Time: 103 Minutes
Age Rating: R16 – Graphic violence, horror and gore
Cast:
Ella Rubin as Clover
Michael Cimino as Max
Odessa A’zion as Nina
Ji-young Yoo as Megan
Belmont Cameli as Abe
Maia Mitchell as Melanie
Peter Stormare as Dr. Hill
Director: David F. Sandberg

I wasn’t really sure what to think when an adaptation of the horror video game Until Dawn was announced. I have played the game and I enjoyed it, but it’s pretty much just a modern day throwback to 80s horrors with the addition of making choices for the characters, meaning that they live and die based on your decisions. A movie adaptation would be just that but without the gameplay aspect, so it seemed rather pointless. I decided to watch the film anyway after hearing that David F. Sandberg (Annabelle: Creation) would be directing and that it was going to be quite different from the video game. I certainly have issues with it, but I did at least enjoy it.

First I should set straight the movie’s accuracy to the game: some elements and imagery from the game are seen here, and Peter Stormare stars in both. On the whole though, the Until Dawn movie is very much its own thing, and you are able to view it as its own thing even if you’ve played the game. The number of differences get to the point where it feels like the movie just took the title and imagery from the game and made their own horror movie barely related to the source material. I definitely respect it for being different, but hitching itself to this particular game seemed pointless to me. The central concept of the movie is that the main group of characters enter the main setting, they are killed and come back to life and have to survive yet again, with the threats being slightly different on every loop. An interesting idea, even if time loop movies have been done before (even in horror, see Happy Death Day). Perhaps it’s a bit strange then that they chose to base it off a horror game in which characters definitely don’t come back after being killed.

Regardless, my main problem is that Until Dawn doesn’t make the most of its concept. I won’t say how many time loops we see in the movie, but let’s just say we don’t see them nearly enough. The movie is paced quite slowly and on every run it tries to explain everything and has characters talking about the situation and any potential tension is deflated. Even the answers and reveals weren’t exactly satisfying or spectacular. Tonally, its all over the place too. By the time you get to a particular scene which begins in a bathroom, you can tell that its going for a degree of dark comedy at the very least, and I’m sure it’s intentional. That said, I don’t think it leans into it nearly enough. The movie does use a lot of horror tropes and even comments on it, which does indicate that this movie is aiming to be self aware. But I think that Until Dawn is a hair too serious, something in the vein of The Cabin in the Woods and Happy Death Day worked better. Honestly, if they leaned into the more darkly comic horror throwback aspect it might’ve succeeded more. It attempts to tackle themes like grief and trauma, but it feels so tacked on and half-hearted, it doesn’t really work. It’s not even that scary, beyond an effective three minute sequence.

The characters are forgettable, but the cast are decent enough and they do what they can with the subpar material. Ella Rubin’s really good in the lead role and Peter Stormare steals all the scenes he’s in.

David F. Sandberg’s direction is solid on the whole. It is very well shot, the sound design is on point, and the production design is really good. The standouts are the great practical effects, it is actually a far gorier movie than expected and they delivered in those scenes. The horror scenes just weren’t all that scary, but there is an exception. It’s a brief scene which utilises found footage and it easily has the best horror stuff in the film.

Until Dawn refreshingly has little to do with its video game source material, is entertaining in parts, and has good effects and a scene stealing Peter Stormare. However, it’s also a fairly underwhelming horror film that fails to make the most out of its interesting premise.