Until Dawn
Odessa A’zion, Belmont Cameli, Ella Rubin, Michael Cimino & Ji-young Yoo in Until Dawn
Time loops in horror films are like bad first dates—repetitive, exhausting, and you just wish they’d end sooner. The Until Dawn film adaptation takes the bones of the beloved 2015 PlayStation game and throws them into a blender of tired tropes, messy storytelling, and underwhelming fan service. While the kills are gloriously gruesome, the film struggles to capture the magic of the original, leaving horror fans and gamers with more frustration than fright.
Impressive Kills, Forgettable Characters
Let’s give credit where it’s due. Until Dawn doesn’t skimp on the carnage, and it's easily the film’s strongest asset. Exploding bodies, sledgehammer skull-crushes, and wendigo-fueled slaughter deliver the kind of outrageous violence that’ll make even seasoned horror fans wince. Unfortunately, the characters themselves are so paper-thin that their deaths feel more like a relief than a tragedy.
The main cast, led by Ella Rubin’s Clover and Michael Cimino’s Max, are paper-thin archetypes. These aren't characters you root for — they’re horror movie cannon fodder. With dialogue drowning in clichés and zero emotional depth, you’ll find yourself rooting for the killers just to see something interesting happen. The time loop premise could have been a clever way to explore character growth, but instead, it just means watching the same shallow personalities die in slightly different ways.
A Time Loop Filled with Horror Clichés
On paper, the time loop mechanic should have given Until Dawn a chance to upend expectations and mess with our heads. Instead, it piles on every horror cliché imaginable: supernatural slashers, haunted dolls, cackling witches, carnival clowns — you name it. Some moments, like the Wendigo transformation, manage to land. But others feel like a horror checklist hastily scribbled between script meetings.
There's an attempt at a grander mythos involving a sunken city, but the constant rewinding leaves it tangled and exhausting. Instead of an unfolding mystery, it feels like a story eating itself.
The found-footage style and oppressive darkness don’t help. Instead of building tension, they just make it harder to follow what’s happening. So, by the time the film stumbles toward its underwhelming resolution, you’ll be too disoriented to care.
Missed Opportunities for Game Fans
Ella Rubin in Until Dawn
The biggest sin? Until Dawn barely feels connected to the game that inspired it.
Sure, Peter Stormare’s return as Dr. Hill is a highlight — he slips back into the role like he never left. And a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it photo of Rami Malek’s Josh Washington is a cute nod. But otherwise, the film feels detached from its source material.
A group of teenage clichés, wendigos, and an eerie house in the forest — all of the ingredients are present, but the film refuses to cook them into something satisfying. There’s no real expansion of the world we fell in love with. Just a clumsy remix of the right ingredients cooked into something sadly bland.
By the time the stinger scene finally dangles a proper connection to the original game, it feels like a tease delivered far too late. This isn’t a love letter to Until Dawn; it’s a half-hearted fanfiction that forgot what made the original special, and instead, it loops itself into mediocrity.
If you’re after mindless gore and creative kills, Until Dawn delivers. But for PlayStation gamers and horror fans hoping for a worthy adaptation? You’re better off replaying the game.
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