No assembly RequireD

The purpose of a video game, outside of pure entertainment, is to defeat said game. To finish all the missions if you will and grow stronger as the game goes on. Its an obvious statement to make that as the game goes on it will grow increasingly harder and yet your skillset will hopefully get better and more insightful. UNTIL DAWN the latest game to screen adaptation is anything but this, a film that neither grows increasingly stronger as it goes along or requires either the intelligence of its characters or audiences to become more in tune. Some may say then this is the perfect “turn your brain off” kind of movie and while those are exciting UNTIL DAWN lacks any coherency throughout its runtime feeling like a film more hellbent on just existing than actually forming anything of value. A story where the day repeats over and over again doesn’t bode well when you feel the weight of every day not because of the tension but rather the boredom. A video game adaptation where you’d rather succumb to your wounds and hopefully never respawn.

Clover (Ella Rubin) is looking for answers and knows the disappearance of her older sister Melanie (Maia Mitchell) holds a dangerous truth. Along this mysterious journey with her are friends Megan (Ji-young Yoo), Max (Michael Cimino), Nina (Odessa A’zion) as well as Nina’s new douchebag boyfriend Abe (Belmont Cameli). It’s a ragtag team of relatively fresh young faces that one can already tell are our pigs to the slaughter. There is a strong sense of past comradery between the group even if the actors all feel disjointed in their chemistry. Directed by David F. Sandberg (Shazam, Lights Out, Annabell: Creation) seems to be having fun with his young cast in their on the nose horror stereotypes. In fact most of the early half of the film plays into this trope in a way that builds excitement in a hopeful meta sense. The gang quickly finds themselves at a mysterious bed and breakfast on the outskirts of an already off the beaten path town. The film wants us to know early on that it is going to follow the usual path of teenagers entering a haunted house and the madness that ensues. It may seem all so familiar and yet admirable to let us know that the film is also in on the joke. Every character makes the eye roll but hysterical decision to separate and search out the house. And while it may seem like a spoiler (it really isn’t) it doesn’t take long for all five of them to wind up dead. Thankfully (or not) the house and a mysterious hour glass brings them all right back into the house alive even if a little banged up. Those familiar with the Until Dawn game may feel disconnect right away with the movie setting up an entirely new storyline and gimmick yet videogames in themselves are all about coming back to life. The film succeeds in that idea playfully enjoying what makes video games so fun. But Sandberg and crew never fully earn this exciting premise. One character assumes its all like groundhog day but when we learn that while the day may repeat itself the horrors do not the film finds itself mixed on its own ideas.

UNTIL DAWN suffers greatly from the idea that this is a horror film hellbent on rarely having just that; horror. Most of the film wants us to rely heavily on the charisma of its cast and their lack of teamwork. It doesn’t work if anything seeing them spend time apart gives the film some breathing room. Outside of a deadpan witty Odessa A’zion the rest of the cast just feels reminiscent of 80’s slashers where we are given an often forgettable cast. The difference here though is that those 80’s cast had an exciting film to back them up. On top of that UNTIL DAWN seems to have an endless array of horror villains and monsters they can use and yet the film seems to have prolonged scenes settling for a rather tame axe wielding masked entity. As the film grows its cabinet of curiosities does expand but when channeling a video game that is all about different tasks and levels the film stays all to grounded. While the film does find an intriguing way to show the many days the characters have spent in the house it feels less like innovation and more like a way to excuse its lower budget and the feeling of a rushed production.

Video game adaptations may not be the most successful genre critically and even those that have made financial breakthroughs recently seem more of a hit due to Tiktok trends Minecraft, Super Mario Brothers) it’s a genre that could succeed with proper care. Video games are cinematic in their own right and action and or horror films do often hold characters trying to overcome many chapters or levels if you will. But for now if films like UNTIL DAWN get pushed out faster than the day changes then it will continue to show that these adaptions are nothing more than something you watch, you forget and eventually wind up at a GameStop bargain bin.

D

UNTIL DAWN WILL BE RELEASED IN THEATERS APRIL 25TH FROM SONY PICTURES