Director/producer David F. Sandberg and producer/writer Gary Dauberman appeared on IGN Fan Fest Tuesday to promote their upcoming horror-thriller Until Dawn during which time they shed light on their approach to adapting the PlayStation Studios game for the big screen. We also have an exclusive first look at two new photos from the Screen Gems release hitting theaters April 25th.
(Our video chat with the Until Dawn filmmakers can be watched via the player above or the embed below.)
Sandberg, who began his career directing horror films like Lights Out and Annabelle: Creation, was eager to return to the genre after directing two Shazam! movies in a row. “Well, what horror do I want to do? A slasher or supernatural or whatever? And then Gary came along with this idea and I was like, ‘This is perfect because I get to do all of it,’ you know? So it couldn’t have been a more perfect project to do after that.”
The Until Dawn movie follows a group of young friends who find themselves stuck in a horrifying time loop where each are slain over and over by a variety of terrifying threats. Their only hope to escape this vicious cycle before their limited numbers of lives run out is to finally survive until, well, dawn.
Scroll through the gallery below for two exclusive new photos from Until Dawn.
“I thought it was a great idea to do because the game is already a movie. It’s the most cinematic game that I’ve played, the closest thing to a movie,” Sandberg said. “So it felt like doing the exact same thing would be just cutting out eight hours of stuff and condensing it into a movie and removing the interactive stuff, and that wouldn’t have been as interesting to me.”
Dauberman, who shares screenplay credit with Blair Butler, echoed that sentiment. “I didn’t want it to feel as if you’re watching someone else play the game,” said Dauberman, who previously scripted the It and Annabelle movies. “So if we’re not going to do that, we still want to be true to the spirit of the game, and how can we really explore the story further and push it further and expand the mythology, make the game part of a larger narrative?”
Until Dawn embraces a variety of horror movie sub-genres, from body horror to found footage to slasher films. Not wanting to reveal spoilers, Sandberg was coy about the reasons for the in-world shifts in sub-genres throughout the film: “What’s mentioned in the movie is what’s scarier than not knowing what comes the next day? You cannot prepare. Maybe you’re dealing with the slasher villain one day, like, ‘Okay, we know how to deal with that,’ but then the next day it’s like a supernatural movie, and all those rules you just learned just go out the window. It has to do with keeping people as afraid as possible.”
Dauberman was a bit more generous in his explanation, citing the character played by actor Peter Stormare. “The answer lies with Dr. Alan Hill, who is in the game and is in our movie and sort of that connective tissue from one to the other, and I think he has the answer to the question that you’re looking for.”
IGN Fan Fest runs through this Friday, February 28, and includes exciting reveals and new looks at a wide array of upcoming games, movies, TV shows, anime, comics, and collectibles.
This year’s lineup includes Monster Hunter Wilds, WWE 2K25, Daredevil: Born Again, Mythic Quest, Devil May Cry, Novocaine, The Monkey, Godzilla, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Sonic the Hedgehog to name just a few properties.
