Game adaptations became an integral part of our pop culture. In the past, we got Mortal Kombat films, Tetris, Lara Croft: Tomb Rader, and, more recently, The Last of Us. There are ways to make the films so that both game and film/television fans are happy. Sadly, David F. Sandberg’s adaptation of Supermassive Games’ creation, Until Dawn, isn’t one of those films.

There’s nothing worse than spending money on a movie, only for it to turn out to be a complete letdown. Unfortunately, Until Dawn didn’t work for me—at all. While the acting and gruesome death scenes do their best to carry the film, they just aren’t enough. Sandberg crams in too many theories, some of which are never explained or developed throughout the story.

But first things first, let’s bring up Until Dawn’s synopsis, which is–surprise, surprise!–completely different from the game’s plot. In the film, Clover (Ella Rubin) is desperate to find her missing sister Melanie (Maia Mitchell) who disappeared without a trace a year before. Together with her friends, Max (Michael Cimino), Megan (Ji-young Yoo), Nina (Odessa A’zion), and Abe (Belmont Cameli), they venture out on the trace of Melanie, looking for clues of her whereabouts. After occurring a strange weather anomaly, the group is stuck in an abandoned mining town called Glore Valley, in a mysterious mansion that seems to be frozen in time.

As the friends die one by one, chased by murderers in clown masks, ghosts, and even Wendigo (?), they then wake up right back, to when they first arrived in the mansion, but their bodies slowly begin to change. As the title predicts, they have to survive until dawn to be freed of this strange curse that somehow connects to a mysterious Dr. Alan Hill (Peter Stormare).

The only upsides of the film, as mentioned above, are the cast ensemble and gore. All of the actors bring their A-game while being constantly targeted and attacked. The gnarly special effects and death scenes are definitely highlights of Until Dawn bringing some intensity. Stormare, particularly, conveys the similar intensity and fear that we know. However, that’s where the positivity ends.

As someone who played the game, I’m massively disappointed in switching of the entire plot line from the game. But even putting that aside—as a horror enthusiast and someone who writes about the genre—this film still doesn’t hold up, even as a standalone experience. It has too much going on and in the end, it’s not gratifying. Yes, they’re trying to do a whole spiel on playing on one’s fears, trying to gain depth but it just doesn’t work for me. So unless you’re feeling like a breezy horror filled with gore but without much plot development, you may like this one.

Part of the success of the game were the intense group dynamics that shaped the plot in the game—where was that in the film? The dynamics between group did change but didn’t really develop. Why would the creatives choose to tell a completely different story? *That* twist from the final act of the game could’ve been so, so effective on the big screen. And I would love to have seen that.

Though, a little teaser from the ending of the film suggest that there may be something more in the works. Who knows? All in all, Until Dawn is something to skip if you’re a fan of the game and its intense storyline. Disappointing is an understatement. But if you want something that focuses only on gore, you may like it. Sorry, but a few awesome, gory death scenes weren’t enough for me in this franchise. 3/10 from me.

Until Dawn is now in theaters.