Until Dawn: Review

Until Dawn

Director: David F. Sandberg

Writer: Blair Butler, Gary DaubermanCast: Ella Rubin, Michael Cimino, Odessa A’Zion, Ji-Young Yoo, Belmont Cameli, Peter Stormare

Watch the trailer here.

The poster is better than the entire film.

Adapting a video game, let alone an award-winning video game, to the silver screen is not something that’s been consistently successful, when Sonic the Hedgehog is the leader of what markets in that platform, you’d think developers would realize that they translate with a stronger-sense of storytelling that the small screen gives you—even still, “Until Dawn” could have been a lot of things; it could have delved into meta story-telling, using the already successful time-loop horrors like Happy Death Day as a booster for some fun, creative story-telling. It could have leaned into being a meta, more modernized version of Cabin in the Woods and have been a love letter to horror like the game was. It could even have channelled some slasher nostalgia and fallen back into the grimy, over-the-top slashers of the early 2000s. Instead, it went into a sub-par trip down memory lane with a few game easter-eggs, a script that feels like it was written by AI and jokes and jump scares so poorly timed they fell flat.

Sandberg landed in the in-between in this adaptation of Until Dawn, with an attempt to fall in the middle of staying close to the original story that made fans love it in the first place, to trying to appeal to a broader horror audience. It did too much with too little, and it suffered from it.

The premise of the film is simple: a group of friends are on a road trip specifically to find the leads, Clover’s (Ella Rubin) older sister, who has gone missing on a trip to “run towards” a new life in New York City. She’s accompanied by her ex-boyfriend, Max (Michael Cimino), her two best friends, Megan (Ji-young Yoo) and Nina (Odessa A’Zion) and Odessa’s new boyfriend, Abe (Belmont Cameli). They meet your standard creepy gas station attendant, who points them in the direction of an old abandoned historical welcome center in ‘Glore Valley’ and “terror” ensues from there. We are given a cast that clearly did not have a chemistry test together. They’re supposed to embody a group of friends that are so close they’re near family, but this group felt like they just met and were put in a spooky house together. I can’t fault the actors on this, though; they did what they could with a script that was designed to cause tension and bring laughs, but neither sold. There’s just an uneasy awareness that everyone is just trying to hit the mark rather than living in the moment—a deadly betrayal to a horror film that’s supposed to make you feel like you’re spiralling into the chaos alongside them.

Featured: An entire cast with people who have no chemistry.

There’s no world-building here, no character development, and a score that doesn’t match the tone of the film. We’re supposed to accept it all at face value. We’re introduced to concepts rather than themes, and each scene feels like the writers went with the first idea they had and ran with it.

Spoilers Ahead:

The logic in the story doesn’t make sense. I was never a fan of even the games using the Wendigo, a creature derived from Algonquin mythology associated with a cautionary tale of selfishness and greed and the importance of community without resorting to cannibalism; cannibalism as in to devour human culture, not actual consumption of humans. The game at the very least pointed towards Cree, but that’s not a reason for taking one's culture and appropriating it into something monstrous as it did in the film. The Wendigos are a result of being held prisoner in the time loop, they become zombie-like creatures rather than something true to the mythology. It’s disappointing that we still see writers villainizing cultures for the sake of movie tropes.

In the film, Clover comes across a witch who says, “You have to survive the night or become the night.” This would make sense if it only alluded to the awful use of the Wendigos, but we see a serial killer, a witch, Clover herself becomes possessed, there’s a giant monster off in the distance, the water is poisoned with something…explosive, and then we are told later by Dr. Hill that these are all manifestations of Clover’s inner psyche. So we have a time-loop story, with a slasher story, with the narrative about Wendigos through controlled testing, and now suddenly we have the main character's inner ability to manifest her anxieties outward? With all due respect, what the fuck?

The hourglass became awfully symbolic. I wasn’t waiting for the cast to survive; I was actually hoping Dr. Hill would come out on top here. The practical effects were cool, but not memorable, and not really ground-breaking when it comes to practical effects either.

Then, as if they knew nobody was going to stick around, the post-credit scene plays seconds after the movie ends, and surprise, surprise, we see the snow lodge we should have seen in the first place.

1.5/5. Would not watch again. Not even for the practical effects.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Is the Until Dawn movie a direct adaptation of the game? A: No, the movie takes major liberties with the story, introducing new characters and settings while only loosely referencing the game’s original plot and lore.

Q: Does the Until Dawn movie feature any original game characters? A: Not directly. The film focuses on new characters like Clover but includes subtle Easter eggs referencing the game, including a brief cameo of the original snowy lodge.

Q: What are the main differences between the game and the movie? A: The movie abandons the interactive, choice-driven narrative of the game for a time-loop format. Dr. Hill becomes a real antagonist, and deaths lead to transformation rather than finality.

Q: Is Until Dawn (2024) scary?A: The film mixes horror genres—slasher, body horror, psychological horror—but many critics feel it’s more stylish than scary, and less emotionally impactful than the game.

Q: Do I need to play the game to understand the movie? A: No, the movie stands on its own. Familiarity with the game might help catch Easter eggs, but it’s not required to follow the story.