The video game Until Dawn is getting turned into a movie – wait, what? Isn't the game basically a playable horror movie? Well, yes, now take out the interactive part, and you'll get what's coming up!
Ah, 2015: the time period for video games when quick-time events were the go-to mechanic and David Cage could go crazy with his concept of "playing a movie." That's when Until Dawn proved that yes, even though I always thought horror movie protagonists made the most unreasonable decisions possible at every turn and deserve what's coming to them for their stupidity, I would die an unnecessary death, too. I am just as bad as them, and many others were, too.
Until Dawn tells the story of eight teenagers (that look like adults in true movie fashion!) in the aftermath of the tragic deaths of their friends (which was kind of their fault in the first place). A year after the accident, they come back together at the very lodge where it happened – absolutely reasonable. Of course, it's in the middle of nowhere, there's an abandoned sanatorium and a flamethrower-wielding stranger in the woods. And there are supernatural monsters. The game was basically three horror movies all rolled into one, and now, the playable horror movie gets to be a watchable horror movie! Yes, my head hurts, too.
Until Dawn As A Horror Movie Instead Of A Game
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Gary Dauberman and David F. Sandberg take on the challenge of turning Until Dawn into a movie. Both of them seem like solid choices for the task.
Sandberg knows how to scare audiences – he's proven that much with Lights Out and Annabelle 2. Dauberman also did a lot of horror with multiple Annabelle movies, It and both The Nun movies. That's horror expertise, alright!
Their take on Until Dawn might be a completely new experience for those who have previously played the game. In Until Dawn, players' decisions matter, and you can accidentally (or purposely – talking about you, Emily...) kill nearly every character in the game, and it'll just continue the story. Game Over may be a thing in other games, but in Until Dawn, you need to live with your stupid decisions – why would you want to check out creepy noises in an abandoned mine all on your own, anyway!?
That means that Sandberg and Dauberman don't have a set story to work with, but a variety of possibilities from the game. Or they could throw it out of the window and do their own thing with it, simply taking the premise and doing their own spin on it – we'll have to wait to find out!
Who's Going To Be In The Until Dawn Movie?
If they are doing the classic "adapting a video game into a movie" thing, they might not even face the problem of looking for "the perfect cast." The game was produced with motion-capture and the characters were played by real actors, so they could call that cast back. In 2015, the cast for the game was as follows:
- Rami Malek as Josh
- Hayden Panettiere as Sam
- Noah Fleiss as Chris
- Galadriel Stineman as Ashley
- Nichole Sakura as Emily
- Jordan Fisher as Jordan
- Brett Dalton as Mike
- Meaghan Martin as Jessica
With the news still fresh that there will even be a movie, the cast is yet to be confirmed. The original actors returning would be the perfect scenario if they go for faithfulness, but there's also a chance Sandberg and Dauberman want to do their own thing and choose a whole different cast, maybe even new characters. If I may make a suggestion: for the love of God, replace Chris with literally any other character. He was the worst.
As the project is currently still in the works, it will probably take some time until we see the direction Until Dawn is heading in. We'll keep you updated, though!