Until Dawn ending explained: Do Clover and her friends escape?

Until Dawn is a horror film directed by David F. Sandberg, released on April 25, 2025. The film is inspired by the 2015 game created by Supermassive Games and follows the story of a group of friends on an investigation to find a missing person.

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for the film. Reader's discretion is advised.

Until Dawn features an ensemble cast, including Ella Rubin as Clover Paul, Michael Cimino as Max, Odessa A'zion as Nina, Ji-young Yoo as Megan, Belmont Cameli as Abel, Maia Mitchell as Melanie Paul, and Peter Stormare as Dr. Alan Hill.

The plot follows Clover and her friends, who find themselves in a remote house in Glore Valley investigating her sister Melanie's disappearance. The group gets stuck in a time loop, hunted down by monsters, being exploded by poisoned water, and attacked by Wendigos (mythological evil spirits) every night.

They soon realize they have only thirteen lives and must escape the mystical woodland mansion before time runs out. The objective of the group is to survive until dawn, break Melanie out of the mansion, and escape.

The group of five manages to escape the mansion as Clover outsmarts the antagonist of the film, Dr. Hill, and steals the keys to Melanie's cell. She breaks her sister out just in time, and they all escape Glore Valley in Abe's car.

How does Clover outsmart Dr.Hill in Until Dawn?

Clover and Dr.Hill (Image via YouTube/ Sony Pictures Entertainment)

In Until Dawn, the group of friends split up while being chased by Wendigos. Clover soon finds her sister strapped to a chair in a padded cell. Unable to unlock the cell, she searches for the keys and ends up in Dr. Hill's office.

There, she finds an unusual setup, an observation deck with screens showing footage from all across Glore Valley. Soon after, in a confrontation with Dr.Hill, he reveals that he came to the town to experiment on the survivors of the mining accident in 1998. He realized that their trauma, coupled with endless nights, transforms them into Wendigos.

He has been trapping every visitor and turning them into evil monsters via the time loop. He also tells Clover that her friends are trapped here because of her, and someone must die for them to escape. While Dr. Hill is speaking, Clover pushes his coffee cup over so that poisoned water drips into it. When he takes a sip from the cup, Dr. Hill ends up combusting.

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Does Dr. Hill survive in Until Dawn?

Once the group escapes, the scene switches to Dr. Hill's office. With someone humming in the background, the footage of all the screens switches to a new location, a snowy, empty lodge. This location appears in the original game and hints at the movie being a prequel to another.

As the credits roll, viewers see a car pulling up to the snowy lodge, hinting that the story is not over. The humming heard is rumored to be Dr. Hill, likely moving on to a different location to conduct his experiments.

Until Dawn is available to watch in theatres.

About the author

Abhisri K is an Entertainment writer at Sportskeeda. With a B.Tech in Biotechnology that honed her analytical and critical thinking skills, her passion for entertainment led her to explore writing about TV shows and movies. Her journey began as the Head of Writing for PES University's drama club, where she led scriptwriting and creative content development.

Abhisri's love for films and TV shows stems from their power to connect people, reflect culture, and evoke emotions that resonate with global audiences. She is committed to ethical journalism, ensuring accuracy and relevance by cross-verifying sources and maintaining objectivity in her reporting.

When she is not writing, Abhisri enjoys reading, exploring new music genres, and sketching.

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Edited by Ivanna Lalsangzuali