Dawning Review

Dawning review.

Dawning expertly uses horror imagery to tell an emotionally complex story. There’s more meaning behind the startles here than you find in most films. That imagery inevitably fades into a reality that provides a moving examination of trauma and mental health.

Dawning is streaming exclusively on Screambox January 31.

New movie reviews will not contain spoilers.

Dawning

Directed by Young Min Kim

Written by Young Min Kim

Starring Kim Ellis, Una Kim and Veronica Kim

Dawning Review

The first half of Dawning is an effective horror story.  A woman haunted by past trauma…revisiting the site (the family home) and reckoning with what she had left behind.  Then it becomes something different.  Setting aside the scares, Dawning turns into an emotional examination of the trauma that is causing them. 

Haejin Park (Kim Ellis) faces a past family trauma when she returns to visit her sister Soojin (Veronica Kim).  Haunted by nightmares and images of the past, Haejin tries to make peace with it while her sister, literally, tries to dig it back up.

Very early in Dawning you think you’ve got a good idea of what kind of movie it is going to be.  There are some very effective frights to be found in the first act.  What initially appears to be a well-crafted character study with a well done horror hook eventually turns into something else.  The meaning of things changes and Dawning shows off its greatest trick. 

The use of horror in Dawning isn’t just effective in making you clutch your armrest a little tighter…it’s effective in portraying trauma and grief in a way that creates emotional payoff as the story progresses.  As you learn the true meaning behind the things Haejin is seeing…Dawning morphs from a horror story into a poignant tale of letting go of what haunts us.

Writer/Director Young Min Kim provides beautiful visuals to go with the horrifying ones.  This is a good-looking picture with confidence behind it not always found in first time feature filmmakers.  Kim quickly establishes himself as someone to look out for in the future, balancing two different types of complex stories with ease.

Ellis leads a small cast with a great, and multifaceted, performance.  Her role changes throughout the story as we learn more about what she’s going through.  She carries her character’s pain through each phase of the film in a natural and believable way.  Haejin’s relationship with Soojin provides quiet moments that lead to explosive ones.  Ellis is on point throughout.

The supporting cast is good here too.  Of the group, Veronica Kim gets the meat of the screen time in Dawning.  She matches Ellis in their scenes together in providing an effortless feel to their relationship that can turn into a sisterly quarrel in a moment.  The rest of the cast isn’t asked to do anything showy…but are key faces in support of the evolving narrative.

There are a couple third act issues in Dawning but they’re fairly minor.  Reveals happen at an odd rhythm…but the emotional payoffs still work.  It does result in what had been a well-paced story starting to drag a bit.  Some of the best moments of the film happen in this final act, however, so a bit of a step back doesn’t undermine the overall package much.

Dawning could have stayed on its initial track and remained an effective horror story.  It chooses a different path and deepens (while changing) the meaning of what’s come before.  We can’t get into what it changes into…or why it works so well…but we can tell you that the story of Dawning is worth discovering for yourself.

Scare Value

Dawning strips away the traditional scare tactics of its first half to reveal something far more poignant underneath. It tackles trauma head on with a unique and confident manner of storytelling. A great lead performance walks us through nightmares, memories and reality of a life effected by tragedy.

3.5/5

Dawning Link

Streaming exclusively on Screambox on January 31

Dawning Trailer

Check out our review of another new Screambox release, Yellow Dragon’s Village