At Dawn They Sleep (2000) User Reviews

An Unfortunate Attempt

[proficy · 2/10 · 3 July 2005]

What a mess. It had potential, but lost it somewhere near the beginning.

I'll start with the good points, there were some. There were a few well done visual effects (I really liked the demon and the cocoons) and the acting was alright, especially for an independent film like this.

Unfortunately, that's where the good points end.

The editing was so bad that I spent half of the movie wondering if I missed some very important part that would let me follow the story. I rewound and realized that I didn't miss anything.

There were a few very pretentious dialogue scenes that seemed to be put in for no other reason than to show how "cool" the movie writers are. Although they were the best scripted scenes, they had nothing to do with the plot. Maybe if they had been cut there would have been time for some scenes that explain what is actually going on.

The ending...could someone explain? I have *no* idea what that was about.

I think that the filmmakers have definite potential, but they need to pay more attention to continuity, and less on naked women and heavy metal.

Incoherent doesn't describe it.

[lwburkesii · 2/10 · 6 April 2005]

I have full respect for independent film making but I have to draw the line somewhere. I expect at least an attempt to make the film understandable and be able to follow the plot and action simultaneously. I had seen Bone Sickness and actually did like that film so I gave this one a shot (Both are by Brian Paulin/Morbid Visions). Boy that was a mistake. The editing was almost nonexistent and done so badly I couldn't even follow the storyline due to all the gaps in the plotting. Events would just happen by a couple of frames and we're left wondering just how the heck it jumped from point A to point B so fast. The acting is okay and they make an attempt at visuals to further the story but they just failed miserably on so many levels. I gave it a 2 for the effort at least.

I didn't fall asleep

[trashgang · 4/10 · 20 July 2009]

First of all I would like to react to the other comments. Did they watched the movie I saw? Let me say, you have to respect independent movie makers. They have a hell of a time to make their movie, and mostly they have no budget. Okay, the problem Brian (the director) has is that one of his movies, Bone Sickness, was much acclaimed due the reason that zombie flicks were a hype a few years ago. Not only that for a reason, Bone Sickness was distributed by his own label and a few others some with much fame like X Rated Kult. This movie was made a few years earlier then Bone Sickness so you can't compare both. About the editing, all comments are breaking down the editing but hey, did you guys understood the movie, for me there was no problem with editing. To make the movie going they cut out some frames so you don't have to watch the whole acting, but you don't miss anything. Otherwise they use editing to cut away from no existing effects like flying trough the air and having those crazy jumps as vampires like in eastern flicks. Friends of mine on the web gave me the opportunity to make contact with Brian's wife. After a few mails it came clear that we had an agreement that she would send some signed DVD's. As she did, this one was included. It is watchable and the acting for me was better than in Bone Sickness. The red stuff flows frequently and the gore is intact. Of course as in his flicks some girls have their nudity scene's but it never goes XXX like in those German splatters. That's good, if you want more of them watch the short movie included Damnation. The nudity never distract you from the storyline. I don't know if it was meant to be that way but the girls have there 70's tanned body (T&A are white). Funny to see Brian wearing his Buttgereit T shirt Der Todesking. The stop motion used with the corpse did in fact remind you of Evil Dead, and the end, well I got it, weird that most of the viewers didn't got the end. Won't spoil it, watch this flick in confidence. I have seen more then 1000 horrors, and I can tell you, I have seen worser. For one of his first movies it's a big cheer to Brian. And if you want more watch Fetus.

Terrible no budget horror thriller crap.

[poolandrews · 1/10 · 19 January 2007]

At Dawn They Sleep tells the tale of two drug dealing friends, Stephen (editor, cinematographer, writer, producer, director, etc, Brian Paulin) & Ian (producer, cinematographer, etc, Rich George) who get bitten by two angels who they decide to sleep with. Unfortunately the bite of an angel turns the victim into a Vampire so Stephen & Ian are left to contemplate their future as blood drinking Vampires who deal in drugs. Actually not that much else happens really...

Virtually made by himself & starring Brian Paulin I thought At Dawn They Sleep was total complete & utter crap, I'm sorry but it's as simple & straight forward as that. The script is rubbish, the story is so thin it's beyond anorexic, it's incredibly boring, it's dull & it's just a real chore to sit through. The character's are awful & you just instantly hate them all, the dialogue is terrible & as a whole it doesn't make much sense. The angel thing just doesn't work & the mixing of horror & crime thriller just doesn't come off to any effect. I'm trying but I cannot think of one positive aspect to this crappy film, I really can't. What more can I say?

Director Paulin was obviously working on a low budget & I'm sure the filmmakers put lots of effort into it & tried their best but that just isn't enough, I mean if the films crap it's crap right? We're the ones who have to pay good money to sit down & watch this crap so why choose this piece of rubbish over a decent Vampire film? The film was shot on a camcorder & it looks awful, there's no scares or atmosphere & the 'action' scenes are as unexciting as any ever committed to film, sorry I meant video. There are a few gory scenes here, there are some intestine's ripped out, a decapitated head, some neck biting, a knife suck in someones head, various bloody gunshot wounds & a fair amount of fake blood splashed around but it looks pretty fake. There is also a baffling end sequence where someone slices a tree with a samurai sword & some liquid oozes out while some naked bird writhes around on the ground being fondled by the trees leaves & branches (The Evil Dead (1982) anyone?) just before it starts to 'rain' blood, I have no idea why though.

