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Summary: A group of friends trapped in a time loop, where mysterious Summary: A group of friends trapped in a time loop, where mysterious foes chase and kill them in gruesome ways, must survive until dawn to escape it.

I’m probably going to spoil the movie in some places. I’ll try not to though.

Pros: So, Maia Mitchell plays Clover’s older missing sister Melanie. We do see her at different times throughout the movie and she’s fine. She’s a good actress but she’s basically the Hannah/Beth of the movie in which she goes missing in the prologue lol. Peter Stormare is in the movie, and I don’t wanna spoil his role but he’s fun lol.

Cast and Characters. I do think the friend group could have been fleshed out more in their personalities. Even if they were a bit more “stereotypical” it would have given us a chance to know them just a bit more.

• Ella Rubin as Clover Paul. The movie starts with Clover on a road trip with her friends retracing her sister’s route until her disappearance. She’s desperate to find her sister as they’ve depended on each other after a tragedy in their family. She spends a lot of the movie distraught over her sister and constantly thinking about where she is and how to save her, most of the time it’s extremely detrimental. Clover is headstrong and annoying because of her stubbornness when it comes to her sister. She cares about her friends in that she’s trying to make sure they survive the night and is willing to do things to save them all but at the same time, I think she asks some crazy stuff of them that takes the trauma off of her. I thought Ella Rubin was good in her role, she’s a good scream queen and she has some good delivery when it comes to her more comedic lines.
• Michael Cimino as Max. Max is Clover’s ex-boyfriend, but they are friends and seem to still have a good relationship even if they aren’t dating anymore. He tries to be supportive of Clover, sometimes too much because he obviously wants to get back with her. I thought Michael Cimino was fine, he always looked like he was about to cry even before the movie pops off. With his character in the movie, he could have been a good Matt, he felt very gentle lol.
• Odessa A’zion as Nina Riley. Nina is one of Clover’s best friends. She’s dating Abe and seems to be a serial dater but she’s the one who writes her name in the book and who seems to be the one who remembers how many days it’s been and that’s probably because when the night resets, she’s always at the book to see her signature. She cares a lot about her friends, I think she’s the one who comes off as caring about them the most, I mean she makes a decision to reset the night because she refused to survive without them. I liked Odessa, I like her a voice, she’s stunning and I thought she was fine. She does a great job with her horrified reactions too. I feel like she could have played any of the female characters from the game.
• Belmont Cameli as Abe. Abe’s Nina’s new boyfriend and a “psyche major” as he tells us a couple of times, or he uses that to try and make sense of what’s going on with Clover. He doesn’t particularly fit into the group as he’s the newest addition by way of Nina but he’s the one who discovers the missing persons board, and he tries to be helpful to live (even if it’s not really helpful). I thought Belmont Cameli was fine. If they’d followed the game, he would have been a great Mike Munroe.
• Ji-young Yoo as Megan. Megan is part of the friend group and Max’s stepsister which I think I totally missed when they talked about that at the beginning. But Megan is the “spiritually sensitive” one of the groups. She can feel spirits and potentially communicate with them. She tries to do so with Melanie when they get to her last known location and when they’re in the house, she can feel that something is up and on the second night that was more possession like, she could definitely feel something. I think it could have been a cool addition if it was used throughout the movie but for the most part, it just seemed to make her more of a brutal target. But considering the “reveal” at the end, I’d like to know why that is lol. Ji-young Yoo was good, because she had so much to deal with, I think she does it well. If anything, I really wanted her to live lol.

Fun Deaths. I thought there were a few fun deaths. The exploding one was a cool idea. It had to have been inspired by the werewolves in The Quarry because it immediately put me in that mindset. There was something we saw on the recordings with something in Clover’s face or with the doll mask… I don’t know why we didn’t get to see those on screen, but they were cool and seemed like fun experiences!

Damage Done. I thought it was a cool idea to show they were bruised based off where they were killed the night before. Max was stabbed through the eye one night and on the next night, he had a black eye. Megan had some bruises on her face after her previous death. So even though they had another chance to survive, there were still some effects from the previous nights, for the most part. That was cool.

Tension. I’m not gonna lie, the tension is handled pretty well at some parts. It’s nothing revolutionary but there were moments at the end, where they’re escaping through tunnels that I did feel my heart speed up. Or even at the end, I was still expecting something crazy to happen. I also think some of the setup for certain nights had some tension in there.

Cons:

The Concept. I think a time loop isn’t a bad idea of how to simulate a video game where characters die and then get a second chance. However, considering Until Dawn is one of those games where you die and it’s over until the next playthrough, it’s an interesting choice for this adaptation. Especially when it’s not used to its full potential. Sure, you can argue that it simulates players replaying the game for different outcomes, but we barely get to see these characters do different things that much to make up for that choice. The butterfly affect is so powerful in this story because choices have lasting consequences (until the next playthrough lol) but in the movie they don’t, which I will talk about in other points. I think if the time loop had the characters experiencing “quick time” or actual “don’t move” events that they learned to get better at each night, would’ve worked. Or how they knew not to mess with the water. More stuff like that. Don’t go down this tunnel because there’s a monster down there, don’t follow that noise because wendigos are mimics. There was a chance to make it more engaging for both the characters and the viewers, but they didn’t. Plus, we don’t get to see the other nights, instead they were recorded and some of those were a lot more interesting than the nights we did see. Bad choice.

