Until Dawn Mini Review
- Matt Hill
- Apr 25, 2025
- 2 min read
Runtime: 1h 43m Genre: Horror/Survival Release Date: 25th April 2025
Plot: One year after her sister's disappearance, Clover (Ella Rubin) and her friends find themselves trapped in a horror-filled time loop with new monstrosities visiting each night. Their only chance of survival is making it through the night alive.
Thoughts
Recently, Sony has been trying its hand at bringing some of its first-party titles to the big (and small) screen, to varying success. Naughty Dog's beloved The Last of Us became a streaming hit, whereas the Tom Holland-led Uncharted adaptation and Gran Turismo: Based on a True Story were entertaining enough, even if they didn't quite hit the mark.
Shifting its sights away from the major names, Sony decided to take a crack at horror with Supermassive Games' choose-your-own-adventure, Until Dawn. The game was well-received, and the central evolving tale was a fun time. The movie adaptation, however, has chosen to ignore the story and go its own direction with a fresh tale set within the same universe. But was it a wise decision?
Until Dawn wastes little time thrusting you into the action, introducing its cast of characters and their ties to each other early on, before pinning them down, and the blood-soaking deaths start flowing. The characters themselves are a strong enough group, with enough about them to keep you invested and hoping they can survive their unfortunate ordeal.
The nightmares themselves are entertaining and diverse, with a good helping of gruesome kills bolstered by rather tense scenes scattered throughout. It feels like a more horror-focused mash-up of Happy Death Day meets Cabin in the Woods (Though not quite as good).
There are a few inconsistencies within the rules the film establishes, and the tease of how this haunted location will affect people is never fully explored as much as you'd hope. The variety of horrors does a good job of keeping tensions high, but some deaths feel much more horrifying, whilst others start to feel corny in comparison, although, to be fair, they never feel out of place.
In a Nutshell
Until Dawn is a fun but flawed horror romp. The interchanging horrors keep things fresh, with a good amount of tension and fear packed in. Despite the entertaining premise and scares, the film's reveals and reasoning left me underwhelmed and wanting more.
3/5
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