Genre(s) – Horror
Directors – David F. Sandberg
Writers – Gary Dauberman and Blair Butler
Cast – Ella Rubin, Michael Cimino, Odessa A’zion, Ji-young Yoo, Belmont Cameli, Maia Mitchell, Peter Stormare
Runtime – 103 Minutes
My Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐☆☆☆☆☆
Sometimes a dumb horror movie is really fun…but only sometimes.
I went into watching Until Dawn with hope. Not high hopes, mind you. Just regular, middle-of-the-road hopes – the kind of hope you reserve for a video game movie that might actually be fun, if not necessarily good.
And for about ten minutes, I was fine….
Plot Summary of Until Dawn (Spoiler-Free)
The basic setup of Until Dawn follows Clover Paul, who goes on a trip with a group of friends to retrace the last known steps of her sister Melanie, who disappeared a year prior. The location? A creepy, remote area near a ghost town called Glore Valley.
The group is your standard horror movie crew with the usual genre suspects – a weird gas station, unsettling locals, and a feeling that maybe they should turn around. But nope, they head straight into the heart of the problem.
Once they reach the abandoned mining town, things start to go sideways quickly. The atmosphere is off, the storm has passed, and the group starts finding strange symbols and journal entries that hint at some sort of supernatural curse. Then the deaths begin – only for time to rewind each time someone dies. They’re stuck in a time loop, reliving the same night over and over, with new horrors each time.
What could be an opportunity to explore different timelines, relationships, and character growth becomes more of a repetitive trial-and-error loop with a few monsters thrown in.
Until Dawn Review: Is It Worth Watching?
Until Dawn is a 5/10 film that thinks it’s an 8/10 film. It wants to be smart and scary, but mostly it ends up being loud and confusing. It’s got some half decent horror moments, a fun premise, and just enough madness to keep you curious. But it also suffers from a lack of focus, annoying characters, and a loop mechanic that wears out its welcome by the third repetition.
The film does start fairly strong, though. You get all the classic horror setups with some decent cinematography and atmosphere brooding. Nothing groundbreaking, but it’s effective. The abandoned mining town is creepy enough, the sound design has some weight to it, and the pacing is brisk early on. You’re thinking, “Hey, maybe this won’t suck.”
Then the loop happens.
At first, this is quite intriguing. Characters die in gruesome ways, time resets, and they try to make different decisions. But then it does it again. And again. And again. And suddenly, it just becomes a crutch. The tension starts to evaporate. Why care about someone dying if you know they’ll be back in five minutes?
The big hourglass visual that appears every reset feels like a screensaver, and it’s trying so hard to be dramatic, but it just made me laugh after a while. And as the film tries to escalate the threat, it weirdly doesn’t. You’d think by the final loop they’d be battling a dozen different monsters in a full-blown showdown. Nope. It stays mostly the same, just with slightly different monsters each time.
Character-wise? These people suck. Clover is the only one with anything resembling emotional weight, and even she starts to wear thin. Everyone else is either a walking stereotype or the kind of person you want to see trip over nothing and get dragged off by whatever creature is lurking. Dialogue is clunky, jokes fall flat, and the emotional moments feel incredibly forced.
That said, there are a few bright spots. Some of the kills are fun, a couple creature designs are impressive, and there are flashes of what this movie could have been.
Until Dawn is one of those films that lands somewhere between frustrating and fascinating. It has all the ingredients of something good and a lot of fun, but none of the discipline. It wants to do too much, with too little character development or narrative structure to back it up.
What I liked (And What I Didn’t Like)
Pros
The Premise
Time loops in horror movies is a pretty a solid idea. The concept of being trapped in the same nightmare night after night, trying to find a way out, is actually a great horror setup. It creates tension, opens the door for multiple story paths, and allows for creative kills and scenarios. The idea here is strong. It’s just the follow-through that drops the ball.
A Few Memorable Deaths
Say what you want about the plot, but a couple of those deaths were fun. It’s these few moments where the film shines – when it leans into the absurdity and stops trying to be clever.
Some Creature Design
While the movie has monster ADD, a few of the designs actually look pretty solid. The Wendigos in particular had that sinewy, twitchy horror quality that worked. If they’d picked one or two creatures and really focused on them, this could’ve been an impressive monster flick.
Not Boring (Much)
Okay, this one’s a bit of a stretch, but hear me out. Even though the movie is repetitive and messy, it’s not boring. Things are constantly happening. People are dying, screaming, running, and respawning. You might be frustrated, but at least it keeps moving.
Cons
Repetition Kills the Tension
The first time the loop resets, it’s interesting. The second time, you’re still with it. By the fourth? You’re wondering if the movie is ever going to move forward. There’s only so many times you can watch the same setup and fake-out deaths before it becomes a chore.
The Characters Are Unbearable
There’s no nice way to say it: most of the characters are annoying as hell. They’re either whining, yelling, or making baffling decisions. And when they do die, you don’t feel anything because they’re written like they’re in a parody sketch, not an actual story.
The Loop Mechanic Feels Like a Gimmick
Instead of being used as a way to explore character growth or build suspense, the time loop becomes a lazy way to undo mistakes. It resets everything so nothing really matters. There’s no build, no consequence, and no real payoff.
It’s Way Too Serious for Its Own Good
This movie needed to lean into the camp, a bit like Fear Street: Prom Queen does. It has moments that border on ridiculous, but instead of embracing the chaos, it tries to pull it all together with overwrought emotional scenes that just don’t work. You can’t have exploding deaths and then give me a heartfelt monologue two minutes later.
Zero Character Development
You’d think a time loop would allow the characters to grow and evolve, but not here. They just keep making the same mistakes with slightly more panic. There’s no arc, no lessons learned, just a cycle of stupidity.
Who Might Like Until Dawn
If you’re a fan of the original game, there might be some novelty here for you. It tries to keep the vibe of interactive horror storytelling, and if you’re not too concerned with plot coherence, it could be a fun ride. Fans of creature features, jump scares, or chaotic horror flicks might find enough to enjoy. And if you like horror movies where logic takes a backseat and everything is about the spectacle, it might be worth a watch.
Who Might Dislike Until Dawn
Anyone who values character development, narrative cohesion, or horror movies that make sense will probably hate this. And if you were hoping for a smart, faithful adaptation of a beloved game? Yeah, lower those expectations fast.
Final Verdict: Did I Enjoy Watching Until Dawn?
Here’s the thing: I didn’t hate watching it. I was annoyed, sure. But I wasn’t miserable. Sometimes, a horror movie can be fun even when it’s a mess. Until Dawn falls into that category.
It had promise. It had moments. But it didn’t come together. It wanted to be smart horror, but it played like an interactive TikTok story with too many monsters and not enough sense. I kept watching because I wanted to see where it went, but I never really cared about anyone or anything happening.
So yeah, I gave it a 5/10. Not the worst thing I’ve seen, It’s a half decent background watch if you’re hanging out with friends and want something chaotic and loud. Go in expecting nonsense, and you might actually enjoy yourself.
Until Dawn Trailer
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