The motivation for today’s selection was to keep things fresh with a new release. The last two picks have been from last year and this year and I’ve really enjoyed the presentation value of modern horror done well. I know I’ve got some truly awful movies on my list of decades gone by and those can be particularly difficult to sit through. Every now and then I’ve found a diamond in the rough for one reason or another. It’s not like movies made in the 60’s, 70’s, or 80’s are automatically garbage because of the technology available to them. Rosemary’s Baby is one of my all time favorites and it’s because the tension is driven primarily from the writing and the acting. It has almost nothing to do with sets or production value. But if I’m honest, as I perused my list of candidates for today’s viewing, I definitely skewed newer for a selection. I wasn’t initially sold on “Until Dawn” but I decided to take a chance on it.
Spoiler alert, I’m glad I made the selection. I know, that’s a bit of a misdirection because I didn’t really spoil anything. But I did enjoy this one. I think I watched a handful of people play the video game inspiration for the film on social media live before. It seems like a very interesting concept for a game. I don’t mean to dumb it down since there’s clearly more to it than I’m crediting with, but it definitely seems like a “choose your own adventure” book turned into a video game. Again, over simplification, I know. But I don’t think you can deny that this seems to fit the motif quite well. That’s just my understanding, and admittedly I’m no afficionado. I will say, though, finding out that the director had the intentionality to tailor the film as a kind of homage to the original game instead of a direct adaptation makes it really great for an audience who has no real concrete experience with the source material. I will say that it makes playing the game more appealing as I’m sure there are subtle nods to the original outing embedded in the film. Am I actually going to get around to playing, probably not. But I do like the idea that I might. It’s a very nice idea.
The story is 5 friends go on a road trip looking for the lost sister of one of our main characters. Clover’s sister, whose name I really thought I was going to remember here but unfortunately don’t, went missing about a year ago. Clover, her ex-boyfriend, her two other girl friends, and one of those girl’s boyfriend, all got in that boyfriend’s car and drove to a gas station in the middle of nowhere. I think the town was Grove something or other. Normally I really do remember a lot of specifics. I’m great with actors’ names. At least the ones I care about. I don’t know any of the kids’ names. Peter Stormare is in this movie though. And I do know that his likeness and voice were used in the game, which is a cool connection. I think his name was Dr. Alan Hill. I know its weird that I remember such a minor character very specifically. But I will say that I don’t often expend a ton of mental energy to learn horror movie character names because they are often fodder for a ghost or psychopath to dice up in some gruesome fashion. I will say, a huge plus is that none of these kids are super annoying. That worked really well for me. But at the gas station, Clover pays $2 dollars for a crappy cup of “Hartley’s” coffee, the gas station brand. I know times are tough and this is a mom and pop market, but $2 seems really steep. Anyways, Clover gets a heads up from an early intro to Stormare as the clerk. It’s not revealed until later that he plays a much more nefarious role. So spoiler there. But let’s be honest, when you see him, you know something’s up.
So the kids pile in the car and head towards where they think missing sister ended up. They get trapped in a torrential downpour which somehow leads to a startling exit and a wall of rain cuts off any hope for a retreat. Clover stares into the rainy abyss thinking she sees someone as her ex waits patiently until he turns away and loses her to the deluge. Meanwhile, other girl, other girl with boyfriend, and boyfriend all go into the welcome center to see what’s up. It appears no one has been in there for quite some time. It’s well lit and clearly mid afternoon so splitting up to check out the place isn’t quite as precarious as you’d assume. But it leads to quite a few more questions as an ominous tone begins to wash over our group of protagonists. Eventually the twisted version of Groundhog Day begins and the kids are stalked by a crazy man in a terrifying mask. One by one they are eliminated in grisly order and that’s when things really get turned up. As quickly as the youths are gutted and dismembered, they snap back to their starting positions, completely alive and completely aware of what has happened. Some even sporting bruises and scratches reminiscent of their most recent demise.
From here we spring forward a bit as the slaughter continues in fresh and exciting new ways each time. Being that this is a relatively new movie having come out this year, I don’t really want to chronicle the entire plot. So it’s because it’s new, not because I’m lazy. What I will say is that there is one particular round of deaths that was especially explosive that I appreciated the most. So do with that what you will. What I’ll volunteer, though, is that this movie was a lot of fun. I had no prior experience and no connection to the source material. The cast was a bunch of unknowns for me. So it seemed like this might just be a throw away. But it was a lot of fun. I think what I liked the most about it was that it seemed like an amalgamation of odes to horror classics while still being it’s own thing. There are definitely pieces that feel like they were picked off the cutting room floor from Evil Dead, Saw, Day of the Dead, and several others. What was balanced for me was that it wasn’t just somebody who watched a bunch of horror icons and then put their own spin on it. This still felt like it’s own independent project that was self contained enough to stand on it’s own merits. There’s real horror beats and they don’t inundate you with jump scares and cheap ways to elicit a shriek or two. I have to give them credit for really bringing a solid production to the screen based on something already existing. The fact that this is really it’s own story and not an attempt to simply port the game to the big screen is intentional and well executed. In reading about the behind the scenes in the trivia on IMDb, I learned that the director was deliberate in ensuring that they didn’t just adapt the game. He noted that it’s a free standing narrative of it’s own that is set over a much larger time frame and trying to whittle that down into something noteworthy on it’s own would just fall flat. I applaud this foreknowledge and the purposeful desire to make this film original. As I said, as someone only vaguely familiar with the source material, there was nothing about this movie that felt like I was left in the dark on lore or world building. It really made the invitation to enjoy the whole story very appealing. I have to say that I’m quite satisfied that I selected this film at the end of the day.
So that just leaves us with a score. If I’m going to keep going with my gut, 7.2 out of 10 jumps out at me right off the bat. It’s far from perfect but also a good margin better than the standard fare in horror movies for my tastes. I’m not a professional. I don’t exclusively deal in horror. But I have to say that this movie was really pleasant from start to finish. Everything about it just hits. I wasn’t wowed so I don’t want to overstate it’s value. And I don’t think I need to own this one in the collection. It feels like a one and done. A lot of time I feel like that comes off as a dig on a film but it really isn’t. Some movies strike that chord that lets you know you can enjoy revisiting it in the future. Other movies are a single use and have all they are going to offer in a solo view. I don’t think this detracts from the value of the film. Plus, this isn’t a rewatch for me. I’m sure this one makes the multiple view list for a lot of folks. It just didn’t hit me that way. So I will leave that where it is and we’ve got another day in the books. Maybe I’ll be a little bit intentional in going back in the time machine to an older film tomorrow just for good measure. We’ll see how things go. Until then, I’ll catch you on the flip side.
