Until Dawn
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	David F. Sandberg
Written by	Gary Dauberman Blair Butler
Based on	Until Dawn by PlayStation Studios[a]
Produced by	Asad Qizilbash Carter Swan David F. Sandberg Lotta Losten Roy Lee Gary Dauberman Mia Maniscalco
Starring	Ella Rubin Michael Cimino Odessa A'zion Ji-young Yoo Belmont Cameli Maia Mitchell Peter Stormare
Cinematography	Maxime Alexandre
Edited by	Michel Aller
Music by	Benjamin Wallfisch
Production companies	Screen Gems PlayStation Productions Vertigo Entertainment Coin Operated Mangata
Distributed by	Sony Pictures Releasing
Release date	April 25, 2025 (2025-04-25)
Running time	103 minutes[1]
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$15 million[2]
Box office	$18.1 million[3]

Until Dawn is a 2025 American survival horror film directed by David F. Sandberg from a screenplay and a story by Gary Dauberman and Blair Butler. It is derived from the 2015 video game published by PlayStation Studios^[a], and is set in the same universe while featuring an original standalone story that expands upon the game's mythology.^[4] It stars Ella Rubin, Michael Cimino, Odessa A'zion, Ji-young Yoo, Belmont Cameli, and Peter Stormare, who reprises his role from the game.

In January 2024, Sony announced the film's development with PlayStation Productions set to produce. Casting announcements were made throughout 2024 and principal photography took place between August and October 2024 in Budapest.

Until Dawn was released in the United States by Sony Pictures Releasing on April 25, 2025. The film received generally mixed reviews from critics and has grossed $18 million worldwide with a budget of $15 million.

Clover, her ex-boyfriend Max, her friends Nina and Megan, and Nina's boyfriend Abe are retracing the whereabouts of Clover's missing sister, Melanie. The group stops by a gas station where Melanie sent a video from, and Clover meets the station attendant, Hill. He claims that people tend to go missing on the road towards a mining town called Glore Valley. The group travels to the town, but heavy rainfall forces them to seek shelter at a visitor center. However, the rain only affects the surrounding area.

In the visitors center, Abe finds a wall filled with posters of missing persons, including Melanie's. As night falls, Nina signs into the center's guestbook. Exploring downstairs, the group finds another house underneath the center. A masked assailant, wielding a pickaxe, suddenly attacks and kills everyone.

The group awakens on the first night with a new guest book signature and their missing person posters on the board. They realize that the night is repeating, indicated by an hourglass in the main room. Suddenly, the lights go out, revealing a dilapidated house across from the center. Megan is possessed and killed by a supernatural force that drags Clover into the house, where she meets an elderly Glore Valley resident who possesses her, telling her that she can either "survive the night or become part of it". Abe tries to flee with Nina, but they encounter a giant monster outside the center, and after turning back, are murdered by the masked assailant. Possessed, Clover kills Max before she is run over and dies.

The night begins anew as the group realizes they are in a time loop with only 13 deaths before they disappear like the other visitors. They barricade themselves in the bathroom and drink tap water, which causes them to explode. The group dies, and as Clover perishes, she sees Hill, who reveals his involvement and urges her to keep moving. Starting the night again, Clover vows to uncover the truth about Hill and Melanie. An argument arises between the group and Nina, who, angered by Abe's attempt to abandon them, wounds him with a pickaxe with the intent to kill him. While Clover, Max, and Megan explore the woods, Abe and Nina are murdered by the masked assailant. The three are attacked by wendigos, resulting in Megan's death. Clover and Max meet Melanie, who has now turned into a wendigo herself. Heartbroken, Clover tells Max to kill her, so they can start the night again and learn more.

Looking for answers, the group discovers that Glore Valley sank into the ground after a mining disaster, killing hundreds, and that Hill was brought in to act as a therapist to the survivors. They find a VHS tape showing that those trapped at the center are turned into wendigos after being killed on the 13th night. The group attempts to find Hill and go through several nights of repeatedly being murdered by various creatures. A flashback shows Melanie leaving Clover and their mother following an argument, which still haunts Clover. She awakens on their 13th night, where the group's bodies start deteriorating into wendigos. Megan is also missing, and the group discovers she survived a night and has followed Hill into a set of tunnels.

Ready to confront Hill, the group follows Megan's trail, fending off the wendigos. The masked assailant ambushes them, and Clover splits from the others to track down Hill. After a confrontation with Melanie, where Clover is forced to kill her sister, she finds herself at the Sanatorium, where Megan is trapped in a room with a wendigo. Clover confronts Hill, who reveals he is running experiments, and the creatures faced are part manifestations of Clover's depression and fears. Clover manages to spike Hill's coffee with the lethal tap water, and he explodes. She retrieves the keys and frees Megan. The others manage to kill the masked assailant, and the group flees through the tunnels, pursued by the wendigos. The group manages to escape the tunnels in time as the hourglass runs out and the sun rises. Now free from the time loop, the group drives away from the center.

