It Just Dawned On Me: Another Terror Tuesday...

Another week, another Terror Tuesday at the storied Alamo Drafthouse Ritz...well, they took a week off due to the theater being used for SXSW screenings, but you know what I mean...

This week was Just Before Dawn (trailer here), a film from 1981 that was attempting to cash in on the horror-factor of scary-hillbillies that Deliverance brought to the forefront (apparently horrifying hillbillies was a trend there for a little bit). The film was directed by Jeff Lieberman, who previously wrote/directed Squirm and went on to write and direct the final movie in the The Neverending Story trilogy...yes...there were three (the third had Jack Black). Just Before Dawn featured several fairly well known character actors, notably George Kennedy from The Naked Gun films and Mike Kellin who went on to play Camp Counselor Mel in Sleepaway Camp. Jack Lemmon's son Chris is also in there, playing the partier Jonathon. The film is expertly paced, and does a great job keeping the suspense up throughout. This screening was especially special in that it was the first time the original version had been shown in America. The American verison was missing several minutes compared to the UK version, and the print that the Drafthouse used was an original (brand new, never been screened) UK print.

Now I really want to search out Lieberman's other films, most notably Remote Control about a young Kevin Dillon trying to thwart an alien plot to talke over the earth. Sounds awesome!