Until Dawn, a movie that is a mis-mash of multiple genres.

Until Dawn is Movie adaptation of another popular game I have not played so I do not know if I am the best person to blog about this movie but regardless I am going to.

Because of course

Now I shall begin by saying that this movie is not very good in terms of how satisfying and entertaining of a watch this is, however, the movie has a very simple very interesting premise that it takes full advantage of.

Basically the movie explores a group of young adults on a trip to find the sister of one amongst the group.

This expedition leads them to a place called Glore Valley, a hotel like place up in the hills where a mining incident had destroyed the entire place, and now this place has been set up with a strange mechanical Hour Glass that resets the night every time the sand runs out.

Now, granted I have not played the game but, this seems like a very different premise from the game as that games entire premise is that you make choices that you cannot change and can lead to irreversible consequences much later, you know the butterfly effect.

But regardless this movie does have a version of that, because while every time the characters die, i.e. they do not make it "until dawn" they slowly start turning into a monster known as the Wendigo.

So basically this movie tries to recreate the feel of a player going through the whole experience from start to finish every time making different choices to see what works out.

And it uses this premise to it's full advantage, it has multiple character deaths and since they get revived every time they can get killed again and again in different ways.

And each time it represents a different horror movie trope, we have the classic Slasher, the supernatural possession plotline, witches, a remake of the old movie where a woman's tummy expands like a sudden pregnancy and then it explodes.... etc. etc.

The final stretches of the movie even goes into found footage style horror as it replays multiple nights that it skipped over that were recorded by them... it shows that their memories are slowly eroding, also with every death more and more of the town reveals itself, so in a sense they are becoming a part of that disaster.

Now, while the movie uses this premise in an amazing way, I can see how some people will get turned off by it as "rewind time" is pretty much the opposite of "your choices are irreversible" and "the butterfly effect".

Speaking of the Butterfly effect there is a psychiatrist watching over these young adults just like in the games, a deranged psychiatrist known only as Dr. Hill, who for eagle eyed viewers appears in the film before the end villain monologue as the store owner who leads them to Glore Valley by name dropping and implying that clover's missing sister Melanie might have gone there.

But the disappointing thing is, he comes there and then dies, there is no overwhelming presence like in the games, where he explains the butterfly effect to them.

And the butterfly effect is reduced in the movie in other ways because while it uses it's "time rewind" premise geniusly, the fact that the day resets makes every death feel that much more insignificant, it gives off the feeling that they just wanted a bunch of gory deaths and not suffer the consequences.

Gives a whole "have your cake and eat it too vibe" and the fact that they all get out in the end actually makes this problem worse, I mean I get that this is supposed to imply that the player finally got the "good" ending but this is a horror movie, or at least it's supposed to be, because the game is a Survival Horror game.

And for that purpose there is very little horror and more just, gory deaths.

Sad, since there are many ways they could have made this premise go sky high and they nearly did, but it seems now, that if there is a sequel planned to this, it will never make it, "until dawn".