The Darkest Dawn is an excellent illustration of why you should avoid "passion projects" where the director writes the script, casts himself as the lead, and may even serve as Key Grip.

Fleeing from generally off-screen aliens as well as the requisite groups of roving bandits that form to take advantage of these situations, our protagonists walk, crawl, run, swim and boat from, through and toward various English towns that include Hungerford (site of the film's prequel), Oxford, Manchester and London. We know this only through occasional awkwardly delivered updates, as for the greater part of the movie, it's neither clear nor relevant where they actually are. The settings include a dilapidated estate; a dilapidated barn; a dilapidated chapel; and an inexorably long tunnel through a series of dilapidated basements. And those snapshots are effectively what I remember from the film, after watching it 4 hours ago.

Well, I do remember the actress who allegedly holds the camera for the found-film footage, because she bizarrely grins, jokes, and makes cutesy tween faces every time she is responsible for delivering exposition. Her huge toothy smile was one of the (unintentionally) creepiest aspects of the film. The characters otherwise melt into each other, lacking both distinct personalities and motivations.

The plot is equally vague. The girl and her sister follow whatever man is closest to their vicinity, adopting each new companion's mission and destination in turn. It doesn't work out very well for anyone, but you really won't care.

The most praise I can bestow is that the special effects were better than expected for a film with a £70K budget. I would have guessed at least £100K.

I think that 20 years of POV films is enough. The human race is about to disappear and the girl has cold blood to record every single passage of her day. On the other hand the script is nothing new and the film is too dark. It's difficult to say anything good about this dull movie.

The Darkest Dawn is a Brit, B grade, alien apocalypse flick.

Its a not too shabby effort. The acting is alright and some of the special effects, whilst, very obviously CGI, actually do fit the overall, "end of the world", feel of the film quite well.

What does show are the clear budgetary limitations. Rather "ho hum" sets and weapons that look, for the most part, like badly dated, army surplus.

The scripting for this film could have been better too. The character narrative, is, at times, a bit cheesy. The loving family thing is over cooked but mercifully, does not last, as the aliens quickly arrive on the scene.

All in all, not a bad effort from a film with B credentials. On that basis a six out of ten from me.