Until Dawn, the survival horror film starring Ella Rubin and Michael Cimino, has been branded "boring" and "passable" as it opened to mixed reviews.
Set in the same universe as the 2015 video game, the film adaptation follows Clover (Rubin) and her friends as they venture into a remote valley to investigate the disappearance of her sister, only to discover a terrifying evil.
The group are promptly murdered as they quickly appear to be out of their depth, but awaken to find themselves stuck in a time-loop as they're forced to relive the nightmare again, only to find that the identity of the killer alters with each death.
The original video game, which boasted a stellar cast including Rami Malek, Hayden Panettiere and Brett Dalton, contained a branching storyline in which the player's choices would impact which characters would live to fight another day.
Following its theatrical release today, the reviews for Until Dawn have come in, with the critical reception being firmly mixed judging by its approval rating of 51% on Rotten Tomatoes, a score that has been calculated from 59 reviews.
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What to Read Next
You can read a selection of reviews below:
The New York Times
"Watching someone play a video game that they never let you play is a singular kind of boring. A similar 'why am I here?' dullness arrives early and stays late in Until Dawn."
Polygon
"Until Dawn’s movie adaptation doesn’t fail because it’s not faithful to the game. It fails because it’s boring, in a way the game never was."
The Guardian
"On its own, lower-stakes terms, Until Dawn is a passable, if rather unfrightening frightener, made with some skill and enlivened by a strong troupe of young actors."
The Hollywood Reporter
"This should be a recipe for success, if a minor one, but Until Dawn doesn’t really capitalize on these elements and, as a result, is erratically frightening and vaguely dissatisfying."
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Little White Lies
"The film promises that every night will contain a new horror, but the lack of variety means they all feel as punishingly repetitive for the viewer as they are for the characters."
IndieWire
"Until Dawn makes countless gestures at being an incisive horror comedy - some good, some bad - but works better approached as a full-blown spoof."
Until Dawn is in cinemas now.
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Reporter, Digital Spy George is a freelance writer who specialises in Movies and TV. After graduating with a degree in Film Studies and Journalism from De Montfort University, in which he analysed the early works of Richard Linklater for his dissertation, he wrote for several websites for GRV Media. His film tastes vary from blockbusters like Mission: Impossible and John Wick to international directors such as Paolo Sorrentino and Hirokazu Kore-eda, and has attended both the London and Berlin film festivals.
