AT DAWN THEY SLEEP

Directed by Brian Paulin
Written by Brian Paulin
Produced by Brian Paulin, Eli Connors & Rich George
Cinematography by Brian Paulin, Eli Connors & Rich George
Music by Brian Paulin, War, Arkanum, Dawn& Usurper
Cast: Jen Glendye, Jill Cordeiro, Brian Paulin, Rich George & Rob Cupertino

2000/80 mins/Color/2.0 Dolby Digital
1.33:1 Full Frame/English/US/NTSC Region 1

Web Sites: http://www.morbidvisionfilms.com/

Review from the Video Outlaw DVD

AT DAWN THEY SLEEP (most likely titled after the Slayer song, given the directors affinity to metal with his choice of music throughout the film) follows the misadventures of two suburban drug dealers, Stephen (Paulin) and Ian (George). Within the first 2 minutes of the film, these two guys show they mean business when a deal goes bad, brains splatter, and without a choice you are immediately absorbed into the film.

After a night of drinks the two partners in crime (and residence) take home a couple seemingly ordinary chicks for a little fun. Once morning approaches the two find themselves with a sickness far greater than the average hangover. Remembering nothing of their late night angelic romp, it seems that Ian and Stephen are left with a fresh voracious lust for blood. 

Paulin’s AT DAWN THEY SLEEP isn’t like the abundance of vampire flicks on the Hollywood and independent market today.  What sets this aside from the rest is the underlying story behind the vampire’s. Sexually fueled angels are infecting unsuspecting males with a vampirism virus through femininity and sex with hopes of their pale-faced army of vampires disinfecting the world of humanity. Apparently the universe is split up into our world of humans, angels, and demons, and now the angel’s want to extinguish human life. However another creature is in play, the demons, who are content with the way things are and have come to end the peril caused by these irresistible angelic beings. From there onward the heterosexual pair is torn -- Stephen between accepting immortality, and Ian fighting his thirst for blood and killing.

Not once does AT DAWN THEY SLEEP stop loading the viewer with slick action, drenched gore, polished visuals and tits. Morbid Vision Films show that you do not need a huge budget to make toweringly entertaining genre flicks. The cynics of SOV films surely haven’t come across the films of MV. Many underground horror filmmakers these days make a film for the sake of making it and copout with the excuse of not being budgeted enough to so much as leave that damn single apartment room for a different shot. The boys at Morbid Vision Films use what they have to their full advantage creating top-quality set design, stunt work, pyrotechnics, gore and more.

Overall this Hell of an ambitious film delivers the goods to the fans of underground cinema with overall great acting, realistic dialog (unlike a lot of these films), cool make-up FX and gushers, Lynxvosmia a demonic creature resembling a black version of The Lord of Darkness from LEGEND, not to mention generous amounts of skin and even the Lesbo plundering of a nun, complete with cannibalistic pubic lip munching.

AT DAWN THEY SLEEP comes to DVD via Video Outlaw, Micro Cinema DVD, and Alternative Cinema which are all interconnected. The film is presented full frame from its original aspect ratio shot on DV. Overall with the top quality lighting of the film, Paulin makes the best of this format with a crisp clear picture. Throughout the film however very slight glitches appear on screen, but it’s not too distracting from the viewing experience. The audio is presented standard Dolby Digital 2.0 with more of a central focus on the speakers. The audio works fine with this film however some of the dialog is hard to hear. Unlike the original VHS version this contains newly dubbed gunshot sound FX, as well as the dialog of the character Lynxvosmia for this DVD release alone. The audio commentary is clear with the exception of a glitch towards the middle where the sound drops and gets muffled for a few seconds.

This Video Outlaw DVD has several extras including an entertaining and informative commentary from director/star Brian Paulin, and producer/star Rich George. They converse about independent moviemaking on this level, with topics from extreme gore, to crashing cars. Also included is ‘The making of AT DAWN THEY SLEEP’, a 14-minute featurette showing some cool behind the scenes work and includes some interviews with Paulin and George. Next, there is an ‘Outtakes’ reel with some pretty funny dialog slip-ups and ‘Scenes that Hurt!’, which explains itself. Two animated photo galleries can also be found with scenes from production and of the various angels in the film. A non-linear 12-minute short film ‘DAMNATION’ is included which is pretty much some angel footage from AT DAWN THEY SLEEP and a compilation of past make-up FX work. Finally there is a trailer section exhibiting AT DAWN THEY SLEEP, DEMON LUST (with Tom Savini), CREMAINS, and THE NIGHT DIVIDES THE DAY. The newly revised DVD cover is impressive and a lot better than the original VHS release. Its insert is a catalog for predominantly Misty Mundae films.

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Review by Chris Mayo. All Right Reserved. 2005. ©