Weaving in several different tropes of terror, “allows us to have the fun of killing off our characters,” says producer-writer Gary Dauberman of Until Dawn, an expansion of PlayStation Studios’ popular videogame of the same name, introducing a new story and fresh characters, tailored to a broader horror audience while honoring what makes the game so memorable.
For director-producer David F. Sandberg and producer-writer Gary Dauberman (who co-scripted with
Blair Butler), having, separately or together, been responsible for Annabelle: Creation, Lights Out, and The Nun, their love for all things horror is fully realised in Until Dawn.
Within the film’s time loop framework, where each night sees the characters trapped in what feels like a different horror film, the filmmakers have crafted a terrifying mix of different genre styles, creating a
unique experience for movie audiences.
The time loop structure also offers an unpredictable, propulsive, and supernatural mystery, which the characters must unravel to make it through – and avoid becoming part of the night. They must continually reconsider their choices and explore different paths, while coming to understand a shocking paradox in which they can only survive by dying first.
“Every night, the story resets, taking us into a new horror genre,” Sandberg elaborates. “As a lifelong horror fan, it was a dream come true to work in all these subgenres. Every night, the characters undergo what feels like a new chapter in a different story.
“Before learning of Until Dawn, I’d been thinking about what a perfect project would be,” he continues.
“Would it be a slasher movie, or a supernatural story, or maybe a creature feature? Until Dawn has it all; it’s several horror movies in one, which made me fall in love with it. We get to play with the entire horror toolbox. You never know what’s coming next in our story, because it changes every night.”
Weaving in several different tropes of terror, “allows us to have the fun of killing off our characters,” says Dauberman, with a smile. “It was both a challenge and tremendous fun because we had the freedom to say, ‘Yeah, f*** it, let’s just kill him.’”
An expansion of PlayStation Studios’ popular video game of the same name, as fans of the game, Sandberg and Dauberman saw an opportunity to build upon its world and turn it into a theatrical cinematic experience. The film introduces a new story and fresh characters, tailored to a broader horror audience while honouring what makes the game so memorable.
Producer Asad Qizilbash, who is SVP Head of Publishing, Studio Business Group and Head of PlayStation Productions, Sony Interactive Entertainment, says he’s more than impressed by how the filmmakers have extended, while always respecting the world envisioned by the artists at PlayStation.
“PlayStation Productions serves as a vessel for top creators to translate their passion for gaming into compelling narratives across various media. Being fans of the game themselves, David, Gary and their cast and crew have worked closely with our team at PlayStation Productions to make sure the film captured
what fans love most about the Until Dawn world. And while you don’t need to have played the game to enjoy the movie’s twists and turns, there’s a good chance that fans will spot some cool references to the original story.”
Adds screenwriter Blair Butler: “Gary and I loved the way the game starts as one horror genre and turns into something different. This amazing blend of horror styles – and a structure that lets you try to save everybody or just kill them all off in terrible ways – were our north stars in crafting the screenplay.”
A loop in time
While the characters relive the night again and again, each time facing a horrifically different challenge, they are far from invincible. There are strict rules in the film’s mysterious and deadly time loop. It’s not as simple as reliving the same day. They must work together in a race against time to survive until dawn. Each one fears dying but living without each other scares them even more.
As Sandberg points out, “They only get so many chances to escape. It’s more intriguing than having the characters die and come back repeatedly. We had to make it more challenging for them. We put them through hell and got creative with ways of killing them.”
“The consequences multiply,” he continues. “And they have only a limited time to extricate themselves by finding a way to work together, before they die for real.”
To that end, each time a character comes back to life, something new is trying to kill them. “They have no idea what horror is waiting for them next,” says Dauberman. “It’s never, ‘Oh, if we just do the same thing we did last night, we’ll get out of this situation.’ It doesn’t work like that.”
Moreover, each character returns from the dead diminished, physically and mentally. “They are slowly becoming the thing that’s been terrifying them for several nights,” Dauberman summarises.
An integral part of the time loop concept is a prominent hourglass, resting ominously on one of the walls of a “welcome center” in which the friends are trapped. The hourglass is a totem of the group’s race against time and a constant reminder of their horrific predicaments. A complex mechanism resets the hourglass by rotating it 180 degrees at dawn as it counts down the hours before they meet an nspeakable fate.
“The hourglass is one of the most important parts of the movie,” producer Lotta Losten claims. “It has this otherworldly feel. Every time we cut to it, you’ll know something really bad is going to happen. At the same time, it’s very beautiful.”
Reteaming on the heels of their horror hit Annabelle: Creation, Sandberg and Gary Dauberman kickstarted pre-production on Until Dawn by reassembling the core creative team from Sandberg’s previous films (Shazam! Annabelle: Creation and Lights Out) and from The Conjuring cinematic universe, on which Dauberman was a key creative.
Production designer Jennifer Spence, director of photography Maxime Alexandre, creature and prosthetic effects artist Steve Newburn, and editor Michel Aller, came aboard to collaborate with the two filmmakers on their unique vision for this horror thrill ride.
