UNTIL DAWN

***

Directed by David F. Sandberg.

Starring Ella Rubin, Michael Cimino, Odessa A’zion, Peter Stormare, Maia Mitchell, Belmont Cameli, J-young Yoo.

Horror, USA,103 mins, Certificate 15

Released in cinemas in the UK on 25th April by Sony Pictures Releasing

There’s a strong horror pedigree behind UNTIL DAWN, starting with its origins as a 2015 PlayStation game written by Larry Fessenden and Graham Reznick. Fessenden, of course, is among the standout genre practitioners of the last two decades, overseeing Glass Eye Pix, whose often excellent output includes valuable contributions from sound designer / writer / actor Reznick. Director David F. Sandberg has successfully divided his feature career between efficient jump scare-laden chillers like LIGHTS OUT and ANNABELLE: CREATION, and the amiable SHAZAM! movies - the second of which incorporated neat nods to Italian horror. And screenwriter Gary Dauberman, adapting the game with THE INVITATION’s Blair Butler, has had a major hand in the CONJURING universe and the blockbusting 2017 / 2019 adaptations of Stephen King’s IT. 

Released a few months after the remake of the game debuted on PlayStation 5 and Windows and carrying over a key actor (reliably bonkers Peter Stormare) to reprise his role, the cinematic UNTIL DAWN is inventively shot by Alexandre Aja’s regular cinematographer Maxime Alexandre and scored by IT’s Benjamin Wallfisch, both lending it atmosphere and class where it might otherwise be lacking. The challenge the movie faces is to adapt a game that, by design, was an interactive means of resurrecting teen horror cliches. Returning to film form means a familiar array of LOUD physical jolts punctuated by the most generic dialogue going:

“Is anyone getting a signal?!”

“Are we gonna do some kind of ritual?”

An evocative introductory shot of our protagonists’ on the road is framed by the egg-timer that will drive much of the narrative. The characters are not burdened with too much in the way of personality. Heroine Clover (Ella Rubin), her ex Max (Michael Cimino) and friends (Odessa A’zion, Ji-young Yoo and Belmont Cameli) are on a trip to find Clover’s missing, presumed-dead sister Melanie (Maia Mitchell). They stop off at the kind of foreboding gas station that already seemed a cliché when the doomed teens of THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE wandered on to its well-worn forecourt. It’s occupied by Stormare, relishing another weirdo role as Dr. Hill – while sharp eyed fans will notice a picture of Rami Malek in his UNTIL DAWN game role (John Washington) on his wall. They all end up in the mining town of Glove Valley, cut off by a storm, and taking refuge at the local visitor centre, where a wall of missing person posters does not bode well.

The novelty of the game’s riff on genre tropes is that the interchangeable young folks are gruesomely bludgeoned, bisected, smashed, stabbed, etc. by a masked slasher far earlier than we might expect…before the egg-timer in the building resets and they have to face further threats (and gruesome deaths) while figuring out how to survive until dawn. Since the game’s debut, of course, we’ve seen a cluster of time-loop slashers, including Christopher Landon’s fabulous HAPPY DEATH DAY duo and last years’ TIME CUT – all of which knowingly nod to GROUNDHOG DAY, while linking back to much older pictures like Ealing’s immortal DEAD OF NIGHT (1945). The dialogue acknowledges the debt with a throwaway line: “There’s been a bunch of movies like that!”

As a horror movie destined for future shrieky slumber parties, UNTIL DAWN is perfectly fine. Sandberg enthusiastically and regularly delivers the kind of splashy gore set pieces that, not so long ago, would have undoubtedly been slapped with a big red “18” certificate (and probably censored, too) in the U.K. In between scenes of the characters arguing about whether to stick together, look for help, etc., the fright buttons of modern teen horror are pushed with enough zest to keep it fun. There’s an old-school slasher, a creepy old witch-woman whose face rots off while warning “Suffer until Hell opens up”, spooky mannequins, a POLTERGEIST-esque clown doll in a rocking chair and nods to MY BLOODY VALENTINE in the backstory of the mining disaster that swallowed up houses and permanently scarred the community. 

The creature and make-up effects (including an enjoyable Wendigo cameo) are nicely executed, with a remarkable series of “didn’t we all drink the water…?” full body explosions helping to distract from the inevitable repetition of the story. The dialogue is, intentionally, on the level of comic book speech bubbles (“Was that, like, a for-real witch?!”) and entirely in keeping with the unpretentious, playful nature of the whole enterprise. 

Steven West