by John Tillyard, Contributing Writer
Adapted from the 2015 horror video game of the same name, Until Dawn tells the story of a group of teenagers who travel to a remote valley area. Clover (Ella Rubin) looks for answers to the mystery of her missing sister Melanie (Maia Mitchell), who disappeared a year before. However, upon arriving, the group finds themselves in a time loop where everything resets whenever they die, with new things threatening to kill them every time they restart in the evening. The group must work together to determine what is happening, what has happened to others in this valley, and how they can survive Until Dawn!
The first thing to be aware of here is that this is very much an in-name-onlyadaptation. There are a few game elements present, such as the hourglass, some monsters, and one particular character, albeit in a very different role. But otherwise, it’s an entirely original story. Some game fans will be disappointed, because they would have been excited to see a live action version of the game. But having played the game myself, I’m relatively okay with it, because the game Until Dawn, based on its presentation, is already a movie. Watching a version of the game where I have no control over the characters and what they do would have been dull and maybe a little frustrating. With that said, it’s interesting that the premise for this adaptation involves the typical video game mechanic of everything resetting when characters die, since that’s not a feature of the particular game this is based on. When characters die in the game Until Dawn, it carries on regardless.
The setup here is more like Happy Death Day, where the characters must learn from each cycle of the night’s events and figure out what to do to survive the night. While this doesn’t affect the quality of the overall movie, I must question why this has even been branded as a video game adaptation. I know most video game adaptations don’t follow the game closely — they are generally set in the same world or about the same characters — but this adaptation does not even have those things. The premise has more in common with Groundhog Day than the game it shares its name with. It would have been far better off as a standalone movie. That at least would have convinced viewers that this was an original idea. The only thing I can think of is the filmmakers wanted the existing IP to get people to go and see it.
But looking at this as a movie on its own terms, the story takes many elements from essentially every subgenre of horror, such as the things trying to kill the main characters. These include, but are not limited to, character possession, a masked slasher with a machete, and wendigos. The characters all remember what happened in previous cycles of the night, so there are new things that try to kill them in progressively worse ways every time. This helps to give the scares a bit more variety, and the threat increases gradually, becoming more formidable.
A lot of the entertainment here comes from the fact that the characters are constantly dying, so there is an abundance of brutal kills in creative and visually interesting ways. The issue with that is you know the deaths don’t mean anything; everything will reset, and the characters will start the night again. Later on, some of the characters even commit suicide to make the night reset sooner. The deaths become so frequent that you are just expecting them after a while. When a new threat shows up, you are no longer wondering if the characters will survive or escape and how that might happen — you are just wondering how long it will be before they are killed. Part of the shock factor when characters in a horror are killed is that you don’t expect it. But the reset element of this story means that it’s not only expected, but you start to anticipate it. There is one death here that is quite shocking for a moment — however, the movie repeats this particular type of death several times, including during the climax. Once the surprise aspect is gone, it is no longer interesting.
About two-thirds of the way through, there is a moment where the characters figure out they can’t afford to die anymore, and they are essentially on their last life. It might have felt like they were raising the stakes, bringing some sizable tension to the situation. But it has the opposite effect, because you know by then that if they can’t die, they won’t.
Additionally, the characters are unbelievably dull; the group consists of five teens, each with one significant personality trait, but there isn’t much else to them. Generally, in a teenage horror, the lack of character doesn’t matter much, because you know most of them are there to die. However, in this story, the night resets when they die, so these flat characters are with us throughout the story. They don’t learn anything from their experiences or try anything to better adapt to the things trying to kill them. It is so disappointing, because one of the best aspects of the game is the characters you play as; they have a lot of good banter and funny moments, and there is nothing like that here.
The visuals are at least compelling and varied, because many horror creatures are shown. That said, how they are presented is no different from anything in other horror films. Most of the scares come from them trying to startle you, which works at first, but obviously won’t work if they’re repeated. There is some creepy imagery in the beginning when the group enters the area. Still, it becomes monotonous once you understand what’s happening.
Even if you ignore the adaptation aspect and treat this as only a movie, Until Dawn is still a largely forgettable experience. There is a significant shortcoming in terms of story and characters. The second half is a particular slog, as the threats the characters face are no longer keeping you engaged, and there is no feeling of satisfaction in the way things are wrapped up.
Outside of the basic idea of the character trying to survive the night, and a few Easter eggs, there is nothing from the game here, and the absence of that will disgruntle its fans. Those who haven’t played the game will enjoy the visuals and scares, but find the story tedious and the characters unexciting. It won’t please anyone.
Rating: Low Side of It Was Just Okay
Until Dawn is currently playing in theaters
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