Who Survives the Terrifying Time Loop?

Until Dawn is keeping viewers up all night.

Based on the classic PlayStation horror video game, the Until Dawn movie hit theaters in April 2025, and is now scaring up a whole new audience on Netflix.

Until Dawn is inspired by the game, but it does not depict the events of it. Instead it tells an original story set in the world of the game, as a group of teens attempt to survive a nightmarish time loop — like a gory Groundhog Day.

The horror movie allowed for a variety of gruesome deaths, which was intriguing to director David F. Sandberg (Annabelle: Creation).

“I was like, ‘Well, this is awesome because it has every horror genre. I’ll get to do slasher, supernatural, body horror, monster and found footage,’ ” he told The Hollywood Reporter in April 2025. “It had everything in one movie, which is what really drew me to it.”

So what happens in Until Dawn, and who ends up surviving the time loop? Here’s the ending of Until Dawn explained, and what the final shot of the movie means.

Warning: Until Dawn spoilers ahead.

What is Until Dawn about?

Until Dawn follows a young woman named Clover (Ella Rubin), and her group of friends as they search for Clover’s older sister, Melanie (Maia Mitchell), who mysteriously vanished a year earlier.

Their hunt leads them to Glore Valley, a remote mining town that has long been abandoned. The friends enter the valley’s local visitors center, only to find themselves trapped in a terrifying time loop as they try to outrun masked killers, witches and monstrous Wendigos.

“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,” reads the official description, per Sony Pictures.

What happens at the end of Until Dawn?

Megan follows the sinister Dr. Hill (Peter Stormare) to see if she can find anything that will help them escape.

The group searches for Megan, following her down a tunnel that leads to a series of underground buildings. There, the friends split up as they try to outrun monsters and masked killers. Clover confronts an inhuman creature, who turns out to be her missing sister, Melanie, who was transformed when she couldn’t survive the night.

Clover kills Melanie, telling her she loves her, but that she’s getting out of “this hellhole.”

Clover then finds Megan, who is locked in a cell with a chained-up Wendigo. Searching for a key to free Megan, Clover finds Dr. Hill, who had been watching the nightmare unfold on security camera feeds in his office.

After sneakily slipping poisoned water into his coffee, Clover kills Dr. Hill and frees Megan. The two join the rest of their gang and outrun the monsters chasing them. They are all able to crawl up through the ground and escape the subterranean lair.

As they lie on their backs, they see the sun start to rise, relieved that they have survived the night.

Who survives the night in Until Dawn?

At the end of the movie, Clover and her friends — Nina (Odessa A’zion), Max (Michael Cimino), Megan (Ji-young Yoo), and Abel (Belmont Cameli) — are all able to escape the time loop just before the death clock runs out one last time.

They drive off in their jeep, leaving the cursed valley and visitors center behind them.

Does Dr. Hill die?

When Clover and her friends first arrive in Glore Valley, they stop by a gas station. Clover talks to the attendant, who is later revealed to be Dr. Hill, a man who had come to the town to help the survivors of a mining accident, but instead conducted experiments on the residents as they were stuck in the mysterious time loop.

Towards the end of the movie, Clover searches for a key to free Megan, who is locked in a cell. Clover stumbles upon Dr. Hill’s office, who reveals to her that the time loop and the creatures chasing her friends are all a result of her trauma, tied to her psyche.

As Dr. Hill explains this to her, Clover manages to push his coffee cup under a leaking pipe above his desk. In an earlier death scene, the friends discovered that drinking the valley’s tainted water makes people spontaneously combust — and that’s what happens to Dr. Hill after he takes a sip of his coffee.

Dr. Hill’s body explodes in a mess of blood and guts, leading viewers to believe he is dead — until the final shot brings that into question.

What does the final shot of Until Dawn mean?

The final shot of Until Dawn focuses on the security camera screens in Dr. Hill’s office, showing different rooms in the visitors center.

The screens flicker and change to show various rooms in a different location, a cabin in the woods. In one of the lower screens, a black van is shown pulling up in front of the snowy cabin, the same cabin that is the setting for the Until Dawn video game.

Dr. Hill can be heard whistling off-screen, presumably watching as his latest victims arrive.

According to ComicBook.com, the Until Dawn movie is seemingly a prequel to the classic game, as a new group of friends are about to experience the time loop.

Earlier, it is also suggested that the game and movie exist in the same universe. In the scene where Clover confronts Dr. Hill in his office, a file for a patient, Joshua Washington, can briefly be seen. In the video game, Joshua is a character voiced by Rami Malek.