"Until Dawn" doesn’t exactly fill you with anticipation, particularly once you learn it originated as a Playstation game. You should probably brace yourself for something far from intellectual and expect to encounter a collection of very shallow characters instead. These individuals are essentially meant to be expendable, and that's exactly what they become—each one is killed off in a violent and methodical fashion u…

I found myself incredibly restless near the end, to the point where I started looking at other people’s opinions of it while it was still on screen. Last night, I nearly decided to skip the rest and just go to bed because it wasn't delivering any scares. The visuals are nice, and the technical aspects are decent, although it's excessively dark (it seems like Hollywood doesn’t understand how to properly utilize HDR te…

"Until Dawn" feels like "Scooby Doo" geared toward grown-ups. A group of friends on vacation stumble into a strange history and encounter numerous supernatural enemies who intend to kill them off in a violent fashion. What distinguishes this from typical, predictable survival horror is that the plot revolves around a time loop. Essentially, it’s a horror movie with obsessive compulsive disorder. The killings and c…

It's difficult to find anything fresh or original to comment about this horror movie, which feels like a rehash of familiar tropes. The narrative follows a group of friends—a predictable collection of characters—as they embark on what turns out to be a hunt for women. “Melanie,” introduced in a fleeting initial scene, is missing, prompting her sister “Clover” (played by Ella Rubin) to assemble a search party consisti…

The film adaptation of "Until Dawn" manages to get the job done, particularly excelling in its technical execution—the unsettling mood, brutal deaths, brisk tempo, and capacity to hold attention throughout are all well-handled. Ella Rubin delivers a noteworthy performance within an ensemble that largely satisfies basic requirements. Director David F. Sandberg demonstrates once more his skill as a filmmaker with im…