Film Review — "Until Dawn"
Until Dawn admits early on that it ain’t special, then quickly moves on, and I admire its willingness to say out loud that it ought not be held in high regard. It’s when a character points out that stuck-in-a-time-loop* movies have been done to death, and he’s right. Just saying “that time loop movie” can bring a number of iconic examples to mind. Not to mention nearly every episodic sci-fi show has a time loop episode. Also old hat at this point: horror subgenre mixing. To be clear, “old hat” is fine so long as the hat is smart or creatively assembled, but unfortunately Until Dawn’s scope is limited and its construction is not particularly interesting.
David F. Sandberg’s project isn’t so much an exploration of the horror spectrum as it is a horror sampler—like those pre-made trays you get at Kroger on the way to a party so you can say you contributed, only the deli guy left out the good cheese… and half of those little sausage thingies. And the movie only really relies on two or three subgenres for the most part. (Disappointingly, a cosmic titan-like dude gets introduced, then never comes back. Like, what the fuck, how could you do this to me… question mark.)
One element Until Dawn does nail is the gore. I went in thinking the movie was going to have PG-13 vibes (not that there’s anything wrong with that), but what I got instead was some wicked awesome carnage. One scene in particular is nearly worth the price of admission on its own. When it isn’t giving gore, though, the movie has a tendency to over-rely on volume-ratcheting jump scares. One or two are affective, sure, but, like the film as a whole, it gets old really fast.
If a movie is going to tread old ground, at least play with form! Go crazy! But Until Dawn isn’t interested in that. It’s definitely a competently made film, I’ll give it that—it’s not poorly made, anyway. The production design by Jennifer Spence** is certainly a highlight; the world feels fully formed, consistent yet also textured. The cinematography of Maxime Alexandre deserves a shoutout, too. Anytime a contemporary horror flick lets me see in the dark, I’m a happy camper.
Oh! Something else that made me a happy camper? These Gen-Z characters knowing how to use the pre-2000 devices without making a bit out of it. Personally, I’m kind of over the where are the buttons on this rotary phone?! jokes in movies. Frankly, it’s low-hanging humor. In Until Dawn, however, a character locates a landline and, to my delight, dials out with no hesitation. And another character uses a VCR without any trouble. I thought we were going to get oh no, outdated technology, how do I work this thing?! moments, but I was pleased to be wrong. Gen-Zers aren’t stupid and hopeless, and I’m glad this movie gets that, for what it’s worth.
*this technically isn’t a time loop, but I don’t care enough about this movie (one way or the other) to get into it
**cards on the table: I day-played for Jennifer Spence once many years ago, but there’s no way she remembers me, and I formed my opinion on the look of Until Dawn before I read her name in the end credits
