Until Dawn (2025)

NO SPOILER UNTIL DAWN OVERVIEW

On a warm spring day in 2016 I cracked open a hoppy-but-fancy IPA with a VooDoo Donuts inspired name and popped a new-ish horror survival game, Until Dawn, into my brand new PS4. The sun set outside my downtown apartment window and the room darkened naturally as I became immersed into choosing my character’s outcomes in the game and freaking out when they went poorly. I screeched at jump scares so many times my roommate texted me to make sure I was alright. Despite enjoying the game I didn’t finish that play through, too distracted by the business of life. Over the next few years I restarted and played many times, finally finishing the game as it gained more popularity. I even eventually played what has been called the quote-unquote “spiritual successor” to Until Dawn titled The Quarry after it released in 2022. Between those 2 games, 2 official sequels to Until Dawn released, Rush of Blood in 2016 and The Inpatient in 2018, both virtual reality (VR) games first released onto the PlayStation 4 game console.

I first saw the trailer for Until Dawn (2025) when I went to see The Monkey in February and I had serious doubts, worried it would too unserious and choppy without a good guiding narrative. While the game felt like it lived within the concept I wasn’t convinced that this spin on the concept could form a whole narrative to carry an hour and a half length film. Between the first game and The Quarry, 2 official sequels to Until Dawn released, Rush of Blood in 2016 and The Inpatient in 2018, both virtual reality (VR) games first released onto the PlayStation 4 game console. The characters players had come to love through multiple play throughs that revealed new outcomes and endings became more associated with Until Dawn than the other 2 games. Repeated play throughs let game players try to outsmart the bad endings and avoid the deaths of favorite characters, becoming a popular streamed horror game. Creators and gamers reacted to and streamed the game alike, reaching an audience beyond the gaming and horror communities.

Hill, known from the games as The Analyst who guides players through the game, is in the feature film returning fairly early on. If you hadn't played the game and just plan to watch the movie I'd recommend going in mostly blind. While obvious in the horror-trope department the story has unexpected moments and scares that I didn't expect in part because I hadn't played the game in a long time and forgotten details. I think there's a ton that draws back to the game, even just silent, music light moments with a first person POV camera angle and a pause like the character is choosing between 2 options like they would in the game. We also hear a lot about their decision making similar to how playing Until Dawn goes, assessing which choices will save you or kill you with very limited knowledge or understanding of the entire situation. I plan to watch this again when it's out on streaming but if I like it as much as I did the first time I think it will be one I put on frequently.

SPOILER FILLED UNTIL DAWN REVIEW

I love that we jump right in with a car ride to the destination at the core of the plot, Glore Valley. We’re immediately introduced to our harbinger trope, a gas station attendant, Hill, that remarks to Clover, our main character, that many people go missing on their way towards the mining town. He remarks this after she shows him a photo of her sister, Melanie, who went missing the year prior and sent a video from the gas station the group has stopped at. Aside from Clover inside the gas station her group includes her ex-boyfriend, Max, her best friends Nina and Megan along with Nina’s new boyfriend, Abe. Their close knit group is committed to sticking together to help Clover find closure and acceptance that her sister is most likely dead.

The attendant having given them the clue about Glore Valley the group takes off down the road with no plan but straight ahead. On their way they hit a crazy rain storm and Abe can no longer see where his car is going until they pass through a wall where the rain just stops. Inside this wall of the storm it continues to rage on in a circle around them that borders a clearing in the forest around a visitors center. This is such a cool way to differentiate between the 2 realities that builds on the horror and mystery equally. The group is shook about the anomaly of weather but way less shook than I would’ve been, opting to go inside the visitor center rather than do their best on the rained out forest road that leads back to town.

