Dawn – Review
77 Minutes, Not Rated
Written by Ryder Doupe, Dawson Doupe, and Todd Tapper
Directed by Nicholas Ryan
Synopsis:
A unsuspecting couple get into a ride-share only to find out that they may have to fight for their lives as the deranged driver puts them through life and death situations.
From that synopsis, I’m sure you’re thinking what I was when I read it: I’ve seen this before, right?
Yes and no. There are aspects of it we’ve seen in other films: the driver picking up unsuspecting fares, references to the dark web being a having for truly sick content, even the giddy fanboys of the killer’s “show” on said dark web.
Yep, you’ve seen it. The most direct comparison I can make is to a film from 2020 called Spree, starring Joe Keery (most famous for Stranger Things right now, but probably not for long). In Spree, we have Keery playing Kurt Kunkle, who is desperately trying to make it big with his livestreamed adventures in rideshare driving, and his ever-escalating attempts to make his content more appealing.
Which ends in killings, of course, because what’s more watchable than that?
Whereas Spree had a lighter tone, given Joe Keery’s personality and the fact his adventures were centered on traditional social media, Dawn carries a much darker tone. Jackie Moore presents us with an almost workmanlike devotion to her viewers as she moves from victim to victim, setting the bar high for herself in order to maintain the almost slavish followers of her show.
As evidenced by the brief appearance of Nicholas Brendan, who recognizes Dawn as she stops for gas, victims corralled in her back seat, there are some pretty sick folks over on the dark side.
As the night progresses, Dawn subjects her passengers to a series of games, mostly consisting of Q&As designed to reveal their deepest and darkest secrets, inevitably shattering the bonds of trust between them.
So, while the pedestrian and predictable nature of the script is a bit of a let-down, it is Jackie Moore who saves the movie from complete obscurity. Vacillating deftly between friendly driver and callous sociopath, often in a single line of dialog, Moore creates a genuinely terrifying villain.
Sadly, that villain needs a better world to run around in.
Dawn is streaming now and stars Jackie Moore, Jared Cohn, and Sarah French, with appearances by Eric Roberts, Nicholas Brendan, and Michael Pare.
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