DON'T MISS DAVID F. SANDBERG'S 'UNTIL DAWN', NOW AVAILABLE ON DIGITAL AND COMING TO 4K UHD, BLU-RAY™, DVD JULY 8TH!
- Movie Scene Canada
- Jul 3
- 6 min read
From the director of Lights Out and Annabelle: Creation, don’t miss David F. Sandberg’s 'Until Dawn' – starring Ella Rubin and Michael Cimino.
NOW AVAILABLE ON DIGITAL
ON 4K ULTRA HD, BLU-RAY™ & DVD JULY 8
CAST AND CREW:
Directed by: David F. Sandberg
Produced by: Asad Qizilbash, Carter Swan, David F. Sandberg, Lotta Losten, Roy Lee, Gary Dauberman, Mia Maniscalco
Screen Story by: Blair Butler and Gary Dauberman
Screenplay by: Gary Dauberman and Blair Butler
Executive Producers: Charles Miller, Hermen Hulst
Cast: Ella Rubin, Michael Cimino, Odessa A’zion, Ji-young Yoo, Belmont Cameli, Maia Mitchell and Peter Stormare
SYNOPSIS:
One year after her sister Melanie mysteriously disappeared, Clover and her friends head into the remote valley where she vanished in search of answers. Exploring an abandoned visitor center, they find themselves stalked by a masked killer and horrifically murdered one by one…only to wake up and find themselves back at the beginning of the same evening. Trapped in the valley, they’re forced to relive the night again and again - only each time the killer threat is different, each more terrifying than the last. Hope dwindling, the group soon realizes they have a limited number of deaths left, and the only way to escape is to survive until dawn.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
BLU-RAY™, DIGITAL & DVD EXTRAS
Deleted & Extended Scenes
Adapting a Nightmare - Join David F. Sandberg (Dir / Prod) and Gary Dauberman (Writer / Prod) as they explore the inspirations behind the film, the fun of genre-switching and how they expanded the universe of the game.
Death-Defying Cast - Dying over and over never felt so good – meet the fearless, game-for-anything cast as they attempt to survive Until Dawn.
Practical Terrors - From wendigos to exploding bodies, Director David F. Sandberg knows the value of practical effects – and how those prosthetics, props, and blood elicit a more authentic reaction from the cast.
Commentary with Director David F. Sandberg & Producer Lotta Losten
REVIEW BY: Darren Zakus // 3 OUT OF 5 STARS
Until Dawn offers up some great kill sequences as director David F. Sandberg returns to the horror genre, dipping his toes into different horror subgenres to make an effective time loop horror film based on the popular PlayStation video game, even despite the shortcomings of the film’s screenplay.
David F. Sandberg started his feature film directorial career in the horror genre with the criminally underrated Lights Out starring Teresa Palmer, before moving into the Conjuring Universe with Annabelle: Creation, giving the iconic and terrifying doll that skin crawling horror movie she deserved. After that, he moved into the superhero genre with the Shazam! films, but he is returning back to his roots within the horror genre for the latest video game adaptation. Based on the popular PlayStation survival horror game Until Dawn, Sandberg’s newest film expands the universe of the game with an original story that follows the same premise of the video game, offering up lots of horror goodness. Taking advantage of its quick pacing and packing in lots of scares, gore and kill sequences, Sandberg and writers Gary Dauberman and Blair Butler deliver an entertaining horror film even if it does not fully capitalize on the setup it does in the first two acts due to a rushed conclusion that ties everything up too neatly in the final act.
