Dr. Alan J. Hill

Dr. Alan J. Hill
Information
Full Name	Alan J. Hill
Nicknames	Dr. Hill Hill The Analyst
Actor	Peter Stormare
Gender	Male
Appearance
Hair	Gray balding
Eye Color	Green
Outfit	Sweater vest, dress pants, white button-up shirt
Accessories	Tie, watch, tie pin, ring
About
Debut	Prologue
Occupation	Psychiatrist

“	I am trying to help you. And this "game" you're playing... You understand that it's not good for you.. It's not good for anyone.	”
	— Dr. Hill

Dr. Alan J. Hill (known in-game as "The Analyst") is a psychiatrist who appears throughout Until Dawn, guiding and questioning the player between chapters through therapy sessions. In reality, these sessions are hallucinations of Josh, whom he treated before the events on Blackwood Mountain.

Dr. Hill appears in the Until Dawn film as the same character, now referred to as Hill, though his role as a psychiatrist is portrayed much more sinisterly; it is revealed that he experimented with the death loop in Glore Valley to study fear in his subjects, leading to them becoming Wendigos.

He was voiced, motion captured and played by actor Peter Stormare.

Appearance

Dr. Hill is a middle-aged man with balding gray hair and green eyes. His look is sophisticated and professional, as he wears a black-striped tie, a white pinstriped button-up shirt and a gray vest.

Personality

In the game, Dr. Hill is portrayed as a hallucination of the patient, Josh. Throughout these sessions, he is shown to value whenever Josh is honest, but also chastises him for his bad decisions, ultimately portraying Josh's self-guilt.

In real life, the psychiatric report shows that Dr. Hill had been treating Josh for mental illness since 2013, before the events of the Prologue. Dr. Hill shows concern for Josh, as seen in the text exchange between them where Josh informs Dr. Hill of his plan for revenge. Dr. Hill warns him to not go through with it and pleads with him to visit his office.

Apart from these text messages, the real Dr. Hill remained an enigma until the release of the 2025 Until Dawn film, which depicts him as a sadistic mastermind. His obsession with psychology drives him to experiment on his subjects, exploiting their fears by trapping them in a death loop where they meet increasingly cruel fates. Hill presents himself as calm, intelligent, and highly composed, but masks a deeply sadistic and manipulative nature beneath this veneer of professionalism. He views fear as a powerful tool to exploit, and shows little empathy as his subjects suffer repeated deaths and eventual transformation into Wendigos.

However it's important to note that the film is an adaptation, and doesn't share the same personality as his game incarnation.

Until Dawn

Background

Dr. Hill is originally from Sweden and eventually worked as a psychiatrist for the South-Western Psychiatry in the United States. After Hannah and Beth's disappearance and some time before the reunion of the protagonists, he had multiple therapy sessions with Josh.

Before his treatment by Hill, Josh had a long history of being treated by different doctors preceding the events of Hannah and Beth's disappearance, during which he was given numerous doses of different drugs, some of which only worked for a short time. Before they could find the right medication for Josh, he was made much worse when he stopped taking them.

In the Until Dawn film, Dr. Hill was brought in to treat survivors of a mining collapse in Pennsylvania's Glore Valley circa 1998, which decimated almost the entire town. Instead, Dr. Hill began experimenting on the survivors by putting them through a death loop, the fear and trauma eventually turning them into Wendigos. He is also said to have been a staff member of the Blackwood Pines Sanatorium in Alberta, possibly hinting at Dr. Hill being an omnipresent being, as this Sanatorium was closed in 1955. Additionally, his years working with Josh (2013-2015: North-Western Psychiatry, presumably in California) indicate he either took time off from monitoring the Glore death loop, traveled frequently, or can be in many places at once. Dr. Hill eventually continued putting people through the death loop in order to study their fears. Dr. Hill treated Josh before the events of the film.

Involvement

Chapter Appearances
Prologue:	Imagined
Chapter 1:	Imagined
Chapter 2:	Imagined
Chapter 3:	Imagined
Chapter 4:	Imagined
Chapter 5:	Imagined
Chapter 6:	Imagined
Chapter 7:	Memento & Mentioned
Chapter 8:	Imagined
Chapter 9:	Absent
Chapter 10:	Imagined
Credits:	Determinant

One Year Ago

After the prologue, Dr. Hill is introduced as "The Analyst". He explains that the events of last year cannot be changed, but that the 'player' can make decisions that will affect the future as the 'game' is being played, and that he will help see the game through.

The first exercise he starts with involves a card with a picture of a scarecrow in a cornfield outside of a cottage. He asks the player to analyze the picture before asking how the player feels about it.

• If the player chose that it made them feel happy and would stay in the cottage regardless, the chapter will be named as Friendship. Otherwise, Chapter One will be named as Memento Mori.
• Regardless of previous decisions in the session, if the player does not care that the cottage is haunted, Chapter 3 will be named Haunted. However, if the player is frightened by the possibility of ghosts in the cottage, or makes decisions where they are not asked the question to stay in the cottage at all, Chapter 3 will be named Isolation.

