I accept that Until Dawn was not the movie I wanted them to make. Ok, after I had a mild reaction and sulked for a week, I accepted it. Now that it’s on Netflix and I don’t have to pay to rent it, I thought I’d give it a try. The following is in the spirit of judging the movie on its own merits, not what I want it to be.

• Directed by: David F. Sandberg
• Written by: Gary Dauberman. Blair Butler
• Starring: Ella Rubin. Michael Cimino Odessa A’zion

The Characters

The good news is everyone in this movie is attractive and easy to watch. The bad news is these attractive people are pretty unlikable. They are, in no particular order: dumb, selfish, and careless.  Some of this may have been the script’s ill-timed attempts at humor. This movie really wants to be funny ant the wrong times.

On one hand, I get it. These characters are doing to “die” a lot, and that must be some level of enjoyable to watch. Adding a bit of imperfection to them makes it easier to keep watching. The downside is, I don’t really care. I’m not attached to any of these people or their struggles. When bad things happen, and they do, it’s largely because of their own poor choices. 

Which would be fine if the movie didn’t also punish smart decisions. Thematically, Until Dawn is all over the place. The characters keep repeating, “the only way to get through f&cked up shit is to stick together”. This doesn’t really play out in the script.  I think the real theme is in a line delivered by the always brilliant Peter Stormare: “You don’t survive by sitting still”. It’s echoed in a flashback later, but Stormare’s delivery is better. I do give Until Dawn credit for delivering on this theme.

The Deaths:

Since I know these characters are coming back to life, (thanks trailers!) all of this is just a cool effects demonstration. No mysteries are revealed in these murders, no hints given. We’re speed-running to get to the next night, the next set of deaths.

There are some cool elements, such as the way part of the town “unlock” after each set of deaths, and the effects on the deaths themselves.  When the movie does try to incorporate elements from the game, the way they chose to add them is at least visually interesting.

This movie really, really hates Megan though. She gets the worst deaths every time, from getting slowly bludgeoned to death against a floor, possessed, tortured then killed by spirits, to being slowly exploded bit-by-bit by toxic water. That last one was especially bad since everyone else drank the same water and died much quicker. Then she was dragged off by a wendigo. Others get violent but quick deaths. She’s the least offensive character, so don’t know what’s up with that.

Until Dawn is not a good movie. It’s a movie with a lot of good ideas that didn’t quite come together in a cohesive narrative. With challenging source material to pull inspiration from, it’s not surprising it didn’t quite work. The better question is, how could it be improved?

Yeah Ghoul? How Would You Fix It?

More Peter Stormare. Ok, I’m not just fanghouling. The role of the shrink running experiments on terror should have been more of the focus of the narrative. An all-too-human, but very evil, psychiatrist harnessing the power of a cursed town to study people is a cool concept.  It’s there in Until Dawn. I would just change how it’s presented to the audience.

Rather than introduce Hill as a random store employee who points them to the town, cut all that and just place them at the sister’s last known location, the inn.  He’s the inn owner, and the storm keeps them there overnight. Yes it’s a cliché, but so is everything else so far. The point right now is to get the action started quickly, because there is a LOT to get through.

Make Fear Matter

The first night, each one of the cast should be killed by something different and relevant to their own fears. Clover, the main character, should be the most intense and interesting; something to make Hill focus on her. She is the most troubled of the characters.

From there, the cast will realize they are stuck repeating the same night; They’re dying repeatedly to living manifestations of Clover’s fear and insecurities, all filtered through the lenses of the cursed town.  All the movie really needs to do is smooth over some of the logic.  Leaning into the supernatural means they can play faster and looser with logic. They want to use a mine location from the game? Great, the cursed town makes the next room a mine. How about an asylum? Done.  If a character is afraid of it, the town can make it happen, and that’s that. 

Does that have much to do with the game?  Kind of. Part of the game is an interview with Hill. It suggests that your fears and your choices are guiding the experience; that should be the core of the movie too. 

Would this be a better version of Until Dawn? Idk, but it would be a streamlined one and most importantly, it could play back to one of the core elements from the game: death is important and meaningful.

Final Thoughts

Until Dawn, the movie, was not as bad as I expected, which I get is not high praise. It’s overall a frustrating experience because of the immense potential in the concept. I won’t be watching this one again any time soon. But chances are good, that I’d give a sequel a try. If your looking for a bloody horror movie where you shouldn’t think too hard about it, Until Dawn is a pretty decent time. Those in search of elevated or heavily artistic horror might want to give this a pass.

Until Dawn is available on streaming