The Story/Treatment of Megan. I had to combine these because they go together but tackling Megan first, I did not like how she was treated in the movie. But I guess there is always one character in a horror movie where they get the short of end of the stick. She’s spiritual so she’s like “let’s hold hands and try to connect to Mel’s spirit” or she can feel things, but it didn’t add anything. She was able to “feel” things, at the beginning but it didn’t matter going forward. There was a moment on one of the nights where she was possessed but it could have still happened that way even if she wasn’t spiritually sensitive. There’s a chance that what she was saying in the scene might have been different if she wasn’t sensitive but since it didn’t add anything I don’t think it mattered. Who really knows. Also, during the explosion thing, she was the last one to be infected so she should have died last, but her death was so drawn out and crazy (made me think of Kay in Alien Romulus) and I didn’t like that. It also took them too long to realize she wasn’t in the room on the last night.

• Now for the story, there are connections to the game with the missing sister thing, and other stuff but I feel like having Clover be the reason wasn’t explained well enough. It seemed like a rushed explanation to connect the movie to the game with Josh’s mental health struggles. It didn’t work. If there were moments on the other nights, where it seemed liked Clover was affecting the outcomes, then that could have helped set up “the reveal” but it didn’t feel earned. Even the stuff with a character later is meant to be just like the game, especially with the way they’re dressed and how the room is set up, but it didn’t work! It really angered me.

The Friend Group/Consequences. I think overall the friend group is a pretty good group. It was definitely “power of friendship” at times but there are plenty of times where I think their relationship with each other should have been called into play by them and not by Abe, being relatively new. Him saying it is fine, it made him look like a jerk plenty of times, even if you agree with what he was saying. But for example, the first night they all died, Clover watched Megan die and didn’t try to help until after that girl was basically dead. There was even a point the next day, where it looked like Clover (or Max) moved towards her, but she held up a hand like “no stay back” which made me think that she remembered Clover watching. And that this would be an ongoing thing where they could remember if their friend was responsible for their death or if they didn’t help or whatever. Especially since they had some residual bruises from the previous night but that didn’t come back up. Even when Nina made a choice to make sure they got a second chance, it wasn’t brought up, so I assumed they forgot it? Not to mention how Clover kept asking Max to kill her instead of just doing it herself. Sure, you could chalk it up to her previously mentioned failed attempts, but I think it was also crazy of her to ask other people to do it, but it was never brought up as a traumatic thing she asked for him to do. I feel like having them forget was a cop out and also not consistent. I also wish we got to know them a little more as people. Even if they were a bit more “stereotypical” it would have helped give some of them a more obvious personality instead of us being told things. Also! I think the scene where Clover discovers the office at the end, should have happened before she found Megan because I think it makes her look bad to find Megan, run to go find a way to help her escape, and then start looking at the stuff in the office. Sure sure, in a game you can do that because they’re meant to be exploratory but she could have found the office first, saw the tv screens and saw Megan on the tv, potentially even be able to speak to her through the speakers or something but then is accosted by the “big bad”. I just remember being like “girl… why are you slowing down?”

So Dark! The night scenes… what is happening?? We can’t see! I saw this in the theaters, but it was so dark. I couldn’t see what was happening whenever they were outside in the dark or whenever they were in dimly lit areas. Sure, it should be dark for THEM but EYE as the audience member should be able to see enough. Like if it was a reveal, then okay, but I need to see what they’re doing or what’s going on. I wanna see!

Until Dawn Connections. I was very annoyed to see that it was its own movie and was not following the game’s storyline. I feel like they could have called this something else and not be related to the game at all. It’s not even in the same spirit of the game, no matter how they try to get you with the stinger at the end, or all of the “callbacks”. The gas station is called “Hartleys” which is Chris’ last name. Nina’s last name is Riley, which is Jess’ last name. There are even nods to The Quarry in the movie. There are two big callbacks at the end that made me so upset. It could have been part of Supermassive’ s stories but not Until Dawn itself.

Overall, I thought Until Dawn was fine but not great? There was a lot more about it that I didn’t like compared to what I did like. I tried to make sure I gave it a fair shake even with it not being a straight adaptation of the game. I still really think they should have just adapted the game but expanded on certain aspects more and make some changes but not like this. I thought the acting across the board was good and the characters were fine. There were some good moments of tension. Some of the deaths were fun. But I do think they didn’t go far enough with their choices. The characters needed more fleshed-out personalities, the story was just okay when the original story is so good. There weren’t lasting consequences and the actual game callbacks just frustrated me.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars.

I mean, it’s not that I don’t recommend Until Dawn but if you’re a fan of the game, go into it with low expectations. If you like teen horror movies, then it could work for you? I don’t know lol. I enjoyed myself overall, but I couldn’t help but be disappointed even with little expectations.

But if you saw the movie and are unfamiliar with the game, I recommend you watch a playthrough. Both below are with no commentary and the “best endings”.

Until Dawn Original

Until Dawn REMAKE