The Anachronistic Abyss: Until Dawn (2024) and the Paradox of Revival Horror
Why make this film in 2024? The answer lies in the economics of “revival horror.” Following the success of The Last of Us (HBO, 2023) and Five Nights at Freddy’s (2023), studios have recognized that video game IP carries a pre-sold, nostalgic audience. However, Until Dawn differs from those properties: The Last of Us is a linear narrative game; Five Nights at Freddy’s is a jump-scare simulator. Until Dawn is a branching narrative —its identity is its non-linearity. Until Dawn -2024-
Sandberg’s adaptation selects the “canon” route: Emily survives, Matt dies, Chris fails to shoot Ashley, Josh becomes the wendigo. This selection is arbitrary. In the game, these outcomes feel earned through player failure or ruthlessness. In the film, they feel like authorial fiat. The film reduces the butterfly effect—a system of cascading, invisible causality—to a simple sequence of cause-and-effect jump scares. A character who dies in the film does not evoke the player’s guilt; they evoke only the director’s cruelty. The Anachronistic Abyss: Until Dawn (2024) and the
The 2024 film adaptation arrives nine years later, in a media landscape dominated by “prestige” horror (A24, Blumhouse) and algorithmic content. The film’s central creative decision—to abandon the game’s branching narrative for a linear, ensemble-slasher structure—is not an act of artistic compromise but an ontological betrayal. The film becomes a ghost of the game: it possesses the skin, the dialogue echoes, the iconic lodge, but lacks the animating spirit of consequence . Until Dawn is a branching narrative —its identity