Meanwhile, a surveillance system in Hill's office changes to a snowy cabin where a car pulls up.

• Ella Rubin as Clover
• Michael Cimino as Max
• Odessa A'zion as Nina
• Ji-young Yoo as Megan
• Belmont Cameli as Abe
• Maia Mitchell as Melanie
  • Zsófia Temesvári plays Melanie in her Wendigo form
• Peter Stormare as Dr. Hill^[5]

A still photograph of Rami Malek as Josh Washington, his character from the 2015 video game, appears in Dr. Hill's office.^[6]

In January 2024, it was announced that a live-action adaptation based on the video game Until Dawn was in development by Screen Gems and PlayStation Productions, with David F. Sandberg directing and Gary Dauberman writing the screenplay, based on a previous draft by Blair Butler. It was described as "an R-rated love letter to the horror genre, with an ensemble cast".^[7] In June, Ella Rubin, Michael Cimino, Ji-young Yoo, and Odessa A'zion joined the cast in undisclosed roles.^[8] In August, Maia Mitchell and Belmont Cameli were cast.^[9] Peter Stormare will reprise his role of Dr. Alan J. Hill from the video game.^[10]

Principal photography began in Budapest on August 5, 2024,^[11] with Maxime Alexandre serving as the cinematographer, and wrapped on October 4, 2024.^[12] Benjamin Wallfisch provided the score for the film.^[13] Michel Aller edited the film.^[14]

The film was released theatrically in the United States by Sony Pictures Releasing on April 25, 2025.^[15]

On January 14, 2025, Sony released a first-look where Sandberg, Dauberman, and Stormare break down the process behind making the film along with its story.^[16] The first trailer would release online two days later.^[17] The trailer introduced a limited time-loop mechanic, allowing the characters only a few "do-overs" after being killed by various monsters, similar to the game's emphasis on survival choices.^[18]

The release of the film's first trailer was criticized by online websites. Erik Kain of Forbes noted that while the film's concept is intriguing, the adaptation is redundant, comparing it to Uncharted and its corresponding 2022 film. He asserted that since the original Until Dawn's premise was to take the concept of watching a horror movie and transform it into an interactive experience, readapting it to film defeats its purpose.^[19] Editor-in-Chief Stacey Henley of The Gamer called the upcoming film "Hollywood's Latest Gaming Insult", listing Until Dawn as one of the many video game film adaptations that "disrespects" the source material.^[20]

In an interview with ScreenRant, Sandberg and Butler commented on the adaptation's relationship to the original game. Butler noted, "...it turned out that the remaster was coming out roughly the same time that we were hoping to get this movie together. And that was another reason that I think everyone involved, Gary [Dauberman], as well, didn't want to just remake the original storyline, beat for beat." Sandberg, in response, said,

...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.^[21]

In the United States and Canada, Until Dawn was released alongside The Accountant 2, the wide expansion of The Legend of Ochi, and the re-release of Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, and was projected to gross $8–10 million from 3,055 theaters in its opening weekend.^[2] It made $3.2 million on its first day, and went on to debut to $8 million, finishing in fifth.^[22]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 53% of 78 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.5/10.^[23] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 51 out of 100, based on 17 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.^[24] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale, while those surveyed by PostTrak gave it a 63% overall positive score, with 42% saying they would definitely recommend the film.^[22]

Louis Peitzman of Vulture wrote that Until Dawn's "pile-on" of ideas "threaten[ed] to collapse the movie under its own weight", but praised its creativity and meta-commentary on the slasher genre. He concluded that the film was "saved" by its humor, comparing it favorably to The Cabin in the Woods.^[25] RogerEbert.com's Brian Tallerico gave the film one and a half stars out of five, writing that the film had "really clever" ideas, but "lackluster" execution. He added that Maxime Alexandre's cinematography was "under-lit and depressingly flat", finding the video game's visual language to be stronger.^[26]

Katie Walsh of Los Angeles Times also gave Until Dawn a positive review. She commended director Sanberg for embracing the film's "B-movie horror roots", describing the film as "part genre tribute, part choose your own adventure, part interactive haunted house". She lauded the writing as well, praising the main ensemble for being "fully formed characters". She concluded that Until Dawn was "bloody if lightweight fun".^[27] William Bibbiani of TheWrap criticized Until Dawn for its "shallow[ness]", "thin" characterizations, and "confusingly vague" writing that "spits in the face of logic". However, he found some of the scares "enjoyable" and described the premise as "clever". He wrote, "At its best Sandberg's 'Until Dawn' is an amusing delivery system for random drive-in horror frights, kinda like a genre movie slot machine," concluding that the film was not too good but not too bad either.^[28]

• Official website
• Until Dawn at IMDb