UNTIL DAWN Stars Talk Time Loops, Practical Effects & What Horror Fans Should be Excited For

Ella Rubin, Michael Cimino, Belmont Cameli, Odessa A'zion in UNTIL DAWN | Photo by Kerry Brown

By Shannon McGrew

In UNTIL DAWN, based on the PlayStation Studios video game, one year after her sister Melanie mysteriously disappeared, Clover and her friends head into the remote valley where she vanished in search of answers. Exploring an abandoned visitor center, they find themselves stalked by a masked killer and horrifically murdered one by one…only to wake up and find themselves back at the beginning of the same evening. 

Trapped in the valley, they’re forced to relive the night again and again - only each time the killer threat is different, each more terrifying than the last. Hope dwindling, the group soon realizes they have a limited number of deaths left, and the only way to escape is to survive until dawn.

For the release of UNTIL DAWN, Creepy Kingdom’s Shannon McGrew spoke with actors Ji-young Yoo (“Megan”), Belmont Cameli (“Abe”), and Odessa A’zion (“Nina”). During their chat, they discussed everything from stepping into the horror genre for the first time to working with practical effects, time-loop terror, and the scene horror fans won't forget.

Thank you all so much for speaking with me today! Since I’m new to the world of UNTIL DAWN, can you tell me a little bit about your characters? 

Ji-young Yoo: I play Megan. We’re a group of friends who get caught in a horrible time loop where we’re dying over and over, and it’s a different threat every night.

Belmont Cameli: Abe is the boyfriend of Odessa’s character, Nina. There are four close friends, and then there is my character Abe, who is new to the friend group, so he’s on the outside. It was fun to be the contrasting character, the foil, and take a lot of heat from the group. It was a joy to play.

Odessa A’zion: I play Nina, and she’s just along for the ride with her friends, but also doesn’t really want to go and do it, but trusts her friend Megan because it was Megan’s idea to help Clover. She loves her friends and she’s loyal to her friends, so she does it and everything goes to shit [Laughs]. 

Odessa A'zion in UNTIL DAWN | Image courtesy of Kerry Brown

Since each time loop causes a death, how did you prepare for the physical effects that came with that? Did David help in any way to get you into that headspace? 

Odessa A’zion: I just did whatever they told me, honestly [Laughs]. We are being played with and dying over and over again, so it’s like we are puppets. David knows what he wants, and it really works. 

Ji-young Yoo: David had such a clear vision as a director, and that’s always really exciting to work with. Specific to Megan as a character, she is the proponent of the trip in a lot of ways, but then she also believes that she’s psychic, and you discover through all the time loops how true that is, so that was part of the prep. When you have someone like David, his mind works in such a way that scares are so much more terrifying than they are on the page.

Ji-young Yoo and Belmont Cameli, this was your first time stepping into the horror genre—what was that experience like? Would either of you like to expand on that?

Belmont Cameli: I was super excited. I’m a big fan of the genre, and I’m a viewer. I’ve always wanted to be in [a horror movie]. It was really fun, but it’s a grueling process to make a horror film, especially when you’re doing practical effects, which we did throughout, which was a joy. There are challenges to all of that, but it makes it easier on you as a performer because things are happening in real time, and the situations you’re in are not fabricated; they aren’t going to be painted in later, they are happening right now, and your body responds to that. It’s really fun as a fan of the genre to get to do a piece with so many different horror elements in it. I feel like I really lucked out.

What do you think horror fans are going to find most exciting about this film?

Odessa A’zion: The bathroom scene. 

Belmont Cameli: Yeah, the bathroom scene for sure. 

Ji-young Yoo: That’s definitely going to be a highlight, but I think what’s cool is that we move through so many subgenres that everyone will have a different favorite because we have so many options for you to choose from. 

UNTIL DAWN arrives exclusively in movie theaters April 25, 2025.