Perhaps it’s just me, but certain words always paint specific, often barely related mental pictures. I think I read somewhere this isn’t uncommon, though it’s not out of the realms of possibility that I dreamed that last part and you’re now all backing slowly away from this review, closing the door quietly behind you. Fear not; if you lie still and play dead I may just sniff you and leave you alone. Anyway, I’ve always done the word/image thing, and my ‘dawn’ picture has a kind of purity surrounding it. It’s serenity. Peace. Tranquility. Well darklings, I’m here to shatter any similar illusions because right here, in this context, nothing could be further from the truth.

Directed by Nicholas Ryan, written by Ryder and Dawson Doupé and Todd Tapper, Dawn is a wild and wicked rideshare horror where we join loved-up couple Oliver (Jared Cohn) and Anna (Sarah French) at the end of an evening out. Oliver, from the off, is clearly a bit of a dick. Claiming he’s a good guy despite displaying arrogance, impatience, and generally bad manners, he’s also blissfully unaware of how soon he’ll be forced to rethink his attitude. Anna by contrast seems rather colourless at this point, perhaps overshadowed by Oliver’s relentless bitching as they wait for the car they booked to arrive and get them home safely. Boy, are they ever in for a shock.

It’s hard not to like the character of Dawn herself. In an intriguing intro we see snippets of an attractive, charismatic, yet darkly mysterious woman. Unfortunately it would seem she’s dangerously psychotic, and also, as she poses as the driver booked by Oliver and Anna, that taxiing folk from A to B is an aberration from her usual routine of torturing and murdering people.

Paying attention to the oft-seen overtrusting victim trope, the filmmakers haven’t made the hapless couple boringly predictable by having them ride off unquestioningly into the night with her. Minor deviations to their original travel plan mean they’re initially somewhat wary, but her magnetic persona eventually triumphs, and like unwitting lambs to the slaughter they accept her explanation…and seal their fate.

The intro suggests the possibility of a motive for Dawn’s dedicated pursuit is an audience of some kind, which a rather disturbing encounter at a gas station reveals. ‘Dawn’s Dead’ is her dark web show, with a following as devoted as she is. It did interest me that as well as being the show’s name, ‘Dawn’s Dead’ is mentioned later in the film in a different context. Perhaps I’m over-analysing, but I admit to giving some thought to the potential significance there; you’ll have to see what you think on that one.

If the main aim of Dawn is to demonstrate that the concepts of good and evil depend more on morality and integrity than public image or acting out societal norms, then I’m not sure it’s as successful at that as it is at being a decent horror in its own right. The theme of a serial maniac with a twisted moral code is one we all know and love from movies like Saw and Se7en, but while the torture, both physical and psychological, Dawn inflicts on her victims is relentlessly vicious and dehumanising, there’s not quite enough clarity on some final key points to be completely certain if that’s the intention, or whether it’s all for the show’s bloodthirsty fans. In the end, it’s left up to the viewer to decide for themselves, though if you’re happy to just chill and watch a good movie there’s nothing to complain about here.

8 out of 10 Uber-Psychos