Until Dawn is based on the hit PlayStation video game of the same name, but it's not a direct adaptation. In fact, it's quite the opposite, with a Groundhog Day-style time-travel device used to pit a group of survivors against a series of increasingly terrifying threats.
In a cabin in the woods (where else?), they face various horror movie monsters and even drinking water that makes them spontaneously combust. However, each time they die, the group wakes up, a little worse for wear, and the day starts all over again.
Thirteen nights in, Until Dawn's lead, Clover, confronts Dr. Hill—Josh's mysterious psychiatrist from the game—and learns that everything that's happened stems from her damaged psyche. It's not entirely clear how, but Hill hopes to eventually reduce them all to their most primal instincts, turning them into wendigoes.
Clover slides his mug under a drip from the roof, Hill takes a sip, and his body explodes. It's a bit of a head-scratcher, and in a post-credits scene, the villain is revealed to have survived. On one of his screens, we see the Washington Lodge on Blackwood Mountain from the Until Dawn game.
So, is this a prequel, sequel, or something else entirely? And why is Hill suddenly an antagonist after being used as little more than the physical manifestation of Josh's grief in the game?
"It’s an interesting question," Until Dawn director David F. Sandberg told Dexerto (via GameFragger.com). "I mean, it’s an Easter egg, sort of... It’s a little tricky because while we were shooting it, we actually sort of said it takes place after the game, but what we’re doing at the end implies that it could take place before the game."
"To be honest, it’s it’s not something I’ve sort of said completely," the filmmaker admitted. "I think it can be left open, at least until they want to do a sequel and we have to figure out exactly what that is."
"To me, whenever I make a movie, I just focus on making the best that movie. I would say the same with Shazam, where we had a post-credits scene with Mr. Mind and set up a thing, and then the sequel didn’t really do anything with that. But we could have...you have that option," Sandberg concluded.
So, it doesn't really mean anything...unless a sequel happens, and then it might. This isn't the most satisfying explanation, but horror movies like this one rarely provide particularly satisfying answers, especially when studios leave the door open to making a follow-up.
In Until Dawn, one year after her sister Melanie mysteriously disappeared, Clover and her friends head into the remote valley where she vanished in search of answers. Exploring an abandoned visitor center, they find themselves stalked by a masked killer and horrifically murdered one by one…only to wake up and find themselves back at the beginning of the same evening.
Trapped in the valley, they’re forced to relive the nightmare again and again - only each time the killer threat is different, each more terrifying than the last. Hope dwindling, the group soon realizes they have a limited number of deaths left, and the only way to escape is to survive until dawn.
Until Dawn is now playing in theaters.