The cast of Until Dawn were in for a surprise as they headed to Wondercon for the Until Dawn press tour, only for it to be their own terrifying timeloop of scare pranks.
Ella Rubin, Michael Cimino, Odessa A’zion, Ji-young Yoo, Belmont Cameli joined Wondercon for a day of meet-and-greets and interviews, along with producer-director David F. Sandberg, producer-writer Gary Dauberman, and producer Carter Swan. What they didn’t know was that throughout their day, jumpscares were waiting for them in the most unexpected places.
The cast came into filming Until Dawn with 100% energy, excited for the horrors that awaited them. “Until Dawn gave me the opportunity to keep pushing, rather than pulling back. That was exciting and kind of delicious. There’s no way to rein it in when your character is constantly in a life and death situation, and you’re literally being chased by a monster with an axe!” Ella Rubin, who plays Clover, says.
Michael Cimino, who plays Clover’s ex-boyfriend Max, was fascinated about the changes their characters go through as the story progresses. “I love that every character, after each night, is changing a bit and revealing more of themselves. Every character is on an admittedly scary path of self-discovery,” he says.
As a tight-knit circle of friends, there are different roles that the characters fit into in a group dynamic. For Ji-young Yoo, she thinks of her character Megan “spiritual core of the group,” she says. “Megan is a strong believer in the supernatural. She thinks that the trip is going to help them all lock into some kind of energy from the missing Melanie. That will help them all close out this chapter in their lives.”
Somehow the odd one out, Belmont Cameli’s character Abe, feels just a little distant from the group. “Abe is definitely on the group’s periphery,” says Cameli, who takes on the role. “He’s also a bit of a know-it-all and smartass. I also enjoyed that Abe is on the outside of this inner circle of friends and playing that dynamic with the rest of the cast.”
Even through the rough patches that come with the worst night of their lives, their friendship is held strong by Clover. “Clover is the anchor of the movie. She’s the reason the friends come together and undertake this journey. They rally around Clover and want to give her closure to the disappearance of her sister, in the hopes of finding their friend, again,” says writer Dauberman.
Stay tuned to see if this group of friends survive Until Dawn, in Philippine cinemas on Friday, April 25.