Zadzooks: Until Dawn review

A group of friends trapped in a snowy, mountainside getaway gives gamers a chance to enjoy a third-person, interactive horror movie in Until Dawn (Sony Computer Entertainment and Supermassive Games, Rated M, $59.99).

I’ll emphasize “interactive” here as a player actually determines the life and death struggles of eight unusually attractive teens as they attempt to survive the night against numerous predators.

Within minutes of playing the PlayStation 4 exclusive game, a pair of sisters apparently perishes by my first, ill-informed decision. After a stupid prank from their peers goes wrong, the pair ends up hanging over a mountain precipice with a mystery maniac spewing flames and hovering above them.

I allowed Beth to let go of her grip on the rocks as her sister Hannah clung to her. I was hoping the fall was not as deadly as it looked. Whoops.

Already shaken, I am luckily ushered to a scene of a psychiatrist walking me though the guilt process and explaining whatever happens forward to remember that it is only a game.

Welcome to latest attempt by a developer to make an interactive movie.

Thanks to the wild success of Telltale Games’ “The Walking Dead” and innovations of SCEA’s “Beyond: Two Souls,” it was just a matter of time before manipulated storytelling this incredible appeared.

With a tip of the chainsaw to such monster and slasher films as “Saw,” “Evil Dead” and “Friday the 13th,” the sometimes bloody and gory action allows the control of each of the characters at some point during the 10 episodic chapters.

Specifically, a player can shape their relationships with the others, their emotional states and personalities. The player then engages with friends and makes many decisions while exploring creepy cabins, tool shed, an abandoned sanitarium and surrounding outdoors of the Blackwood Pines estate.

Choices can often lead to a butterfly effect of plot outcomes as each of even the smallest decisions can lead to nuances in crafting the movie. For example, not shooting an innocent squirrel early on will help with a character’s confrontation with a killer later in the game.

Mixing traditional controls and use of the DualShock 4’s motion-sensing capabilities, a player can tilt the device to look around, twist it to examine objects (such as pieces of ancient American Indian totems scattered around the grounds), move it forward or back to cause interactions, or keep it very, very still to avoid danger.

The result of executing controller combinations include firing a gun at a target, instigating a snowball fight, flicking on a lighter, pressing a button to start a boiler, breaking through a door, prying open a safe with a sharp piece of wood, paging through a book, tossing logs in a fireplace, looking through a telescope and climbing a mineshaft, to name just a few.

Also, a choice of easy or more difficult paths play out in many of the quick-timed events requiring tapping a correct controller-button sequence at the right time during the counting down of stress-filled decisions. Do I climb a sheer cliff or try a slower, more horizontal climb to chase after a dear friend in danger?

Developers brilliantly ratchet up the tension and balance it with occasional pockets of clue hunting throughout. The player remains on edge, fearing every potential jump scare in the waiting (watch out for the large moose) or the next button-pressing gantlet to hide or escape harrowing situations.

Some gorgeous outdoor landscapes mixed with environmental sound effects won’t soon be forgotten while wandering in the winter wonderland. And the character designs show off some incredible detail down to sheen on fingernails, glossy eyeballs, parched and wet lips and the best-looking freckles.

Additionally, top-notch talent adds to the cinematic authenticity led by digital representations and the voices of Hayden Panettiere (“Heroes”), Brett Dalton (“Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D”), Rami Malek (“Twilight”) and Peter Stormare (“The Blacklist”).

Developers promise a number of potential story outcomes in the simulation, with even all characters living or dying depending on a player’s guiding choices.

Despite the intensity of the group’s exploits, some of my favorite moments came during the first-person interviews with that psychiatrist I mentioned earlier. He gets creepier during every visit.

He asks lots of questions and runs a few tests to determine my mystery character’s mental state that really seem to sway some of the outcome

So my tip is to play through the roughly 10-hour film once, try to forget the frights of “Until Dawn” and revisit liberally with an audience on the upcoming Halloween weekend. It is one of the better horror movies available.