“Until Dawn” is a horror film inspired by the interactive survival horror game of the same name. The film stars Ella Rubin as Clover, who searches for answers about her sister’s mysterious disappearance with her friends. Their search takes them to an abandoned visitors’ center. There, each one of them is brutally murdered, only to wake up and find themselves living the evening all over again.

Temple of Geek spoke with Director/Producer David F. Sandberg and Producer/Writer Gary Dauberman about the creative process behind adapting such an intricate video game to film.

The Creative Process of Adapting an Interactive Game Like “Until Dawn” to Film

The 2015 video game, “Until Dawn,” is highly interactive. Each decision the player makes in-game affects the outcome of the game itself. Temple of Geek asks both Sandberg and Dauberman what the adaptation process looks like. Sandberg laughs and says, “That’s a Gary question!”

Gary Dauberman says:

It’s a lot of banging your head against a keyboard. And, you know, berating yourself on a page…I’m a huge fan of the game, big gamer. So, the challenge was, really: okay, it’s already a cinematic experience. I already had a blast playing it. How could it not be as if, like, I’m watching somebody else play the game, but still…push the story forward. So, it was a lot of thinking about, like, okay, what are the elements of the game that I truly loved? You know, all the subgenres and stuff.

And then, it’s kind of taking those pieces and putting it into a blender and really sort of exploiting that opportunity to explore different subgenres with the same movie, kind of a thing. So, it was a lot of trial and error in terms of the process. The process [is] painful.

He explains how he is a huge fan of David F Sandberg’s work. Taking what he wrote to Sandberg and being able to work with him made the process less painful.

Sandberg says:

I love what Gary and Blair [Butler] did with it because it’s like, it’s an expansion of Until Dawn. It’s not just sort of the video game condensed and the interactivity taken out. And, you know, one of the fun things about the game is that you can play it over and over again. Make different choices and get to see different kills and everything. And I think they capture that brilliantly in movie form.

And for me, not having done horror now in a while, I was so excited to be able to do all of these different genres that they put in there, and like, try all these different things that I haven’t had a chance to do before.

Sandberg and Dauberman Share What They are Most Excited for Audiences to See

“Until Dawn” hits theaters April 25, 2025. Temple of Geek asks what they are excited about for audiences to experience.

David F Sandberg says he’s most excited for people to see, “Just the insanity. How far some of the things go!” He continues with:

It’s such a fun movie to watch with an audience…because they get so vocal. You know? There’s screams, there’s like, disgust, and there’s laughter. So, it’s one of those films that are super satisfying to watch with an audience. So, it’s just like, I look forward to just people being on that ride.

Gary Dauberman adds:

There’s so much great stuff in the movie, but to see…it’s almost like you want the audience to see other members of the audience freaking out. Because like, you might not be into slashers, so that doesn’t scare you. But, you might be scared of the body horror, so just wait. You might be scared of the slasher, you know, not the body [horror]…It’s almost like a ripple through the audience of people just having different reactions to different scares. Because, you know, they’re getting poked in different ways. So yeah, it’s a blast to watch with an audience and to see that is actually really exhilarating.

“Until Dawn” Film Synopsis

One year after her sister Melanie mysteriously disappeared, Clover and her friends, in search of answers, head into the remote valley where she vanished. Exploring an abandoned visitor center, they find themselves stalked by a masked killer who horrifically murders them one by one. However, they wake up and find themselves back at the beginning of the same evening. Trapped in the valley, they’re forced to relive the night after they are killed. Each time, the killer threat is different and more terrifying than the last. Their hopes dwindle. The group realizes they have a limited number of deaths left, and the only way to escape is to survive until dawn.