Movies

Until Dawn: A Risk Worth Taking in Film Adaptation

BBG News

In the realm of survival, outcomes are influenced by the choices we make. Each action has ripples that affect not only ourselves but also those around us. Sometimes, tough decisions need to be made for the best chance at staying alive. The results of such sacrifices can be either victorious or disastrous, and this is often subjective. This is the essence of Supermassive Games’ 2015 interactive horror survival game, Until Dawn. In it, players lead eight friends who find themselves trapped in a cabin on Blackwood Mountain during a memorial for a deceased friend, battling numerous horrors…until dawn.

The same challenges apply when transforming a video game into a movie or series, especially when altering the original content. The adaptation process necessitates difficult decisions, and the reactions of the audience to these choices can significantly impact not just the performance of the film or show but also the overall landscape of video game adaptations within a popular culture environment seeking both financial and critical success, as well as innovative methods to captivate audiences with established intellectual properties.

David Sandberg’s movie “Until Dawn,” produced by Screen Gems and PlayStation Productions, has garnered a mixed response from viewers due to its unique choices, combined with mediocre reviews and a relatively small opening weekend box office collection. However, given its intriguing plotline and enjoyable gameplay elements, it’s not wise to write off “Until Dawn” just yet. Despite the initial box office performance or production costs, this experiment in blending video game mechanics into cinema seems too compelling to ignore.

Cinematic origins

Instead of focusing on the storyline or personalities within the game, “Until Dawn” introduces us to a fresh circle of friends: Clover (played by Ella Rubin), Max (Michael Cimino), Nina (Odessa A’zion), Megan (Ji-young Yoo), and Abe (Belmont Cameli). They are on a quest to find Clover’s lost sibling, Melanie (Maia Mitchell), which leads them to an abandoned mining town named Glore Valley. Upon arrival, they unwittingly fall into a recurring predicament where they repeat the same night after meeting their untimely demise.

In a distinctive twist from similar time-loop narratives such as “Palm Springs,” “Before I Fall,” and “Groundhog Day,” “Until Dawn” presents unique terrors each night, ranging from masked slasher villains to witches, wendigos, and other horrors. Each character’s resurrection brings with it the recollection of their ordeal and demise, leaving visible signs of the fatal injuries on their bodies. Over time, these wounds transform them, making them resemble one of the monstrous entities haunting this chilling narrative.

13 opportunities for their collective survival are at stake, placing the group in a race against time. They must leverage insights gleaned from their fallen comrades not only to ensure their own survival but also to prevent being trapped in the darkness forever. The movie pays homage to the game and is set within the same universe, with Peter Stormare returning as the enigmatic and controlling psychiatrist, Dr. Hill. However, the film delves deeper into the game’s backstory, crafting a distinctive, carnival-like horror atmosphere that combines various horror subgenres and showcases practical effects, offering an entertaining exploration of the genre.

Translating that into simpler, more conversational language: The idea of turning the game Until Dawn into a movie wasn’t simple, and when they chose not to use the original story or characters, many fans were upset. This game, penned by Larry Fessenden and Graham Reznick, is a modern survival horror masterpiece. Given their past success in making horror movies (such as Habit, Wendigo, The House of the Devil, and X), it’s no wonder that Until Dawn feels like a movie, boasting the scale, depth, and character interactions typical of cinema. What’s more, the game showcases motion capture performances and voice acting from well-known actors, including Rami Malek, Hayden Panettiere, and Jordan Fisher.

In a fresh and accessible manner: The game, Until Dawn, isn’t just about the cutscenes showcasing high-quality graphics. Instead, it appears and sounds like a movie in every aspect, right from its opening theme to the lighting effects and camera angles. Moreover, the characters seem to move naturally through the world. Moving forward, Supermassive’s subsequent game, The Quarry, written by Reznick, Will Byles, and Alex Farnham, introduced a movie mode that enabled players to experience the game as if it were a movie, offering various options such as “Gorefest” for a more intense visual experience and the “Horror History Visual Filter Pack,” which included three filter options: Indie Horror, mimicking an 8mm style, ’80s Horror, providing a VHS-like look, and Classic Horror, offering a black and white filter. Both Until Dawn and The Quarry, along with Supermassive’s collection of shorter anthology horror games, The Dark Pictures Anthology, initiated by Fessenden and Reznick with Man of Medan (2018), have garnered the interest and excitement of both video game enthusiasts and cinephiles.

