WARNING: This article contains SPOILERS for Until Dawn.
Director David F. Sandberg’s film adaptation ofUntil Dawndeviates significantly from the video game it’s based on. Nevertheless, theUntil Dawnmovietakes plenty of opportunities to pay tribute to the original game. As Clover and her friends search for Melanie and explore the haunted Glore lodge,Until Dawn, right up to its ending,presents several Easter eggs for fans of the game to spot so they can enjoy the film even more.
Fans will spot familiar monsters and characters from the video game tormenting the protagonists inSandberg’sUntil Dawnmovie. The horror adaptation also features imagery that gamers may recognize from playing the source material. Though this video game adaptation took several liberties for the big screen, the filmmakers clearly did their research, as evidenced by the number of clever Easter eggs hidden throughout the movie.
10The Journal
Melanie’s Writing Reflects Another Character’s Monstrous Transformation
In the Glore lodge, Clover and her friends find a logbook with the signatures of all the people who were trapped and killed by the house’s evil force. These people’s signatures are rewritten every time the house’s time loop resets. However, Melanie’s signatures grow harder to read with each passing day, conveying how she is slowly losing herself as she transforms into a Wendigo.
This log entry parallels the pages found in Hannah’s journal in the game, which she used to document her last days alive as she was trapped in the mines. Like Melanie, Hannah’s writing becomes less articulate and more like scribbles as she transforms into a monstrous Wendigo.
9The Grave Site
Beth Appears In Spirit Through A Mysterious Cross
The film version ofUntil Dawnboth begins and ends with characters trying to escape the Wendigo by clawing their way out of an underground tunnel near a grave site marked by a cross. This burial marker is a reference to a similar landmark in the video game, which reveals that Hannah buried Beth’s dead body and placed a wooden cross on her grave site. While the cross bears Beth’s name in the game, the one in the film bears no name. This raises questions about whether this plot of land was originally supposed to be someone’s final resting place.
8Hartley’s
A Quaint Store Pays Homage To One Of Until Dawn’s Original Characters
In the film, as they search for Clover’s sister Melanie, Clover and her friends stop at a convenience store named “Hartley’s.” This establishment is where Melanie was last seen before her disappearance, having appeared in a video sent to Clover. While they don’t find Melanie there, another person of interest is name-dropped in this scene.
The name of the store is a clear reference to Chris Hartley, Josh’s friend and one of the eight playable characters in theUntil Dawnvideo game. Ironically, the store initially appears to be run by another character who also appeared in the video game: Dr. Alan Hill.
7The Woman With The Oxygen Tank
The Glore Witch Takes A Move From The Mystery Man’s Playbook
At one point in the film, Clover is cornered by a wicked old woman known as the Glore Witch. The latter possesses Clover by putting an oxygen mask over her face, forcing her to kill Max. While the witch seems to be based on the ghost puppet used by Josh in the game, she is more explicitly inspired by the Mystery Man.
In the video game, the Mystery Man uses gas to render his targets unconscious. The film seems to expand on this tactic by having the glass knock Clover out, so the witch can take control of her body. The possessed Clover even dons a mask like the Mystery Man.
6The Hourglass
Until Dawn’s Iconic Hourglass Plays A New Role In The Film
One image strongly associated with theUntil Dawnvideo game is an hourglass resembling a skull. This object is used as a haunting symbol in the game’s cover art, representing the story’s theme of time, with the player’s actions having butterfly effects that influence future events.
While the hourglass is initially just a decorative symbol, it takes on much greater significance within the film’s story. In the movie’s haunted house, an hourglass with a skull decoration is mounted on the wall. This mysterious device resets itself at the end of each night, signifying that time has been reversed and all the deaths that occurred are undone.
5The Missing Posters
Many Notable Figures Appear As One Of The Film’s Missing Persons
While exploring the old Glore Valley house, Abel comes across a room with several missing posters stuck to the wall. These posters present all the people whose lives were claimed by the entity tormenting Clover and her friends. These posters are an expansion of the missing posters of Hannah and Beth found in the video game. Among the people on missing posters is a miner, referencing the mining collapse explored later in the story. Also,UntilDawn’s director, David F. Sandberg, appears as one of the people in the missing posters, showing even he isn’t safe in his own film.
4The Mystery Man
An Iconic Villain From The Game Appears In 2025’s Until Dawn
Though the movie features many more supernatural creatures than the game, it retains one of the latter’s more human antagonists in the form of the Mystery Man. In the game, the antagonist, Josh, stalks and tries to kill members of the core group while wearing a frightening mask and assuming the fictional persona of escaped convict Victor Milgram. Though this slasher villain is an entirely different character in the film, he is brought to life wearing a mask very similar to the one seen in the game.
The Game’s Fearsome Monsters Return To Scare Folks In The Film
One of the most frightening attractions in theUntil Dawnvideo game is the Wendigos. In the source material, these monstrous creatures were once humans who engaged in cannibalism and were subsequently transformed by the evil Wendigo spirit. Clover’s sister, Melanie, even transforms into a Wendigo, like Josh’s sister, Hannah, does in the game.
Despite its differences from the game, theUntil Dawnfilm depicts the Wendigos in their haunting original design. However, the film also appears to feature a Wendigo the size of a building that tries to prevent Nina and Abel from driving away from the Glore lodge.
2Peter Stormare
One Of The Game’s Cast Members Returns In The Film
ThoughUntilDawn’s main cast is different from the video game’s, the film does star one actor who worked on the source material. Peter Stormare, who portrayed the characterDr. Alan Hill in theUntil Dawngame, also stars in the film adaptation as the character of the same name.
In the source material, Dr. Alan Hill is Josh’s psychiatrist, who appears to him in his hallucinations throughout the game. Meanwhile, the film presents Hill as the main antagonist, as he conducts experiments on Clover and her friends as he watches them all die and slowly transform into monsters.
1The Second House
The Film Seems To Tease A More Faithful Sequel With Its Final Image
One of the biggest differences between the video game and film versions ofUntil Dawnis its setting. While the game takes place in a snowy mountain lodge, the film occurs in a house in a valley in the middle of a rainstorm. While the film ends with Clover killing Dr. Hill and leaving the house with her friends, it cuts to Hill’s office for one final reference to the original game.
In Hill’s office, for some reason, the late doctor’s security cameras cut to a lodge in a snow-filled environment, similar to the Washington Lodge, before the credits roll. This seems to hint that the doctor had more than one test site for his supernatural experiments, one that is more in line with the setting of theUntil Dawnvideo game.
