'Until Dawn' Review: A Great Cinema Experience For Horror Fans
- Becca Johnson
- Apr 29
- 4 min read
By Becca Johnson - April 29, 2025
Directed by David F. Sandberg (Shazam!) and based on the horror survival game of the same name, Until Dawn is the newest video game to receive the big screen treatment.
Skewing away from the main storyline of the popular game, Until Dawn follows Clover (Ella Rubin) and her friends one year after her sisters disappearance. They head into the remote valley where she vanished in search of answers, but whilst exploring an abandoned visitor centre, they find themselves stalked by a masked killer and horrifically murdered one by one. That is, until they wake up and find themselves back at the beginning of the very same evening.
Boasting strong performances and an entertaining amount of scares, Until Dawn is a fun theatre experience, though the weak story prevents it from being much more than that.
The groundhog day gimmick is quite overused by this point, with the most obvious entry into the horror genre being the well-loved Happy Death Day and its sequel. However, Until Dawn attempts to put a spin on this familiar idea, which mostly pays off and undeniably provides entertainment. Although our cast of characters are reliving the same evening again and again, the threat becomes different each time. A masked killer and a witch are just two of the villains our crew have to face, with a new extraordinary way of dying being introduced at each cycle. Keeping things fresh and interesting for both our characters and us as viewers, Until Dawn ensures we can never fully settle into this story, as we never know what’s around the corner. Some of the ways of meeting their demise are inventive, and it has plenty of surprises in store.
Another win the groundhog day plot provides is plenty of horror to sink your teeth into. Where many other spooky flicks rely on a crazy third act to finally let loose and deliver the best of its scares, Until Dawn offers up something creepy and exciting near enough every ten-fifteen minutes. Every time our characters wake up and attempt to survive, something is just around the corner - it’s a relentless experience for Clover and her friends, which makes for a highly entertaining, fast-paced and fun watch for us as an audience.
The scares themselves are nothing special, as it’s overly reliant on jump-scares and we do get used to some of the villains as they appear more than once, but this doesn’t mean they aren’t menacing and freaky. With more than one fear-inducing sequence throughout the run-time, Until Dawn may not end up the scariest flick of the year, but certainly one of the most entertaining.
Our cast of characters here are nothing outside of the norm, and they do lack development within the script. It gives us little tidbits about one or two of them, but never takes the time to fully delve into them. They aren’t either overly smart or annoyingly dumb, wickedly funny or boring and plain - they’re just a likable if familiar group of young adults, perfect to pass the time with but not the most memorable. However, the performances ensure that we get the most from these characters, as the group boast great chemistry and we do have a slew of talent on offer here. Our main protagonist Clover is played well by Ella Rubin (Anora), who delivers quite an emotional turn as someone who has recently lost her mother and is desperate to find her missing sister. Another standout is Odessa A’zion (Hellraiser 2022) as Nina. Fans of the game will be excited to see Peter Stormare (Fargo) reprise his role as Dr. Alan Hill, and the further the run-time progresses, the bigger a part he plays. The cast are good.
It’s not the time-loop, missing sister story-line that lets Until Dawn down, but the overall explanation for what is happening and why. Avoiding third act spoilers, things become unnecessarily convoluted, with many ideas and explanations feeling ham-fisted in and not in keeping with the overall tone of the movie. There are plenty of easter eggs and fun nods to the game which work nicely, but many others that could’ve been missed out or left for perhaps a later installment into the franchise if it becomes one. It all gets a bit too info-dump and explain heavy once the true nature of the abandoned town comes to light. There are unfortunate weaknesses in the writing, including the aforementioned lack of character development, and a very surface level look into its themes of grief and loss.
Until Dawn is the perfect example of a popcorn horror flick. Entertaining and fun with a likable cast and back to back scares, what it lacks in the writing department, it certainly makes up for in the familiar yet comfortable groundhog day plot. It may not be the most memorable or have the most to say, but it’s a great cinema experience for horror fans.
Until Dawn is out now in cinemas
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