UNTIL DAWN

US, 2025, 103 minutes, Colour.

Ella Ruben, Michael Cimino, Odessa A'zion, Ji-young Yoo, Belmont Cameli, Maia Mitchell, Peter Storemare..

Directed by David F.Sandberg.

 An often grim and gory horror film. Audiences watching this film will be reminded of Groundhog Day, except that this is a Groundhog Night story, repetition after repetition, but starting at night, the audience seeing an hourglass, the sand running through, then starting anew.

But, the idea here is that a character goes to sleep and wakes up the next morning. This time, however, the characters die, often brutally, sometimes in pieces, smashed, but, there they are, starting again each night.

In fact, the film begins with a young woman, night, crawling through the grass, trying to escape a vengeful pursuer – but failing, executed. Her sister, depressed, some suicide attempts, gathers her friends together to find and rescue her disappeared sister. On the way, they meet the storekeeper in the isolated town who gives them directions, their driving through a mysterious mist, exiting to find an old mansion – and the film does give an explanation of how this mysterious place came to be.

Enjoyment of the film will depend on how well the audience relates to each of the characters, sometimes sympathetic, often irritating, and even more frequently behaving erratically. No wonder, because they know are each night they are going to die again, trying to prevent it and failing, clashes with each other…

Until Dawn is a PlayStation production, the film version of a popular computer game. And, in computer games, every setting is possible, rapid change of settings possible, living, dying, living again are all possible parts of the game. So, not to be taken too literally, and, of course, expecting the unexpected as the players try to defy the odds.

There is a revelation as to who is behind all the mayhem, a mad psychologist who appears finally, and a challenge then for the group, or survivors, at least, to confront him.

A horror film for those who like to observe – game-players would prefer to be actually playing rather than watching.

(The director, and David F.Sandberg, is Swedish that has made a number of American films, one of the Annabelle thrillers as well as the two Shazam films.)