David F. Sandberg Talks Expanding Upon Universe Of ‘Until Dawn’ In First-Look Featurette

Sony‘s Screen Gems has unveiled a first-look featurette for Until Dawn, its adaptation of the hit video game, directed by David F. Sandberg (Lights Out), which hits theaters April 25.

In the video, released on Tuesday, writer-producer Gary Dauberman reflects on his approach to the adaptation, saying that “as a huge fan of the Until Dawn game and how cinematic it was, I thought a lot about how we could continue the story without just giving the audience the same experience that they got when they were playing.”

Sandberg later notes that while the film has “the same tone and same vibe” as the game, it “expands upon the universe” at the same time. “One of the creative things the game did,” he says, “is that people make different choices and die in different ways. The movie has this mechanic where things start over and they get to try again. Every time they come back to life, it’s like they’re in a new horror genre. To survive, they have to make it until dawn.”

In the R-rated Until Dawn, a group spends the weekend in a ski lodge on the anniversary of their friends’ disappearance, unaware that they are not alone. Developed by Supermassive Games and released in 2015 for the PlayStation 4, the popular game features motion-capture performances from the likes of Rami Malek and Hayden Panettiere and spurred offshoots including Until Dawn: Rush of Blood, The Inpatient, and The Quarry.

The Until Dawn film stars Ella Rubin, Michael Cimino, Ji-young Yoo, Belmont Cameli, Odessa A’zion, Maia Mitchell and Peter Stormare. Dauberman, who has a first-look deal with Sony, produced alongside Mia Maniscalco for Coin Operated banner, along with Mngata’s Sandberg and Lotta Losten, Vertigo Entertainment’s Roy Lee, and PlayStation Productions’ Asad Qizilbash and Carter Swan.

View the Until Dawn featurette above.