After a string of video game adaptations that have leaned deeply into the video-game-iness of it all–earnestly embracing nods to the original source material or their aesthetics, or relishing in treating their worlds and narratives seriously–we’re seemingly back to a “classic” age of gaming adaptations in Until Dawn, which has decided to take the name of the cinematic survival horror game and… well, seemingly not much else.
Sony teased the new direction of David F. Sandberg and Gary Dauberman’s take on the 2015 game in a new featurette released this morning that introduces a brand new premise the film is based around. In the film, a group of young adults gathering at a house only to be assailed by strange, murderous forces intent on bumping them all off, only to discover a mysterious hourglass that turns back time after their grisly ends, allowing them to attempt new ways to avoid their deaths and survive through the night.
Same night, different nightmare. Hear from David F. Sandberg, Gary Dauberman, and Peter Stormare about the filmmaking process for @UntilDawn_Movie. Trailer coming soon. #UntilDawnMovie pic.twitter.com/GoIK2gZ60X
— Sony Pictures (@SonyPictures) January 14, 2025
In some ways, it makes sense. Part of the appeal of Until Dawn was that it was less of a traditional horror game and more of an interactable, variable horror movie, leaning on quick-time-events and its mocap’d celebrity cast to give you a cinematic vibe. And the game did have a similar mechanic to the hourglass already, in a series of totems that players could find that would give them a vision heralding a particular future event, like a perceived threat or upcoming choice, or even the death of one of its main cast. But in so much as an actual rewind-esque mechanic, it almost sounds more like a player loading an earlier save and going back through to see if they can make a difference in their playthrough. Which is neat! But isn’t particularly Until Dawn-y itself.
That also includes the rest of the film’s premise, which seems to trade the snowy atmosphere and the killer wendigos for a more typical creepy house and seemingly more human antagonists in the glimpses shown here. There’s still some hope for Until Dawn fans wanting something a bit more faithful: one element of the game coming over more directly is Peter Stormare reprising his role as Dr. Hill from the game, a therapist who would regularly appear between chapters of the game to psychoanalyze the player’s choices in the narrative up to that point. And Sandberg himself teases that every reset of the hourglass in the movie “it’s like they’re in a new horror genre,” so maybe at some point the film will give us a more creature-feature vibe than what’s on display here.
But beyond that, so far Until Dawn looks a lot less like its inspiration, and more like any old horror movie that just so happens to have had a familiar name put on it. Let’s just hope it’s at the very least an interesting one–we’ll find out when Until Dawn hits theaters April 25.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
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Source: Gizmodo