With a supposed budget of about $6,000 this is really low budget stuff, I still cannot accept that as an excuse for making such a terrible film though. This is also one of those films with an extremely annoying soundtrack that at times seems louder than the dialogue & as a result drowns it out making it hard to hear what's being said. The acting is poor & the main lead (Mr Paulin himself) looks like a ginger haired Meatloaf.

At Dawn They Sleep is awful, I'm sorry but that's the way I feel about it & the fact that it's an Indie film just doesn't cut the mustard with me & it's not an excuse as far s I'm concerned. I've had more fun visiting the dentist, not recommended.

Do you people have brain damage?

[Tromafreak · 5/10 · 19 October 2009]

What exactly is so impossible to understand about At Dawn They Sleep? It's not that incoherent, and the editing is not that terrible. Wanna know what I think? I think you people have been so completely brain-washed by the dazzling special effects of The Transformers, and the sweet-natured tomfoolery of The High School Musical trilogy, that you couldn't possibly tell what makes sense and what doesn't. So, next time you try out some independent art, and decide to not pay attention, keep your simple-minded, Mainstream-loving opinions to yourselves.

Did I just call a Brian Paulin movie "art"? Wow, I've been watching these movies for far too long. Nonetheless, At Dawn They Sleep is a totally underrated, ambitious, shot-on-video, apocalyptic gore-fest about two drug dealers who are unknowingly transformed into Vampires by a couple of Angels, in an attempt to wipe out the Human race so that the Angels can have Earth all to themselves. How these two new Vampires are supposed to take out the entire world is beyond me, but just go with it, I guess. Assuming the undead drug dealers are at all capable of the task at hand, the Demon world now has a thing or two to say about the situation, yet, their role in this isn't what you might expect.

How bout it? Spiteful Angels plotting on Humans? Helpful Demons offering their demonic support. A bit blasphemous, in deed, but I just can't deny quality horror when I see it. All kidding aside, Brian Paulin has a gift, and this day in age, underground film-making, done the right way, isn't as easy to come by as it once was, although, things still aren't quite as bad as they were in the 90's. With that said, At Dawn They Sleep kinda reminds me of a shot-on-video horror movie from the early 90's, called Shatter Dead, although, At Dawn They Sleep is obviously much more professional, as well as entertaining and action-packed, not to mention, interesting. The idea of Angels sabotaging Humans out of jealousy , because they feel God has favored us over them, is quite intriguing. If you don't hate low-budget horror with absolutely no socially redeeming values, and doesn't follow "the safe pattern", then you've found a new addition to your collection. This is real horror for real horror fans. 8/10

Brian Appaulin'

[scottdruce175 · 1/10 · 18 January 2011]

First of all, I am aware that this is an independent film, and this review is not made as a comparison to a blockbuster, but to other independent films.

If I had a $6000 budget I could make a better film than this with $6000 dollars left to spare, I don't know where in the film the money could have been spent. I'm not disappointed that I bought the film in so much as it provided numerous laughs but I am disappointed that my money may encourage Brian Paulin to make another film.

The acting is remarkably bad, so bad in fact that the auditions probably took place in Brian Paulin's garage and he hired the first 5 people that walked past. I can't imagine this film took long to shoot, as most of the scenes appear to be spontaneous improvisation which would only require one take. The only people that would enjoy this film for its storyline are those who can't see tits on the internet because their computer has parental locks on it, or people that want to see what meatloaf would be like at acting.

As for the special effects, they are summed up in a scene where the main character stabs a guy in front of the head with such ease that he would have had a harder time stabbing jelly, i expect more, even of an independent film. The guy who then has a hole in the front of his skull then proceeds to insult and swear at the main character until a sledge hammer bounces off his head, and when i say bounces, i literally mean he would have got less bounce if he had dropped the sledge hammer off the empire state building onto a trampoline. The end of the film is the most random thing i have ever seen. There is, of course, nudity, a skeleton, a toy car, a scared possum, and a Lego man, but it does not go anyway to ending the story or giving the viewer any idea as to what the hell is going on.

The only positive thing to come out of this film is that there is the greatest show of commitment to satisfying a girl in the very last scene of the film, where a skeleton arises from the ground, goes down on the girl and dies immediately afterwards. For those who need the inspiration to go and make a film, watch At Dawn They Sleep, as every person I have shown this film to has gone away thinking they could make a better film with a mobile phone and a large stock of ribena. As far as independent films go, this is one of the worst.