Spence was tapped to usher the cursed mining town of Glore Valley into reality. Having already established a solid visual shorthand with Sandberg and Dauberman, she set out to find ways to depict how this once thriving community had catastrophically sunk underground after a local mine’s collapse, burying thousands of its citizens alive.
Clover and her friends’ desperate search for Melanie and terrifying race against time begins at Glore Valley’s mysterious Welcome Center, before dragging them into the bowels of the collapsed mine system and the rotting urban structures below.
As the characters transform upon waking after each night’s death, their physical environment similarly rearranges itself upon every reset. These narrative time-jumps, backwards and forward, demanded meticulous planning and logistical oversight from all creative departments.
Principal photography took place in the Hungarian capital city of Budapest, a production hub popular with international filmmakers.
DAVID F. SANDBERG (Director / Producer) is a renowned Swedish filmmaker based in Los Angeles known for his wide array of talents across a variety of genres. Sandberg started his career releasing short horror films in his native Sweden, including the 2013 viral hit Lights Out, which starred Losten in the lead role. Shortly after its online debut — the film has over 18 million views on YouTube — the short quickly caught the attention of the biggest decision-makers in Hollywood as well as a massive fanbase. In 2016, it was adapted into a feature film by New Line Cinema/Warner Bros. with Sandberg at the helm and grossed $148 million against a $4.9 million budget. Until Dawn marks Sandberg’s highly anticipated return to the horror genre, after a wildly successful stint directing the Shazam! franchise. Sandberg and his partner, Lotta Losten, have never strayed far from their genre roots, as they recently created two horror shorts from their home during quarantine – the first titled Shadowed and the other titled Not Alone in Here. These shorts were both released online under David’s pseudonym ‘ponysmasher’ and were massive hits. Previously, Sandberg directed Annabelle: Creation for New Line Cinema, which was the fourth instalment in The Conjuring Universe franchise.
GARY DAUBERMAN (Producer / Writer) is one of the most sought-after filmmakers in Hollywood today as seen by his numerous projects which include original content, franchise film series and high-profile adaptations in both film and television. Dauberman has a production deal with Sony and Screen Gems for his Coin Operated production company. Until Dawn is the first project to be released in theaters
under the deal. After the success of writing the It and Annabelle film franchises, Dauberman made
his directorial debut in 2019 with Annabelle Comes Home, which he also wrote. His second feature as director was Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot, which he adapted and executive produced. As for his screenwriting credits, Dauberman penned the adaptation of Stephen King’s beloved tome It, directed by Andy Muschietti. Dauberman wrote and executive produced the film’s box-office smash sequel, It:
Chapter Two, which was released in 2019. Combined, the films earned over $1.1 billion worldwide.
Dauberman joined the creative team behind The Conjuring Universe when he wrote the screenplay for Annabelle, and wrote the sequels Annabelle: Creation and Annabelle Comes Home. Dauberman also wrote the record-breaking spinoff, The Nun, which Warner Bros. released in 2018. The film’s sequel, The Nun 2, with Dauberman as producer, was released theatrically in 2023 and topped the opening weekend box-office. To date, the combined earnings of The Conjuring universe films exceed $2 billion at the worldwide box-office. On the development front, Dauberman is the writer and a producer on the upcoming remake of Train to Busan for New Line Cinema; he is the writer and an executive producer
on the Gargoyles live-action series for Disney+, based on the 1990’s cartoon; and he is producing an adaptation of the Eisner Award nominated horror graphic novel Stray Dogs. Dauberman served as producer of The Curse of La Llorona. In television, Dauberman wrote Swamp Thing with Mark Verheiden for Atomic Monster and Warner Bros. Television, which streamed on DC Universe in 2019. He was
also an executive producer on the critically acclaimed series.
In addition to adapting PlayStation’s iconic game Until Dawn, BLAIR BUTLER (Writer) rewrote Omega for Mandalay and Simon McQuoid and adapted Ology, the fantasy franchise starter from the thirteen-book series of the same name. Continuing her streak at the studio, Blair did a production polish on Area 51 for Sony, Atomic Monster and Colin Minihan and has done production work on several other Sony and Screen Gems titles. Screen Gems released The Invitation in 2022, which Butler originally sold on pitch to the studio. Most recently, she adapted Occupant for New Line and wrote Nonstop for Netflix and Amblin. Additionally, Butler did production work on Hell Fest for CBS Films and Valhalla, and received sole credit on Polaroid, which was released by Dimension Films in 2019, with Vertigo and Good Fear producing. Butler also wrote a project for Bad Robot and Paramount, had a thriller for James Wan and New Line,
and worked on a feature for Pixar. On the TV side, Butler was a producer on Marvel’s Helstrom for Hulu. She’s also well known for her comedy background, having spent eight years as the head writer and on-air talent on G4’s Attack of the Show, where she created a comedy series called Slasher School. She also completed a comedy pilot for eOne in the style of a mash-up between House Flippers and The Exorcist.