Hello everyone and welcome to a brand new review! For this one, I will be taking a look at the second video game adaptation to come out in the past month. Released in 2015, the Until Dawn video game is an interactive survival horror game that concerns a group of young adults meeting up at on a snowy mountain and having to survive the night with various threats in their way. It’s one of those games where one has to make choices that can alter the story depending on what one chooses. It was very well received for it interesting gameplay and compelling lore and has amassed a solid following. I actually recently played it for the first time recently and found it to be a very enjoyable game that uses the butterfly effect angle of it’s gameplay to interesting effect, and it just works as a solid horror story. This adaptation is part of Sony’s plan to adapt a lot of the games from the PlayStation catalogue onto the big or small screen with David F. Sandberg (who has plenty of horror experience with the likes of Annabelle: Creation, Lights Out, and some sequences in the Shazam! films) behind the director’s chair. It’s not a direct adaptation of the game, but it takes place in the same universe with some callbacks placed in. So while a different take, was it able to succeed in working on its own terms? Let’s jump right in and see if this can avoid being a nightmare of a film!
The film follows a young group of friends led by one Clover. They are trying to retrace the whereabouts of Clover’s missing sister, Melanie, who mysteriously disappeared a while back. They end up stopping at a gas station where a strange attendant tells them of a mining town called Glore Valley where people tend to go missing. The group heads into town and run into some extreme rainfall that forces them to take refuge in a visitor center. They end up finding a wall with all of the missing people and before they know it, a masked killer takes all of them out… and then the night resets. They realize they are stuck in a time loop where they must survive the night in order to get out of it with a new threat appearing each time. Now they have to figure out a way to make it… until dawn!
Considering how cinematic the game already is, I don’t mind that this movie goes in a completely different direction, essentially doing a horror infused take on Groundhog Day. I feel like that in and of itself is a fun concept and is a clever way to pull off a video game adaptation as we get to see the characters evaluate their decisions and learn from their mistakes to accomplish a goal. When that part of the plot kicks into gear, the film is quite entertaining as we see these characters get into various supernatural scenarios and we learn more about how this place functions. The stakes are established solidly (they have a limited amount of tries and can become “a part of the night” if they fail) and I like how we see them figure out what the best course of action may be and how they learn from their mistakes from previous attempts. While not a full on comedy, there’s a certain playfulness to the proceedings that I appreciated with Sandberg and writers, Gary Dauberman and Blair Butler having fun in this sandbox and throwing in some nice self aware humor here and there as well as some neat homages to classics of the horror genre. There even is some interesting exploration of being forced to live over one’s trauma and then having to overtake it. Not new ground (especially for horror recently) I kind of like the way this one goes about portraying it.
That being said, the film is held back by some critical issues that prevent this from being as good as it could’ve been. Sadly, the drama at the center of the picture is not that compelling, coming off as underdeveloped and just there as an attempt to add more conflict. It’s mostly typical teenage shenanigans that really did not do much for me. It doesn’t help that while the film gets things going quickly, we really are not afforded much time to get to know these character or their relationships with one another in a way that makes me care all that much about them once the main plot kicks into gear. The entertainment instead comes from how they go about navigating their predicament and the obstacles they face rather than rather than well them. Plus, there are aspects regarding some of the supernatural elements that I felt went unexplained, but in a way that I felt if they were, they could’ve made certain aspects a bit clearer. This includes how this connects to the game which I feel is likely going to frustrate and confuse many fans (myself included to an extent) who were already hesitant about this movie to begin with.
As far as the scares in the film go, while there are a handful of predictable jump scares that are there for cheap value, there are also quite a few that are genuinely effective with solid build ups. Sandberg does a good job creating a creepy atmosphere that makes the location work as a character in and of itself. I liked seeing how the various objects around would be used, reminding me of the game in a way, and when things get more chaotic, the editing does a good job in conveying that, making the proceedings very intense to watch at times (even if some sequences do admittedly drag on for a bit too long). The darkness is used to decent effect, even if there a couple of scenes were I could not make much of what was going on, but when it works it works well and there are some creepy moments that did give some chills (one involving a video camera recording is especially startling). The make up and gore effects are also nicely done with the different creatures and beings looking convincing, with some (such as the Wendigos) coming to life from the game. Also enjoyed Benjamin Wallfisch’s score which incorporates some of the themes from the game which I appreciated.
While the characters aren’t the strongest, the actors do at least try to have some fun with what’s on the page, as cheesy as it can come off at times. Ella Rubin gives in a good leading performance as Clover, conveying the concern she has for her sister well enough and having some issues of her own. None of it feels fully fleshed out though, as we don’t really get much of a sense of what their relationship was like, instead feeling like something to just get our characters to the location. By the time the film tries to explore much of it, it’s just too late for it to have any emotional impact. Meanwhile, Michael Cimino is fine as Max, Clover’s ex-boyfriend, but that relationship is pretty standard teenage drama that is riddled with some cringe dialogue here and there. Still it’s less annoying and more just… there which I guess is something, compared to similar movies.
Odessa A’Zion gives the best performance as Clover’s best friend, Nina, as she does manage to give the character a bit depth than the others as someone deeply concerned about her friends because they are all she has left. She is just also given a bit more complexity given some of the actions she decides to commit which I was surprised by at times. Her boyfriend, Abe (Belmont Cameli), is really just there to serve as something as the calm and collected one of the group and I’ll admit that I like the complicated nature of his character (level headed and smart, but willing to do the less ideal options), even if I was a bit surprised at how… let off the hook he was considering some of his actions. Rounding out the group is Max’s step sister, Megan (Ji-young Yoo), who is given the least to do, save for occasionally using her underdeveloped psychic abilities every now and then. The stand out though for me was easily Peter Stormare, who reprises as role as the unhinged psychologist from the game, Dr. Alan J. Hill. Without giving away how he is incorporated here (which will likely confuse many, myself included considering his role in the game), I greatly enjoyed seeing Stormare portray this character again as he chews the scenery like none other and I got a kick out of seeing him as this maniac once again.
On the whole, I found Until Dawn to be a frustrating mixed bag of a horror film. It has plenty of surface level entertainment value as the time loop element is fun, it is never boring, it can be playful, there are some solid scares, it is well made, and the performances get the job done. However, the drama is not that interesting, it can drag at times, the characters are mostly underdeveloped, and the connections to the game end up being rather confusing. I think this is a video game adaptation that will likely fare better with non fans just looking for a horror film to watch as I don’t feel fans are going to be happy, especially if one is looking for a straight adaptation of the game. It’s better than one would expect from a typical Screen Gems produced horror picture, but it is disappointing in the sense that it comes close to almost working considering what it gets right. Here’s hoping future PlayStation game adaptations can strike a better balance in pleasing both fans and non fans a like.
Rating: C+
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