Until Dawn review: Different setting, same psychological torture

In 2015, I remember sitting down with a group of my friends to play a new horror game called Until Dawn. That night, we ended up playing it for hours. Since then, it’s been something I have replayed countless times. It holds a special place in my heart, as it does for many fans. So, then, how does the 2025 movie adaptation from Sony Pictures hold up?

The answer is: It manages, in its own way.

Following a group of teens (Ella Rubin, Ji-young Yoo, Belmont Cameli, Michael Cimino, and Odessa A’zion) on a road trip searching for Clover’s (Rubin) missing sister, Mel (Maia Mitchell). Though the setup is nothing like the snowy backdrop of the game, it still holds its own eeriness, especially with how the new location is portrayed.

As seen in the trailer, our only tangible connection to the game is the gas station clerk, played by Peter Stormare. Though there is no clue that he’s reprising his role of Dr. Hill, the familiar voice that runs the psychiatry sessions in the game is a welcome addition.

Much like the game, fear is a leading motivator in the film: What drives us away, and what pushes us forward. It forces the group to confront all of this. In a refreshing twist from most teen slashers, they actually learn from their mistakes night after night, and they use that for their next attempts. We don’t see anybody making irrational decisions more than once, which I feel is one of the smart ways this film ties into the game. We can’t have a butterfly effect notification here, but we can still feel the ramifications.

One of the things the movie does well is turn it into a video game world of its own. All of the elements are there, and I even found myself wanting to play a game version of the film more than once while watching. You have multiple monsters, which means multiple ways to die and multiple new decisions to make.

As for the group, their dynamic was solid, but we just weren’t given enough to really feel ourselves rooted in their history and their conflicts. Unlike the game, we don’t really get any flashbacks to what happened before. Those are integral for this story, and their absence was definitely felt. However, the cast still worked well together, and they were all solid enough on their own not to draw any comparisons to the original game characters.

However, there are plenty of Easter eggs within the film, one of which made me audibly gasp. It’s those kinds of callbacks and homages that round out the story and the world, and open the audience up to not just people who have played the game, but people who simply love the genre.

The hourglass, a central piece on the game cover but not actually within the story itself, is made into its own character in this film. Seeing its physical presence every time the group resets is a sort of finite feeling on their own morality: Though they can keep resetting, their time isn’t unlimited, and their scars remain. It’s a clever addition to this adaptation, and how they handle the game’s multiple directions well.

Rubin and Ciminio hold the story on their shoulders, and though it’s a bit shaky at times, it manages to support itself through new and old twists. However, this is one of the few films where I wish that they had given us a longer run time.

We needed to learn more about the characters and their motivations and relationships, which suffered because we didn’t have the flashbacks we needed. The final act also felt a bit rushed, and there was so much in it that could have benefited from even just twenty more minutes.

Should you watch the Until Dawn film adaptation?

Until Dawn makes its own name within the genre while never fully forgetting its origin. It’s fun, it’s clever, and it’s gory.

But it’s far from perfect, especially when it comes to the characters’ backstories and the rushed third act. Nonetheless, as long as you go in expecting something that’s just inspired by the source material, you’ll have a great time. Plus, there are a few genuinely downright terrifying moments in there.

I hope this brings more people to discover the 2015 game, and, if they have but haven’t played it, to pick up a controller and immerse themselves in a snowy mountainscape. Who knows, there may be an Until Dawn 2 on the horizon.

Until Dawn is out now in cinemas. You can purchase tickets from Cineworld, Odeon and Vue in the UK, and AMC Theatres, Fandango and the Until Dawn website in the US.

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