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We’ve finally gotten a proper trailer for Until Dawn, the movie based on the beloved video game. Due to recent reports, many people were skeptical about the film’s direction. It would not contain the original plot or characters. Instead, it would take a different approach and even experiment with other horror genres in the new plot. If you were one of those skeptical fans, you were right about it all. With the trailer finally out, we’ve decided to analyze everything that is wrong with it and why this Until Dawn movie might be one of the year’s biggest flops.
Giving Away the Plot
Let’s start with the first thing that is wrong about the Until Dawn trailer: the plot exposition. I don’t know if, lately, the horror movie genre is so weak that every film needs to put its plot out there before the premiere, but this is a tradition that has to stop. Didn’t the producers learn anything from Alien: Romulus? We got half of the movie in that trailer.
Anyway, Until Dawn does the same here. Instead of building up intrigue with its audience, it gives away everything through who we already know will be the exposition guy. “So, the night is just repeating itself?” “Every night, something new is trying to kill us.” I won’t go into how poorly the lines are delivered, but these two just gave all the plot away. Oh, and wait for the cherry on top of it all. The same exposition guy ends up with, “We have to make it until dawn.” There it is! The “it’s Morbin time” moment.
It’s funny how an adaptation turns into the antithesis of its source material. The video game built up suspense. Anyone playing the game for the first time had no clue about what was chasing players around. The game subverted expectations in every chapter of the story. Here, it doesn’t happen, and it is worrying.
The Disconnection Between the Film and Its Source Material is Wild
Let’s address the Wendigo in the room. Yeah, there is one in the trailer, so I guess there’s a bit of Until Dawn in the film. See, adapting anything with a strong source material shouldn’t be complicated in theory. You grab what was made originally and maybe swap a thing or two to adapt it to modern markets. It’s worked before. Take a look at The Last of Us. So then, if the formula is already there and it’s proven effective, why did Until Dawn go off-road to create whatever the heck it is in the trailer?
I won’t address the cast because I feel new young blood isn’t a bad idea. However, I will address the plot, which is the most disconnected thing that the studio could’ve done. So, Until Dawn, the video game, not the movie, presented a kind of “cliche” plot at first. You have a bunch of kids partying, a couple of them dying, and then the one-year-later getaway going wrong. In it, there are many other staples of the horror genre that, while overplayed in other media, work perfectly because there is something original behind it.
In another scenario, the Until Dawn movie plot wouldn’t sound too bad. If we look at it, it sounds quite good. You have a bunch of kids going into a mysterious locale to find someone’s missing sister and then run into a house with a loop that changes who kills them every night. But then again, it is not Until Dawn! The silver lining of all this is that it seems the movie will be riddled with easter eggs. We saw Joshua’s mask and a Wendigo, and maybe I am missing a few. Still, titling the movie exactly as the game harms it more than it should help it.
A Likely Flop
Before you think I’m being a doomsayer and looking forward to the movie’s flop, that’s not the case. I really wished the movie would’ve looked better, but it just doesn’t, and we have to be realistic. When it comes to video games getting a film adaptation, we could count good ones with just one hand, and this one doesn’t even feel like an adaptation at all. It’s just another case of using a brand to create engagement and then running the original idea to the ground because that’s the Hollywood way.
Furthermore, the reception to the Until Dawn trailer isn’t that hot right now. I have my own grips as someone who played the game more than once. However, many other viewers are already talking about the bad acting, the poorly delivered lines, and the Cabin in the Woods meets Happy Death Day. So far, it isn’t looking great, and it doesn’t seem like anything new we see in the future will make things better. But just like Joshua, hope dies last, so let’s see what awaits us once the movie premieres.
