Rose (Devanny Pinn) lives on a farm in Pennsylvania in 1922. Her dad is still fighting WWI in his mind and kills his family even though they don't have German accents. Rose is protected by a Native American charm that looks like a dream catcher. She goes and lives in a convent where it becomes clear over the entire length of the film, she needs an exorcism as she sees things and has nightmares without hitting the communion wine.

At one point she blurts out she has a symbiotic relationship, which was not a very common term and was used strictly in science. Not sure where the farm girl came up with it, must be the Latin classes. The film lets you know in the end it is a prequel for a famous film series.

Guide: Light swearing. No sex or nudity.

I was lured in by this 2019 horror movie's cover/poster. No doubt about it. I mean, the imagery of a nun, with half a serene face and half a demonic possessed face was just very alluring.

When I sat down to watch "The Dawn" from writers Elliot Diviney and Brandon Slagle - whom also directed the movie - I hadn't even heard about the movie. I assumed it to be a horror movie, and that was sufficient enough for me to have an interest in watching it.

And watched it I did. Or well sort of, I suppose. I managed 46 minutes of this ordeal and I got up and quit. It was such a slow paced movie and in those prolonged 46 minutes I endured nothing happened, and I mean that literally. Honestly, my attention on the screen wavered several times to my phone during those 46 minutes. And honestly, I have absolutely no intention of returning to finish watching "The Dawn".

The movie is listed as a horror, but I have to disagree. Nothing scary happened in the 46 minutes that I suffered through.

I wasn't familiar with the cast in the movie, nor can I claim that there was any outstanding performances, because the cast virtually had nothing to work with in terms of script, storyline or character development.

If you enjoy horror movies, give "The Dawn" a wide berth. It simply isn't worth the time, money or effort.

My rating of "The Dawn" lands on a generous two out of ten stars. And the reason for it scoring two and not just one, was simply because of the production level the movie had.

Following the death of her family, a woman is sent to a convent where she grows up to become a nun, and when she decides to carry out her dream of being fully ordained in the cloth, yet the series of bizarre supernatural attacks and visions she has speaks to something far more sinister happening to her that must be dealt with.

This was a pretty solid slow-burn genre effort. One of the biggest aspects of this is the strong and enjoyable atmosphere being at the convent that we get throughout here. With the scenes of them running around the church trying to make sense of the visions, there's a rather enjoyable build-up here featuring this kind of solid atmospheric touch about how being there brings her past issues to the surface. These are well handled and bring about some enjoyable suspense moments that indicate either some form of haunting or psychological break is occurring that would explain the situation as the implication for both is quite possible based on what happens as we're not able to tell the difference until quite late. As well, there's a lot to like with the more overt supernatural or physical action scenes. The opening slaughter of the family that leads to her orphaned nature offers some brutal and chilling stalking scenes of him taking out the sleeping members in grisly fashion is a solid action scene to start this off, while the various visions and supernatural occurrences that plague her begin to have a profound effect on things. With the more ominous scenes here featuring the glimpses of the exorcism being carried out against her leading into the actual exorcism to be taken in the church which is a fun, over-the-top affair that differs greatly from the rest of the film, this one has quite a lot to like about it. There are some problems to be had with this one. Among it's biggest limiting factors is the somewhat sluggish pacing that can be a turn-off to some. With this one going for a more restrained and psychological bent detailing the overwhelmed nature she has there, this could easily be a case where the few demonic attacks and visions come off in a lethargic tempo. The continuous times in confession, praying with the other nuns in the order, or contemplating what to do with her life all come at the expense of that more thrilling nature, much like the measured tempo they play at that offers a more dramatic feel than outright horror with the supernatural sequences being the only clue to this otherwise. The other drawback here is the somewhat odd and occasionally jarring relationships she has with the other nuns that don't feel like taking place in the past. The main friend she has in the convent seems to go from either a trusted friend she can confide her feelings to or discuss her past in private, yet in the company of others, she's prone to making snide condescending remarks to her which feels off. There's little about that which speaks of the time-period, much like the ability to recognize that she thinks she's going crazy herself. It would've been much easier to accept the others believing that about her based on her reactions rather than speaking about her own problems, which are just enough to bring this one down slightly.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Language.