Resisting a beat-for-beat approach

Considering the blurred boundary between games and films, one might ponder the rationale behind transforming Until Dawn into a movie. This question has been posed by numerous enthusiasts upon its announcement. The adaptation process was never going to be as simple as that of its contemporaries in this field. For instance, HBO garnered significant ratings and award nominations with The Last of Us, which, while based on a PlayStation game with more action and gameplay elements than Until Dawn, follows the storyline of the games almost scene-for-scene. Despite criticisms that the show adds little value and controversies over casting choices that deviate from the game designs, The Last of Us is considered a triumph in video game adaptations. Similarly successful, albeit taking a different approach, is Amazon’s Fallout, which is set in the world and continuity of the games but introduces new characters within its expansive post-apocalyptic setting. Unlike The Last of Us and Until Dawn, however, Fallout is an RPG game where players create and name their character, making the transition to a new protagonist for the series smoother.

Some critics suggest that the creators of the movie could have directly followed the storyline of “Until Dawn” like what was done with “The Last of Us”, but recast the characters due to the original cast being a decade older than their on-screen roles. However, some fans might have preferred this approach. Instead, the filmmakers chose not to stick closely to the game’s narrative because it contains numerous paths that depend on the player’s choices, and they believed this method would not fully capture the essence of the game as intended by the creators. In an interview with ScreenRant, Sandberg explained his reasoning behind this decision.

The game is pretty much a 10-hour movie, so I think it wouldn’t have been as interesting for me if we were doing just the game, because then it’s going to be like a cut-down, non-interactive version of the game, which just wouldn’t be the same thing. So, I was very excited to read the script and see that it took Until Dawn further and did more with it, but also kept—when you play the game, the fun part of it is sort of replaying it and making different choices for the characters and see different deaths and all these things. And that was so brilliantly incorporated in movie form, which is non-interactive, but you can still get the different outcomes.

Co-writer Blair Butler expressed similar apprehensions regarding repeating the game. “The remaster [planned for Fall 2024] coincided with our plans to produce this movie. This was another factor that I believe led everyone involved, including Gary, to resist simply replaying the original storyline.

The existential need for experimentation

In their pursuit for artistic liberty within the universe of “Until Dawn”, the filmmakers’ motivation is quite relatable. I would contend that the movie maintains a cohesive link with the game, as the characters embody typical roles you’d find in a Supermassive production, and Jennifer Spence’s set design perfectly mirrors the atmosphere and visual style of scenes that could easily be from the game. Moreover, the film draws inspiration from the VR spin-off game, “Until Dawn: Rush of Blood”, which follows a player trapped inside the mind of one of the main characters from “Until Dawn”, battling fears and anxieties, particularly fear of death. This, combined with the movie’s adoption of the “Chapter Restart” feature from the game, which utilizes a time loop mechanism, reflects the essence of the game. However, Sandberg’s film lacks the more tranquil moments found in the game where players can engage in conversation with other characters, delving deeper into their backgrounds and forging relationships that have both positive and negative impacts.

When it comes to adapting the video game Until Dawn for the big screen, there are numerous paths that could have been taken. However, what sets this film apart is its innovative integration of game mechanics into the storyline. For instance, the option to rewind when a mistake is made is seamlessly woven into the narrative and theme. To ensure longevity in the realm of video game movies, especially those that blur the lines between cinema and television, filmmakers must strive for more than just retelling the games. Until Dawn, while perhaps not achieving a perfect harmony, serves as a pioneering effort in this regard. It’s a promising trial run of a new approach that embraces the game’s core concept. If you yearn to revisit the game’s exact experience, you can always opt to play it again. Sometimes, as fans, we need to let go of control if we wish to see these properties evolve and captivate us in fresh ways.

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2025-04-29 01:06

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