AT DAWN THEY SLEEP (2000)

At Dawn They Sleep is a pretty bad low budget, action-horror romp with some aspects that keep it from being a total waste of shelf space. It has an energetic over-the-top vibe that makes the movie move along at a fairly brisk pace. The violence and gore are very fake looking, but there's tons of it and at certain points it's so silly that it's amusing. The acting is horrible and so off-key that it makes for a few truly hilarious scenes. So bad its good? Read on....
The movie starts off as a crazy, violent action pic depicting two drug dealers named Stephen and Ian who, after getting screwed by some associates, dish out some murderous revenge. This ignites a small gang war resulting in various scumbags trying to kill our hapless dealers. People get their brains blown out left and right and the movie is actually sort of fun for the first 10 minutes or so. The acting is horrible throughout but the movie is carried along by the crazy violence and the inane but profanely funny dialogue. Brian Paulin undertook a million different roles whilst creating this film including writing, directing, and starring in the lead role and credit has to be given for the guys ambition. His shooting style is basic but decisive and never tries to get too clever. However, the movie takes a turn for the worst when it delves into it's horror aspects and it's a shame Paulin didn't decide to go with a straight action pic which may have played to his strengths much better.

After some fun with guns, the killers decide to celebrate with a bit of sleep and sex, the latter being provided by some rather odd pretty ladies. Turns out that these ladies are really disgruntled angels! And in an even stranger twist of fate, these ladies turn the men into weird, cheesy looking vampires so that they can help them destroy all of humanity. Our dimwitted killers then decide to start taking out their criminal competition with these new powers. At this point the movie goes into gory horror mode with some shades of John Woo style gunplay. The horror plot doesn't work at all and takes its silly concept far too seriously especially the whole vampire plot vein (excuse the pun). There's lots of pretty naked girls sprinkled throughout the movie and even includes a lesbian nun sex scene that tries to be shocking but actually turns out to be pretty fun, and there's also a decent amount of dialogue that bashes religion, a clear indication that the filmmakers have at least tried to inject a little provocative contemplation.
The DVD is stacked with extra features which includes a commentary with the filmmakers who provide some interesting info about the way these low budget gorefests get made and marketed. There are some photo galleries including one featuring the sexy women of the film. The making of featurette is OK as are the out-takes. There is another extra called 'Scenes That Hurt' which is clips of stunts that didn't go too smoothly, and some of these clips are very funny. A short film called Damnation is on the DVD but it's not really worth your time. There is a Video Outlaw trailer vault and a couple of other things as well. The picture transfer is adequate, and my only complaint from a technical aspect is the sound. I had my volume to the max and sometimes couldn't hear a word that was being said, and then a scene right after would have a gunfight that blew my ears out. Other than that, this is a fully loaded DVD treatment.

At Dawn They Sleep is a mixed bag of fake gore, crazy action, and lame horror. The action is enjoyable to some extent and when the film goes the horror route, it literally shoots itself in the foot. The acting is poor but it's good for a few laughs. Make no mistake, the movie is bad and it's low budget cheese, but it's fairly watchable in some parts and it displays some decent potential on behalf of the technical crew.