I would have thought that with all the Louises, the Morbiuses, the Nick Knights and the Angeluses running rampant in the world, that the story of the reluctant, penitent vampire had been done to (er, un?) death. And yet - there's Dawn to prove me wrong. Dawn is the tale of widower and single father, John, and his travels with his daughter, Dawn. The beginning of the film taunts the viewer, mostly through the diary voice-over of the titular daughter, with the notion that there is something not all altogether right with Dawn and her Dad and their never ending journey. The big surprise is of course no surprise to anyone who has read the back of the DVD, looked at the box art, watched the trailer (included on the DVD) or looked at the title screens (or, now, having read this review) - the wide-eyed, blonde-haired, ten year-old teddy-bear-toting tot is a bonafide creature of the night. Well, not of the night, exactly - since she can walk around in the day time. And she may not be a vampire technically, as her victims don't get up again once she's put them down. It's really more of a congenital condition. Even still, she might be the most polite vampire in history; and maybe even the cutest - but make no mistake - if you've got blood, she wants it. Unfortunately for this father/daughter team, they've left some bodies in their wake - which has left them pursued by the law. Or, at least by one man working for the law, played by Writer/Director Jay Reel, whose character has an unusual family history and congenital condition of his own. And, he's psychic. Naturally.

There are a number of things that, as a film, Dawn gets wrong. The voice-over, diary format that frames the opening of the film drops off about half-way through without explanation, never to be revisited; half-hearted make-up effects leave victims bleeding flat,unconvincing trickles of blood from non-existent wounds, and at least once, a back story is told using a flashback (which, as the commentary notes, and then repeatedly defends- is a twenty minute flashback in the middle of a ninety-nine minute film) within a flashback. And, to top it all off, the story is so full of coincidences that it reaches a point of ridiculousness (Call it Fate if you must - even argue that the lives of small town folks are more interconnected than most, but when every character introduced seems related to the back story (even the teddy bear), one has to wonder if the story didn't take the intertwining of lives a step beyond the blood-draining pale).

And yet, despite all that, I bit when it came to Dawn. I found myself attached to the characters, and emotionally invested in the outcome. It helped that, although it is a serious film, Dawn is not a film that takes itself too seriously (a sin too often shared by vampire films, particularly those of the "Boo-hoo, I'm a Nosferatu" variety). A good indicator of this is the 17-minute gag/blooper reel that comes as an extra on the DVD. But there's even some levity within the film. (There is one moment, particularly, in which I swear one can see John thinking, "my daughter may possess unnatural strength and gorge herself on human blood, but at least she's not a Goth") But even more compelling are the characters in Dawn itself. They are all imbued with such great humanity that it is difficult not to relate to them, to want to cheer for them. Both sweet and somber, Dawn is not a movie about a vampire's lust for blood - it's a tale comprised of all the small moments that make up our lives, no matter what we use to fill our bellies. It's the story of a father watching his daughter grow and rely on him less and less; it's the story of a young girl who is confused and afraid of the changes her body is undergoing as she grows older; it's the tale of a man who can't decide if the hurt in his heart needs vengeance, or simply closure; it's about candy bars and key lime pie and the ties that bind us, and the things that guide us along the path of life and, occasionally, the throats we rip out along the way.

In addition to the aforementioned gag reel, the Dawn DVD comes with an audio commentary with the cast and crew, and a handful of trailers for Tempe Video releases (of which Fat Cat is a division), including the one for Dawn itself.