Don't waste time on this

[burglarbil · 1/10 · 6 November 2007]

First the good points, it filled my plasma screen with no loss of picture definition and I didn't have to put up with the annoying letterbox effect. That's it, nothing else good to say about it. I read elsewhere that this was shot on a budget of $6000, well they must have spent it all on fake blood because there's nothing else to show for it. I'm glad other viewers found the plot incomprehensible, I just thought I'd fallen asleep. As for the plot, why would two drug dealers who can handle 20 kilos of cocaine drive round in old bangers in a hick town where most of the roads aren't even paved? And as for the scene where a lesbian angel eats a nun's labia, what the hell was that about? Basically this is gratuitous crap featuring a sequence of barely connected gross out effects, don't waste your time watching it!

Incoherency at its worst

[vegeta3986 · 1/10 · 2 July 2009]

I am not ashamed to admit this. I had no idea what was going on for half of this movie. It is one of the most incoherent, confusing things i've ever seen in my life. (I am not saying worst horror movie ever, because that award still goes to "The Maize: The Movie".) Which is sad, because if you look at the general plot of this movie, it actually sounds pretty cool. if it had some better.....well everything, this could have been a pretty cool movie. and that's where my compliments end. To start off with, there are NO likable characters in this movie. AT ALL. Every character is either a demon, a murderous drug-lord, or a revenge seeking angel. You're sitting there wondering who you're supposed to root for in this confusing crap fest.

Speaking of confusing, this movie's editor must have had ADD or something because there are so many scenes where things just skip and jump and you could have sworn you pushed a button on your DVD remote that you shouldn't have. Half the time you don't know who's fighting who, who's where and what's what. The camera jiggling around also doesn't help. The acting by the angel women and the Ian are all pretty laughable not to mention that in the first 5 minutes they must drop the F bomb at least 25 times. classy. The gore is pretty decent but overused to the point of ridiculousness for no reason.

I'm not going to give away the ending, because in all honestly, i CAN'T. i have NO idea how this movie ended. This is one of the most confusing things i've ever seen to end a movie. i wish i knew how the movie ended, but i really don't. i know what happens to the two main characters, but the last 5 minutes are like someone slipped in a soft core porn by mistake. There's another person on this site who left a similar question and i repeat it. WHAT HAPPENED at the end of this movie? i REALLY don't know. see it for yourself and you'll know what we're talking about. With incredible continuity, visual, editing, scripting, and acting errors, this movie gets 1 Angel creating vampires. (i know. don't ask) out of 10.

So bad it's good

[mrdonleone · 2/10 · 18 October 2022]

This is a very good movie to see if you want to fall asleep, because it makes no sense at all storywise, the soundtrack isn't much and the camera movements seem to have made from the backdoor of your grandmother's toilet. The montage isn't much better, as it goes constantly out of image like they didn't have time, money or want (or talent) to shoot certain scenes -if not all of them- over again. The total movie is so bad it should be seen as a way of relaxation like some sort of wellness center to close your eyes, fall asleep and wake up feeling all better; but this is not why we go to the movies... or is it??!

black metal and tits

[gurem21 · 10/10 · 28 December 2009]

the movie had black metal and tits it also had female reproductive organs being ripped out by teeth do i have to say more? awesome but yes i did not get the ending at all. the angel awakened a zombie, then killed it again? and yes, the plot was hard to follow and how many angels were there really? and also there was quite a few things i didn't understand at all, like the angels, the plot the story, the effects, the meaning of it in total was difficult to grasp

and the flying.. god it was awful :S but anyway, i kinda liked it. I laughed, i saw tits, and i heard black metal. we need more of these movies

Very bloody super low budget vampire action flick

[dworldeater · 7/10 · 7 August 2023]

At dawn They Sleep is song about vampires on Slayer's classic album Hell Awaits. It is also a film, most certainly named after the song. The film was made on the cheap, but looks good for the resources they had. The film, of anything is totally metal. There is a soundtrack with Usurper, War, Dawn and others (all appearing courtesy of the legendary defunct Necropolis Records). The film is from the same company that produced Ravage and has similar, extremely gory and ultra bloody action scenes. However, this film moves along faster and is more interesting. Our two main heroes are drug dealers turned into vampires and are pawns in a eternal conflict between angels and demons. There is quite a bit of titillating scenes with nude women to compliment the crazy Hong Kong inspired action scenes, blasphemy and sick gore scenes. At Dawn They Sleep is a very entertaining cheap horror flick with great execution and some interesting ideas. Plus I love how metal this movie is. The man down below would certainly approve.

Totally freakkn metal

[Slamreport · 10/10 · 6 December 2020]

If you dont like this you're someone I never wanna hang with. This movie is so obnoxiously beer fueled, metal, boobs and gore that I frreeaaakin loved it. Throw the goat and get crazy if you grew up listening to Mayhem and watching shot on video hack n slop movies you are my fam from the underground. This movie smells of beer and cigarettes and no Fs given. Angels are the devil and the devil is us baby. Sure normies wont get it but who cares about them anyways. Killa \m/ :p \m/ Im gonna go listen to some WASP now then watch their other film Bone Sickness for all the farty worm filled gut spilled gorey goodness.