Time loop films are nothing new to moviegoers, not even in the horror franchise thanks to popular films like Happy Death Day and Donnie Darko, but what Until Dawn does with the plot device feels fresh. Following a group of young people who find themselves trapped in a time loop with the only way to escape it is to survive until dawn, Sandberg, Dauberman and Butler deliver endless kill sequences with our protagonists being brutally killed, causing the night to reset. With each reset, the town of Glore Valley that the protagonists find themselves trapped in expands and the mythology around the town’s history continues to deepen, furthering the mystery of why these individuals are stuck in a time loop and the horrors that chase them. And, instead of repeating the same style of kills with each reset, the creative team jumps between different horror subgenres. Some nights, its masked psycho killers chasing our protagonists as the film dips its toes into the slasher subgenre, while other times it is witches, zombies or infections, keeping the audience on their toes as you never know what is going to kill our main characters next.
Over the first two acts, Dauberman and Butler do a wonderful job developing the world of the film and the lore of Glore Valley, ensuring that not only are viewers having fun with the endless kill sequences, but becoming fully invested in the film’s central mystery. However, when the film enters its third act, that sense of intrigue quickly fades and its flaw begins to show. Due to the time constraints of the film’s runtime, after skipping over nights five through twelve, showing them in a brief montage, the writers set the stage for night thirteen to be the big showdown between the protagonists and the villainous Dr. Alan J. Hill, but it all feels rushed. The explanation for what is happening and the significance of Glore Valley is quickly glossed over, instead moving rapidly through the events of that night to tie up all the loose plot threads. While doing so, everything is cleaned up so neatly and without any real consequences for the character, giving a sanitized and too happy of an ending that feels tonally off given the grim first two acts, rendering Until Dawn merely a decent horror film rather than a great one. With the recent success that PlayStation Studios has had with adapting The Last of Us for television, it truly seems like Until Dawn would have benefited from a similar format allowing one episode per night to fully realize the narrative potential that the screenplay had.
Even with the narrative shortcomings of the film’s final act, the film never fails to entertain, and this is largely thanks to Sandberg’s direction. Having worked within the horror genre previously with relatively small budgets, Sandberg knows how to do more with less thanks to his emphasis on lighting, practical effects and makeup and prosthetics work. It is this creative work that ensures that Until Dawn delivers all the chills, jump scares and gory deaths that viewers have come for. Fully embracing it’s R rating, each night is full of impressive makeup and prosthetics work to bring to life the horrors chasing down the protagonists, relying heavily on practical effects to make the deaths feel real and more grueling, and never shying away from copious amounts of blood to makes viewers squirm. This allows for the slasher kills to be brutally violent, the witch moments to be unsettling to say the least, and for that third night deaths to easily take the crown for the most shocking and entertaining kill sequence of the entire film, never for a second failing to deliver what viewers have come for.
Being a small horror film, there are only a handful of actors outside of all the stunt performers who bring to life all the killers and monsters that terrorize our protagonists, and the main cast isn’t bad. While they are largely held back by the film’s script which is cheesy and fairly bland at times, the cast tries to inject the film with life. Ella Rubin, Michael Cimino and Odessa A’zion are dependable in the roles of Clover, Max and Nina, giving the film strong leads, though it is Belmont Cameli who stood out as Abe, the outsider to the friend group not afraid to speak the truth and has some great one liners. Reprising his role from the video game is Peter Stormare as Dr. Hill, effortlessly capturing the calculating doctor observing our protagonists and leading them like lambs to slaughter, giving the film a worthy central villain.
For those looking for a harmless horror film full of solid kills and some genuine thrills, Until Dawn offers exactly that in spades. Expanding the universe of the popular video game with an original story, albeit one that never fully capitalizes on the fascinating world building in the first two acts, this time loop horror film has lots to offer fans while leaving the door open for a sequel tackling the story of the original video game. Under the talented direction of David F. Sandberg who knows exactly how to deliver gruesomely entertaining deaths to bring to life the horror madness of the screenplay, Until Dawn is without question a fun horror film that boasts strong practical effects, makeup and prosthetic design that allows the film to blend together different horror subgenres, even if the screenplay ties everything up too cleanly in a very rushed manner.
(Poster/Photo/Video credit: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment)
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