The center is a time capsule for the 80’s, with no modern technology and a lack of cell service in the area. The group members split up to investigate as the sun sets; Clover going to look for her sister at the road where the rain wall begins, her ex goes after her, Nina signs the creepy guest book in the main room after noting the weird sand timer on the wall, Megan goes to the restroom, and Abe discovers a wall of Missing Person posters. The first night goes by rather quickly and plays out like a typical horror movie following young adults in the woods. A big, deformed and masked man with a pickaxe kills them one by one, slicing Abe in half and killing the others while they try to hide in the basement of the center.

Rather than dying however like other horror movies these characters re-spawn into the moment the night began, when the hourglass mechanism on the wall switched on and flipped over. Characters they interact with during the night start to say things to them that leads them to believe that the main thing they need to do to survive is make it to dawn. With the clear goal in mind they approach the nights differently, deciding the first night to look for any clues only to discover their own Missing Persons posters have been added to the back wall and that they can be dangerous to one another when Megan becomes possessed and then has her neck snapped the second night.

The group is committed to making it together, all of them or as many as possible, but it’s clear that Clover survives the longest and plays a more central role in the night than the others. Abe and Nina’s relationship proves tenuous early on, made clear early on that Nina is apt to always be in a relationship. Nina chooses to wound him the second night when he suggests they leave her friends and he traps her in the car and proceeds to try to drive off on the third night after Clover is yeeted out of the front door into a newly appeared broken down house. Arguing that they can go get help Abe and Nina barely make it down the forest road in the storm, stopped by the sight of a giant heading right for them. I appreciated that the film answered the question of why they wouldn’t just drive out of there since there are no issues with Abe’s car.

It becomes clear to the group that they cannot run or hide from this night after they attempt to barricade themselves in the bathroom. Harmlessly Abe drinks a glass of water in the barricaded bathroom and the others share in this delight. Unfortunately for them the water in the town is contaminated post-accident and causes them to literally combust after consuming it. Later in the movie this is used by a character to self exit and by another to kill someone else—a cool plot tool introduced early on as just another horrible night for the group.

We time jump at the conclusion of the fourth night and the characters wake up on the thirteenth night, unaware that the last eight-ish nights occurred at all. I was confused alongside the characters as they pieced together the puzzle of nights five through twelve. Abe remembers he had resolved to film messages to share with future iterations of the group and checks his phone to find a random collection of video clips. The clips detail the nights we skipped past and we watch a handful to show some of the things the group faced including a bug-like creature that plays hide and seek in Clover’s face and I was immediately thankful they didn’t intend for audiences to sit through each night over and over.

Some aspects were obvious, unhidden hints at the core story like the book having chunks of equal length of each new signature that hints at a maximum number of attempts to survive the night. Another hint appeared during their third night while the group searched the underground visitors’ center and Nina opened what would be the front doors into an underground tunnel system. This felt like a clear confirmation that the whole town is underground and that it resembles the original town’s layout. It’s brushed off as a moment of levity as Nina closes the doors and jokes she wants nothing to do with that corridor but it felt like a missed opportunity for a relatively smart group to solve the mystery of the night and thus the circumstances they’re in. It was clear that we needed to see more story before jumping to the end and it’s possible that meant to symbolize not making a choice that seems too obvious in a horror game.

Despite understanding why that was included I almost wished they would’ve not opened the door and revealed that to the audience prior to them going down it. I think it could’ve been chalked up to everyone in the group thinking someone else had checked the underground door and just ignored it in their panicked daze. While watching the scenes between that and them deciding to go down the tunnel I was more distracted. I found it harder to get into the horror of the individual moments when I knew they would face a dead end of some sort since it didn’t entail them going down the obvious tunnel. Aside from that middle portion while you wait for them to catch up with your knowledge of the situation I found the beginning and end really engaging and fun to watch. I liked learning about the characters, their thoughts and feelings, and wanted them to succeed at the end. That being said I did like the outcome and found the call backs to other scenes good nods and finishing moments to top the film off. I don't want to spoil too much about this movie because I think it feeling clever came from me not knowing too much going into it.