Hourglass Half Empty

The video game, Until Dawn is essentially an attempt to make the player feel like they are controlling a horror film. Wisely, this is not a direct adaptation of said game, as that would simply be a bland reflection of a reflection. Instead, writer Gary Dauberman and director David F.Sandberg flip the idea on its head, making a film that uses video game mechanics (the characters respawn after death, with a finite amount of lives) to tell its story. An interesting premise, and given both writer and director have done sterling work in the genre , hopes were high. Sadly, this is an underbaked effort that doesn't come any where near the best work either has done before.

Clover's is on a road trip with friends (including her clearly still into her ex-boyfriend). She is looking for her missing sister while her companions are hoping to help her move on. They soon end up at an isolated house that is miraculously untouched by the raging storm they are driving through. Come nightfall, a masked killer enters the house and promptly slaughters them all, only for them to be transported back to the previous evening. Clues around the house lead them to the conclusion they have around thirteen attempts to escape the deadly loop before something permanently nasty happens to them.

This is an enticing set up and as the first couple of nights play out and the party run into slashers, witches and water that makes you explode, it seems like we are in for a fun time. Unfortunately, the script runs out of ideas fairly quickly and we end up focusing on solving the underlying mystery. Explanation is often the undoing of a horror film (the more you know about something the less scary it is) so if your concept is also going to be your plot, you better have a killer reveal. Until Dawn does not. In fact, the explanation to what is going on is both over-explained to the point of tedium, and nonsensical, with a pointless attempt to tie events more directly to the game. There are the (fairly standard modern horror) themes of dealing with loss and mental health but the focus is on the idea of friends sticking together. Weak characters and cliche dialogue make this angle a struggle to get on board with. A one dimensional, vaguely dislikable cast is a staple of many a classic slasher films, but that's because we enjoy watching them get bumped off. If you want your audience to route for everyone making it through and invest in no man left behind camaraderie then you have to do a lot better than, "dying for real scares me, but not as much as living without my friends". None of the performances are strong enough to get past the level of cringe banter on display.

The film does look pretty good, shooting on location has paid off and some of the kills are inventive and more gory than you might expect for a video game adaptation looking for mainstream appeal. It just doesn't make enough of its premise to overcome its shortcomings. The fact deaths aren't permanent means there isn't much tension but opens the door for creativity. If the script had kept up the pace of the first few nights we would be looking at an entertaining time but it runs out of steam (half the deaths are reduced to mobile phone clips) leaving us with only annoying characters and a stupid explanation.

Video game adaptations don't have a stellar track record but there have been some passable efforts over the last few years. This isn't one of them, although it can filed under forgettable rather than egregiously awful.

5 people ganging up on the new guy out of 10

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