Until Dawn (dir. David F. Sandberg)

By: Lara Matariyeh

David Sandberg’s Until Dawn (2025) sets out to be a shocking, gory, and unique horror film loosely based on the Until Dawn gameplay. The film strays far from the original source material, a move that is likely to upset fans of the game. The main character Clover, played by Ella Rubin, is accompanied by her close friends as she desperately tours the last few spots her sister Melanie– portrayed in flashbacks by Maia Mitchell (Teen Beach Movie, Hot Summer Nights)-- was seen, searching for any sign of Melanie’s location. When the group comes across an ominous house stranded in the middle of nowhere, wandering inside to discover a notebook with dozens of signatures scribbled inside, they realize there might be more to the house than they originally believed. While the new storyline isn’t anything extraordinary, don’t immediately rule out watching this adaptation altogether. 

Unfortunately, there are numerous aspects of the film that can draw many potential viewers away from watching. Firstly, the acting and dialogue are poorly done, and the writing isn’t anything special. The themes of eternal friendship and the persistence of not leaving anyone behind can be overdone and irritating, and the attempt to modernize the 2015 video game story into a modern film by including Gen-Z language that comes across as ridiculous. By no means is this film a masterpiece; it’s another cliche horror film with violence, gore, and the common found-family trope, but that’s exactly what makes it so fun.  

Despite falling far short of  being spectacular, Until Dawn is bloody, eerie, and at times, quite unpredictable. Many of the creatures and scares throughout the film are unexpected, and a lot of the time the SFX is grotesque and shocking, making viewers want to cringe away while being simultaneously unable to rip their eyes from the screen. It can be disgusting, and it certainly doesn’t try to hold itself back in that regard. The characters make absurd decisions and can definitely be aggravating, but that’s just like any other horror film, where viewers plead for the characters to make the right choice while secretly hoping they won’t. 

Target Score 5/10- Until Dawn won’t pave the way for horror films to come, and it isn’t perfect, but the fact that it’s entertaining can be considered enough of a reason to watch. For those searching for a gross, campy horror to laugh and scream at with a group, they will likely find what they’re hunting for here. Regardless of its reliance on typical horror tropes and elements, the film is still fun, which is one of its few redeeming qualities and, arguably, one of the main  reasons audiences continue to seek into this genre.