A year after her sister’s disappearance, Clover and four friends travel to the remote Glore Valley, where her sister vanished, hoping to find some answers. However, things quickly take a dark turn when they stumble upon an abandoned visitor center—and a masked killer who begins picking them off one by one. The twist? Each time they die, they wake up at the start of the same night, trapped in a terrifying loop with no clear way out. To break this deadly cycle, they must find a way to survive until dawn.
Directed by horror veteran David F. Sandberg (known for Lights Out and Annabelle: Creation), Until Dawn is based on the popular 2015 video game. The film deviates from the game’s original storyline to present a standalone narrative that traps five friends in an isolated area, where various supernatural entities, including witches and wendigos hunt them.
Having never played the game, I can’t comment on the differences or liberties taken by Sandberg and the screenwriters. However, the film includes numerous nods to the game, which may please fans. That said, some fans may leave the theater feeling completely disappointed by its lack of a decision-based narrative that made the video game so popular.
Personally, I found Until Dawn to be more entertaining than I had expected. Sandberg creates an eerie, claustrophobic atmosphere within the ruined mining town of Glore Valley, isolating the characters in a small area that seems to change at will. Each night, new horrors arise to keep the captives fearful. The decision to use practical effects over CGI for most of the film was wise, especially with the creature designs. For instance, the wendigos are portrayed by dancers in costumes, making their movements both graceful and unsettling.
While some characters feel more like horror archetypes than fully developed people, a few solid performances stand out, particularly from Ella Rubin, Belmont Cameli, and Odessa A’zion. Unfortunately, the movie lacks emotional depth, which often elevates a good horror film to a great one. I enjoy a good time-loop movie, but there were moments when I felt Until Dawn could have cut some of the loops to focus more on character development and building the emotional stakes that would make us root for their survival.
On the other hand, some viewers walk into a horror movie just wanting to be entertained by a fun concept and bloody kills, and in that respect, Until Dawn succeeds. Overall, this is a moody, atmospheric adaptation of the beloved 2015 video game, reimagined rather than simply recreated. It pays homage to the game and the horror clichés we’ve all come to know and love (or hate), while mixing predictable jump scares with genuinely chilling moments.
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