Review of the thriller “Crimson Dawn” by Andrew Baird

Andrew Baird’s thriller “Crimson Dawn” has been released, in which otherworldly affairs going on in a remote American province become, as often happens in this genre, a metaphor for real horrors – racism and xenophobia. However, the brightest hero here, in the opinion of Yulia Shagelman, precisely the bearer of these bad views.

The brief synopsis of the film promises vampires, but they will not appear on the screen right away. They are announced, firstly, by the opening credits, which tell about a belief circulating among the indigenous population of the northwestern United States – they say that a certain creature lives in the forest that kills animals and drinks their blood. And secondly, a juicy monologue – again about blood, which, of course, is not water and has determined human destiny for centuries. It is brilliantly pronounced by the honored artist Guy Pearce, who has already starred with Andrew Baird in his feature-length directorial debut, the science-fiction thriller “Area 414” (2020). In Crimson Dawn, Pierce plays Joe Reynolds, a man who fancies himself the owner of a small town just in the northwest, surrounded by dense forests in which, according to radio reports throughout the film, animals are often found dead and torn to pieces.

Reynolds’ father, as we learn later, was one of the pillars of the local community, but now it is dying along with local industry and agriculture, or at least that’s what Joe himself thinks. For this, of course, he blames the immigrants: the darker their skin and the further their eye shape is from the Caucasian, the less he likes them, but even the white newcomers are better off not counting on his sympathy. The film opens with a scene in which Reynolds and his henchmen are trying to force an Asian farmer named Loy (Chaik Chan) out of the city, and when he refuses to leave, they kill him without much prelude. They don’t have to fear the consequences, because the sheriff (Kurt Jaeger) is also in this gang.

But Mrs. Loy (Crystal Yu), who could not even bury her husband because his body disappeared without a trace, continues to stubbornly cling to her farm, where she lives with her son Edward (William Gao), who has to conflict with his youngest almost every day at school, but an already quite evil generation of xenophobes, and a young daughter, Emily (Riley Cheung). One night, Reynolds’s thugs arrive at the farm with a can of gasoline, but a guard dog prevents them from carrying out their villainous plans, and he, in turn, is alarmed by the appearance of a stranger (Alex Pettyfer) who emerges from the forest and collapses on the Loys’ doorstep.

Having come to his senses in the morning, already in the bedroom, where his compassionate owners had transferred him, the uninvited guest, whose name is Fallon, first of all demands fresh blood: if anything, he is quite ready to be content with chicken. He walks away from answering the question whether he is the same monster who kills animals, but, in general, there is nothing much to think about here. However, the Loy family doesn’t have many friends, and their new guest is ready to stand with them against Reynolds and company, especially since, as flashbacks will show, he has long-standing and personal scores to settle with this gang.

“Crimson Dawn” as a whole does not surprise with the originality of its concept and the subtlety of its techniques, but through its brooding and foggy atmosphere the potential of at least a strong genre film sometimes appears, which, alas, remains unrealized. Director Baird is a production designer by first profession, and before deciding to make a feature film, he directed music videos, so the picture looks much better than its modest output would suggest. Cinematographer Ivan Abel, for whom this is his first film, alternates majestic views of forests and rivers with shots in interiors illuminated with painfully artificial light (for example, the bar owned by the Reynolds family and the factory premises where he does his dirty deeds), and it creates the right environment. But everything related to the supernatural part, including the visions tormenting the hero Pettyfer, is resolved in a rather banal way.

The characters are also inexpressive, with the exception of Reynolds, whom, despite his almost caricature, Pierce makes alive, three-dimensional and unpleasantly recognizable – such types are found, alas, not only in America. The positive characters turn pale and dim against his background, especially Fallon, who, despite the tragic backstory, is deprived of at least some character. This, of course, is not the case when you will root for the bad guys (they are very disgusting), but the good ones are simply boring to watch.