Just Before Dawn must be one of the more underrated slasher-movies of its era (the golden era). It's certainly much creepier than, say, any of the Friday the 13th movies. Director Jeff Lieberman (Squirm) shows a keen sense for gritty suspence and the film has plenty of really disturbing images. The violence isn't that graphic, although a guy is stabbed horribly in the crotch already in the film's first minute and the heroine ultimately survives by stuffing her fist down the killer's throat till he chokes to death. On the minus side the characters are just as annoying and stereotype as in any other movie of the kind, but that's expected, and the cinematography is often so damn dark and murky it's hard to see what's going on. There's also plenty of microphones popping hillariously into frame. Nontheless, it's an atmospheric enough lowrent companion to The Hills Have Eyes and Deliverance worth dusting off for a second look.