How The Until Dawn Movie's Wendigos Compare To The Video Games
Does Until Dawn's movie change the wendigos?
Although Until Dawnâs trailer promises a story that only slightly resembles the cult video game, director David F. Sandbergâs upcoming adaptation does keep one major monster from the hit. Released in 2015, Until Dawn was a hit horror video game with a killer cast and a unique hook. Until Dawnâs butterfly effect style of storytelling meant that a playerâs decisions massively impacted the plot. Until Dawn included voice talent and motion capture performances from Hayden Panettiere, Rami Malek, and Peter Stormare among others, and its story was written by indie horror legend Larry Fessenden.
Although there were rumors of an Until Dawn movie as far back as the gameâs original 2015 release, it has taken ten years for the project to reach the big screen. Until Dawnâs remake arrived in late 2024, while the movie will be released in April 2025. However, fans of the fame may need to keep a very open mind when it comes to the movie adaptation. Judging by its trailer, director David F. Sandbergâs Until Dawn adaptation barely resembles the original game save for its isolated setting.
What The Until Dawn Movie's Wendigos Look LikeThe Until Dawn Movieâs Wendigos Are Tall White Bony Humanoids
In the video gameâs story, players are hounded by a masked maniac until this entire portion of the game is revealed to be an absurdly elaborate and incredibly dangerous prank designed by one of the main characters. It is then that the real threat of Until Dawnâs video game story, the wendigos, comes to the fore. A supernatural being that originated in Algonquian folklore, wendigos are humans who transform into monstrous, super-strong, insatiable humanoids after committing cannibalism.
The wendigo appears in Stephen Kingâs novel Pet Sematary, the underrated Western horror movie Ravenous, and the 2021 movie Antlers, but Until Dawnâs villains may be the most memorable depictions of wendigos in video games. The video gameâs wendigos are impossibly tall, lanky humanoid monsters with skeletal builds, long, clawed hands, sharpened teeth, and milk-white eyes. The Until Dawn movieâs wendigos are tall, long-limbed, white-eyed monsters with pointed teeth, but this similarity doesnât necessarily mean that the movie will be true to the game.
How The Movie's Wendigos Appearance Compares To The Video GamesThe Movie Adaptation Is Largely Faithful Save For One Giant Wendigo
One of the biggest problems faced by Until Dawnâs movie adaptation is the fact that the game is already incredibly cinematic, so a straightforward retelling of its story could result in a movie that feels like a thin retread of the game. Rehashing the story in live action without allowing viewers to control the experience could make Until Dawn feel like the same story but told less effectively, so Sandberg and company went with a completely different approach. Instead, Until Dawnâs movie adaptation tells a different story to the game, judging by its trailer.
The Until Dawn movie is about a group of teens who visit a remote, isolated guest house in search of a missing sister. Once there, they are brutally killed, only to come back to life and go through this same process all over again. The characters are trapped in a stable time loop that seems to be linked to the house, and they face different paranormal monsters every night. These include a masked slasher killer, ghostly apparitions, parasitic worms, and what looks like Until Dawnâs wendigos.
There is one shot of a gigantic wendigo as tall as a house in the trailer, even though the game only features wendigos that are under three meters tall.
Although they are only one of the many threats in the movie adaptationâs story, the appearance of the wendigos seems to be unchanged in the movie adaptation. There is one shot of a gigantic wendigo as tall as a house in the trailer, even though the game only features wendigos that are under three meters tall. However, this could be part of the Until Dawn movieâs attempts to avoid a major adaptation problem by adding new villains to liven up the gameâs familiar story.
The Wendigos Role In The Until Dawn Movie Compared To The Video GameThe Movieâs Threats Appear To Be More Varied Than The Gameâs Lone Villain
In the Until Dawn game, the wendigos are the primary threat that players must defeat to survive. In Until Dawnâs movie adaptation, the wendigos are only one of many monsters that the heroes face while trying to escape the guest house. Judging by the limited information given in the trailer, it seems as though the group faces a new monster every time they die and regenerate back at the house. One of these monsters is the slasher killer, another is a creepy elderly woman who appears to be possessed, and another is the wendigos.
While Until Dawnâs cast changed in the jump from game to movie, its story appears to have also been heavily altered. The wendigos still appear, but they are just another one of many threats faced by the heroes instead of acting as the primary antagonists. This means the Until Dawn movie may not feel particularly true to the source material.
Until Dawn
Release Date
April 23, 2025
Director
David F. Sandberg
Writers
Gary Dauberman, Blair Butler
Producers
Carter Swan, Roy Lee, Gary Dauberman, Charles Miller, Lotta Losten, Asad Qizilbash