Footage from the live-action film Until Dawn shows the changes to the video game

Cracking the code to adapt any video game into a TV show or movie may have a higher success rate than before, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. oh sure super-fast hedgehogs have become titans of the box officeand success stories based on spores made us cry for Pedro Pascal again. However, in the case of the adaptation directed by David F. Sandberg’s “Until Dawn” could be a bit more challenging.

Originally released in 2015, Until Dawn was a cinematic horror game where you take control of a group of characters where every corner you turn or conversation the player chooses to engage in can affect whether or not they survive or die, and not a solitary passage was the same. It is made for one of the best horror video games ever. Now, as can be seen from Sandberg’s first look at the film (embedded above), it appears that a variant of this mechanic is cleverly implemented in an entirely new story and a completely different setting compared to the game the film is based on.

The original Until Dawn game notably featured motion picture appearances by Rami Malek, Hayden Panettiere, and Peter Stormare, the latter of whom is the only cast member confirmed for the film version. “Until Dawn” tells the story of a group of friends who find themselves in a mountain cabin in the snow when all kinds of chills start happening. However, this promo (which also features interview clips with Sandberg and co-writer/producer Gary Doberman) includes what looks like a good old house that screams “haunted” without the snow. Of course, just because the location is different now doesn’t mean it will stay that way.

According to Sandberg returning to the horror genre after controlling a pair of “Shazam!” movies, “Until Dawn” has a mechanic “that will see characters die and they can try again.” So far, “Happy Death Day,” right? Unlike that horror-comedy standout (which mixed Scream with Groundhog Day), this new film will include a video game-like streak where the characters will return not just to the land of the living, but to a completely different experience. “Every time they come back to life, it feels like they’re entering a new horror genre. To survive, they will have to live until dawn,” added Sandberg.

This detail shows that the movie is trying its best to live up to the original game, which mixed many horror genres and immersed you in them with each character you control. While one was wandering around the cabin in search of an unidentified stalker, the other was lost in the corridors of an abandoned psychiatric hospital, where there are still many people. With that in mind, don’t be surprised if the film’s cast (which also includes Maya Mitchell, Odessa A’Zion, and Michael Cimino) turns sour, and at some point they all end up in a place that fans of the original video game will be very familiar with.

Until Dawn opens in theaters on April 25, 2025.