Venturing into a forest in search of her sister, Clover and her friends get stuck in a small clearing of trees. They are hunted once the sun sets, only to be killed and ‘wake up’ right before the sun sets to do it all again. Their only way out is to survive till the sun rises, until dawn.
While “Until Dawn” is based on the video game by the same name, there are some very obvious differences. Some that are very quick to notice would be the change in location, characters, and their reason for being there.
Instead of going to a ski lodge up in the mountains, they are in the middle of a forest in a valley. And instead of going to this location to mourn the death of a friend, one is there to search for her sister, while the other four are there to help her move on.
Most of the characters are different from those in the game. In the movie, we follow five friends, Clover (Ella Rubin), Abel (Belmont Cameli), Max (Michael Cimino), Nina (Odessa A’zion), and Megan (Ji-young Yoo). While in the game, there are eight of them: Ashley Brown, Christopher Hartley, Emily Davis, Jessica Riley, Joshua Washington, Matthew Taylor, Michael Munroe, and Samantha Giddings. The one character that is in both the movie and the game is Dr. Hill, played by Peter Stormare in the movie.
The movie had some really cool special effects. The gore in the movie was very well done and quite frightening at points. Especially the monsters, the makeup on them was frightening.
There are also specific points in the movie where it felt a lot like “The Blair Witch.” They included a few scenes shot in first person, though most of it was third person.
The movie truly lived up to the genre of horror. I’d highly recommend it for both those familiar and those unfamiliar with the game. You don’t need prior knowledge of the franchise to fully understand the movie. There are pieces that only those who know the game might catch, but it won’t affect someone’s enjoyment of it. Worth the watch.