing them to victims unto which violence is inflicted, either as a plot device, or background dressing to demonstrate the setting of characterisation of male characters.
In many circumstances, even potentially in this one, violence against women in the horror and action genre is, if not simply normalised, used without regard for the characterisation of the women themselves, which I do still believe this film in some regards is still guilty of. While I believe a lot of the sexual and physical violence was excessive, it is unfortunately highly accurate. Most, if not every male character commits some form of violence of assault against a woman, or in some alternative way objectifies them, which sours the view of every one of them. While I think artfully tacked, this films commentary on violence against women relies heavily on subtext and the understanding of the audience. A viewer existing in a society or environment where the casual and explicit violence against women is normalised as it is within the film, or they even contribute to it themselves, this entire point of the film can be missed.
This film has no good guy, no hero. Goose is not a good man and neither is anyone else, but maybe that’s the point.
The underlying themes of misogyny and violence against women, and both the subtle and explicit depictions of such were so incredibly realistic and uncomfortable to watch I genuinely felt ill. The interactions between the Spiders and the women they encounter, and even Goose’s treatment of Christy demonstrates the influence of gang and machismo cultures and how they breed implicit and explicit physical, verbal, and sexual violence, and normalise abuse.
This film, whether intentional or not, is a gritty and realistic commentary on and depiction of the continuous theme within hyper violent movies of exploiting female characters and reducing them to victims unto which violence is inflicted, either as a plot device, or background dressing to demonstrate the setting of characterisation of male characters.
In many circumstances, even potentially in this one, violence against women in the horror and action genre is, if not simply normalised, used without regard for the characterisation of the women themselves, which I do still believe this film in some regards is still guilty of. While I believe a lot of the sexual and physical violence was excessive, it is unfortunately highly accurate. Most, if not every male character commits some form of violence of assault against a woman, or in some alternative way objectifies them, which sours the view of every one of them. While I think artfully tacked, this films commentary on violence against women relies heavily on subtext and the understanding of the audience. A viewer existing in a society or environment where the casual and explicit violence against women is normalised as it is within the film, or they even contribute to it themselves, this entire point of the film can be missed.
This film has no good guy, no hero. Goose is not a good man and neither is anyone else, but maybe that’s the point.
Wreck
Given the rest of the film, the shot to establish that the cute stray cat escaped unharmed from the gang shoot-out is particularly amusing.
Given the rest of the film, the shot to establish that the cute stray cat escaped unharmed from the gang shoot-out is particularly amusing.
izzy
5.0★ · 12/05/25
honestly id do the same if someone killed my girlfriend goose
honestly id do the same if someone killed my girlfriend goose
prokaryote
7.3★ · 09/01/25
i was waiting for goose to get a little too pukey looking at the gang meetup and go kyaa and loudly drop his shurikens all over the floor. such an awesome looking little diy roadkill heap of a movie
i was waiting for goose to get a little too pukey looking at the gang meetup and go kyaa and loudly drop his shurikens all over the floor. such an awesome looking little diy roadkill heap of a movie
uggu
7.5★ · 09/01/25
i was waiting for goose to get a little too pukey looking at the gang meetup and go kyaa and loudly drop his shurikens all over the floor. such an awesome looking little diy roadkill heap of a movie
i was waiting for goose to get a little too pukey looking at the gang meetup and go kyaa and loudly drop his shurikens all over the floor. such an awesome looking little diy roadkill heap of a movie