‘Until Dawn’ Seemingly Aims To Please Nobody

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Until Dawn joins the long lineage of poor adaptations of video games into the cinematic medium. Like most other filmic takes on games, this movie has a weak grasp on what it is people actually like about the work it’s based on. Until Dawn still manages to feel like a cynical operation though, given the fact it barely even alludes to its game counterpart until the second half, where it all feels shoddily stapled on.

For anyone unfamiliar, the thing about the original Until Dawn game is that it’s an interactive version of a standard horror film: you play as a collection of university students who find themselves tormented by forces both human and supernatural during a weekend in a snowy cabin.

Though the story has a few interesting wrinkles to it, what made Until Dawn a hit was the fact that it was like watching a horror movie where your actions decided the fate of each character. Your split-second decisions were the reasons characters lived or died, and the game encouraged you to go back and see what the different paths held for everyone.

Until Dawn misunderstands its source material

Importantly, none of the characters in the game know that the player is doing this – going back to ‘change the past’ is not part of the narrative, but the player’s experience. So besides the fact that the film version of Until Dawn abandons the setting of the game to create a standalone entry in the same world, I also found it very odd that this film decided it would be a time loop horror film.

It follows Clover (Ella Rubin), a deeply troubled 20-year-old who’s looking for her missing sister. With her eclectic group of friends/human meatbags, they eventually stumble onto an ominous looking visitor centre where they are soon killed effortlessly by a masked psycho before a swift resurrection. As they are assailed by various supernatural forces, the five of them realise they can only break the loop if they all survive… you might’ve guessed, until dawn.

If you’ve played the original game, it’s hard not to feel like the Until Dawn franchise was retroactively grafted onto a pre-existing horror script. I obviously can’t verify this, but it would at least explain the baffling sense of disconnect between the first and second halves of the film as it seemingly remembers its status as an adaptation.

Who is this film for?

The irony is that Until Dawn is at its most interesting when it has nothing to do with the game it shares a title with. There are a handful of sequences in the film that embrace the absurdity and nihilism of living in a time loop, the characters never knowing next how they’ll die. Though it would be less faithful, I found myself wishing the film had explored that more – or better yet, been an entirely different film.

It also really doesn’t help that the dialogue in the film is utterly horrendous. Until Dawn seemingly assumes most people will be watching the film with a phone in their hand, so characters are constantly verbalising what they’re doing – rarely does the film allow its visuals alone to convey the story.

This young troupe of actors, bless their souls, try their hardest to deliver badly written lines. Each of them is largely serviceable in their roles that are more trope than character, and any source of the film’s effectiveness as a piece of horror can largely be owed to them.

I just can’t help but wonder what the point of Until Dawn was, though. It’s not particularly recognisable to the fans of the game, and nor does it do anything interesting enough to draw acclaim from regular horror movie fans. Indeed, that lack of individuality means you’ll be wondering less how this group of friends survives until dawn, and more how long you’ve got until the end of the film.

★

Until Dawn is in cinemas now.