Derived from the interactive survivalist horror game, Until Dawn is an original standalone story that expands upon the game series’ mythology, focusing on Clover and her friends, who head into the remote valley where Clover’s sister vanished in search of answers.
Exploring an abandoned visitor centre, 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 night 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.
As this wild, unpredictable adaptation arrives exclusively in theatres to terrorise audiences, Peter Gray spoke to star (and hopeful survivor) Michael Cimino about what fans of the game and the horror genre can expect, if he feels like he would’ve made the same moves as his character, and which video game he would personally like to visit the world of.
I’m not someone who played the game, so I went into this film blind and I had an absolute blast of a time! I’ll say congratulations first of all.
Oh, dude, thank you. I’m honestly really excited to see how people react to it that are just horror fans. Not even fans of the game, because I feel like this will honestly bring a new audience to the game that it didn’t have prior.
Was the game something you were familiar with going into this at all?
Yeah. We didn’t wind up playing the game while we were shooting. I was shooting something else during the prep for this, so I didn’t really get time to play the game. It was either play the game or work on the script. I was like, “Imma work on the script.” Once I was there in Budapest, we had some downtime, it was like, “Cool, now we could actually play the game.” I do feel like it’s very much a spiritual successor of the game. You know what I mean. It’s honouring all the original things, like the big friend group aspect and the history and the strong personalities, which are all signifying things in the game.
Do you almost have to let go of expectation? Video game fans and horror fans can be very vocal. Does that change your approach at all?
I mean, not necessarily, I think, for me, the source material, as far as the script, was really great. My approach for this was maybe a little different than a TV show. I think every approach is different, because of the needs or the priority within the amount of time given. Like, for this, the relationships between the character is a vitally important thing. As far as prep work goes, you’re just really trying to make sure all those relationships are solid. There’s history behind those relationships, because it’s a tight knit group. You want to make sure that feels accurate. I feel like we have amazing chemistry. I love everyone in this cast.
It did come across like you all had genuine dynamics between you. There was a lot more comedy than I was expecting.
You know, we wanted it to be a little tongue in cheek, you know what I mean? Those situations are kind of outrageous, right? You have to have those moments of levity to make the seriousness of it that much more important. When something bad is going wrong, or something crazy is happening, you do kind of make a joke out of it. You try to add a little moment of levity, so I feel like that’s true to life.
Was there a moment in the script that made you think, “This is why I love making movies!”?
Honestly, there’s a whole slew of things that really enticed me to be a part of this. First off, this amazing cast. These are the faces of young Hollywood. These are all people that are going to work for years and years to come, and to be amongst really great actors and to learn from everyone was amazing. I’m always trying to learn from any person I work with. There’s always something to learn from somebody. And I think that everyone had a different approach to the material and their technique.
Also, working with Gary (Dauberman, producer/screenwriter) prior. I did Annabelle Comes Home with Gary, and it was so great to work with (him) again. He’s an amazing guy, and Annabelle was my first feature, so to work with hum again was amazing.
Obviously there are certain things that you’re reacting to on set. Or on screen, but not physically on set. After multiple takes, what’s the approach for you in projecting authentic fear? Does that becomes more difficult as you keep going when you don’t know what you’re acting against?
Honestly, that goes into the prep work. If you do that you really buy into the stakes of what’s going on. It kind of gets easier as you go along. Obviously, being scared for that long is difficult. But we went along in the shoot and I started to work that muscle and really try to get into the head space. I found it easier to access that kind of emotion. I was also coming at it from a strong place inside my character. That was my goal.
Do you feel that you would have made the same decisions as your character, Max? Or you would have been, “I’m getting the **** out of here!”?
You know, there was some questionable decisions made throughout the film. But I can’t say…I’m obviously an outsider looking in. I knew what was going to happen in the movie. If I was in that kind of situation? Shit, I don’t know, man. I feel like there would have been a lot of things I would have done the same, but maybe some I would have done differently. I probably would have been more scared than Max, to be honest with you.
And for you, as Michael, if you could insert yourself into any video game, what do you think it would be?
Oh, geez. Oh, man, that’s a tough one. So, to me personally, right? I love fighting games. Like, I wouldn’t want to be in a Mortal Kombat because I don’t want to die a million times (laughs). Maybe a racing game. Like, a Gran Turismo, or something like that. Just to get to drive all day long, all night long…because, you know, I’m not dying. That’s cool and painless.
I don’t necessarily want to give anything away, but I’ll just say explosions…when that happened? Genuinely made me jump!
(Laughs) Yeah, it’s so absurd. We did this all practically, and it took a lot of extra time. David F. Sandberg, our director, (he) really wanted to make sure that it was all done practically. That was an important part of his vision. And he worked his ass off to make that happen. When we’re in it we don’t realise. It’s like, “Okay, this is what we’re doing.” But he really gave it his all. And our makeup and special effects team, they freaking killed it, dude. It took a lot of time. There’s a lot of attention to detail when it comes to this kind of stuff, and they really gave it their all for sure.
Well, hats off to everybody involved. I think with video game movies there’s always that trepidation with them. But this went above and beyond. I think it’ll hit with game fans and horror fans. I just had so much fun with it. It’s bloody and funny and unexpected. It’s exactly what we need right now.
Thank you, man. I’m really glad that you enjoyed the film, and I agree with you. I think that people will enjoy it. I think as soon as people give it a chance and see that it’s honouring the original source material, but it’s just a different spin. At the end of the day, the game is a 10-hour long movie. I know you didn’t play the fame, but it’s like a film. So it’s like trying to condense a 10-hour long film into a two hour movie. I feel like (this movie) was the best move to bring this to life. And I’m really excited to see how people react to it.
Well, I’m hoping for the best as well. It’s a fun movie and the genre is killing it at the moment. And I also just want to say, as a gay man, Love, Victor is the kind of show that I wish I had growing up. It’s so awesome to see representation done so naturally and authentically, and no longer just ticking off boxes. And it’s awesome to have someone like you at the forefront of that, so thank you for that.
Thank you so much. Man. Dude, I really appreciate that. That’s still, to this day, one of my favourite projects I’ve ever done. It means so much to so many people. People still stop me and thank me for being in it, and everyone understood how important that was. I fully stand by that project. It was one of the most incredible experiences I’ve had in my life. I feel so honoured to have been a part of that.
Until Dawn is screening in Australian theatres from April 24th, 2025. It will arrive in theatres in the United States on April 25th, 2025.