Chapter 1

Men or Women? Which worry you?

His office in this session is noticeably darker than the first. The sunlight shining through the window has been removed and replaced very little white light, suggesting an overcast or night sky. Once he makes his greetings, he tells the player that they had only scratched the surface in their last session, and that he wants to go deeper this time.

In this next test, he wants to "understand the root of your anxiety" and passes over a book full of pictures and symbols, asking that the player pick from each set which picture makes them the most anxious. Depending on what the player picks, the game will try to pinpoint this and make it reappear in the sets more often. Dr. Hill tries to startle the player, but sarcastically apologizes and encourages them to go faster and rely on their instincts, and can praise or berate the player depending on their speed.

Anxieties

1. Men Worry Me or Women Worry Me?
2. Planes Scare Me or Crowds Scare Me?
3. I Fear Heights or I Fear Drowning?
4. Snakes Scare Me or Rats Scare Me?
5. Guns Are Scary or Knives Are Scary?
6. (4 repeat) or I Fear Cockroaches?
7. Clowns Scare Me or I Fear Scarecrows?
8. Gore Disgusts Me or Crows Are Scary?
9. (6 repeat) or Spiders Are Creepy?
10. (8 repeat) or I Fear Needles?
11. (7 repeat) or Zombies Scare Me?
12. (10 repeat) or I Fear Dogs?
13. (12 repeat) or Storms Scare Me?

• Choosing either a zombie, clown, or scarecrow will trigger the chosen figure to appear in Hill's fourth session as a mannequin, then reappearing in the fifth session with a saw cutting through the mannequin's head. The figure will also appear as a jumpscare during Chapter 4, while playing as Chris, and be the chosen figure of the dummy in Sam's clothes in Chapter 6.
  • Additionally, if a zombie is chosen as the main fear over clowns and scarecrows, from the post-Chapter 6 therapy session onward, Dr. Hill will have blood pouring from his face, and will begin to sport open sores and his skin will slowly turn green.
• Choosing gore or needles will trigger the chosen object to appear on Hill's desk during the Chapter 2 session. If needles prevail over dogs and storms at the end of the session, during the Chapter 5 Psycho chase with Sam, the Psycho will have a syringe to incapacitate Sam instead of a sleeping gas machine.
• Choosing cockroaches, rats, snakes, or spiders will trigger the chosen object to appear in a jar on Hill's desk from his third session. In the spider's case, one will also appear on the camera inside the secret room in the library.
• Choosing crows will trigger a crow to appear on Hill's windowsill during the Chapter 2 session.

Chapter 2

The office appears similar to the previous session, with the exception of several planks of wood stuck on the window, ripped curtains, and hanging hooks. Dr. Hill begins his next session with a simple query; he wants to know if the player has a fear of being isolated, of the dark, of failure or of the supernatural, depending on what fear he deduced from the First Therapy Session, and the player's thoughts on people with said respective fear. He then asks questions about what qualities the player would rather want in someone, including loyalty, honesty and charity. He uses this against the player in later sessions.

Chapter 3

Dr. Hill's office becomes noticeably more decrepit at this point, where the walls begin to decay and rusty chains hanging around, and depending on your choices in the last test, objects in the office will change to play on your fears.

The next test he gives is similar to Chapter 1, in which you pick from pictures in a set, except this time they are pictures of all the characters currently alive that have been introduced in the game so far. Claiming this is an exercise in honesty, Dr. Hill tasks the player to pick the character in each set they like the most: Sam or Josh, Emily or Matt, Ashley or Chris, and Jess or Mike. The characters not preferred from each set then face off against each other, with the ones from the first two sets pitted together, as is the case for the latter two sets as well, and the player has to, once again, choose who who likes more.

Then, the game will deduce which two characters the player likes the least, and Dr. Hill will let them choose the one they dislike most. If it ends up being anyone but Josh, he will defend them and give possible reasons for his hatred. If Josh is picked, he simply tells the player not to be too harsh on him, as he has gone through hard times.

This exercise affects Josh's relationships with the other characters in-game. In the first 4 sets, the person the player picks to like the most will gain a slight relationship boost with Josh, while the person that was not picked will have their relationship with Josh slightly decrease. Additionally, the character that is most disliked will have their eyes crossed out on the Photos of Friends during Chapter 6.

Chapter 4

The walls on his office begin to stain and rip apart in this session and starts with him pointing at a mannequin with a circular saw lodged in its head.

Dr. Hill asks the player if the night has been going the way they had planned, and if they think that the survivors are getting what they deserve. It is here that he can be questioned on himself, but he simply states he is trying to help, and chastises the player for not playing by their own rules. He walks away from the desk to the window, only to reappear at the desk again in a sudden flash. He asks if the player will continue with their self-indulgence and whether or not they think he is actually real. Regardless of the answer, he doubts they can tell the difference anymore.

Chapter 5

Dr. Hill is only seen briefly standing at the window of his office, looking refurbished and fancy. Depending on whether or not Sam was caught, he can comment on how things are or are not going according to plan. He reiterates his speech from the Prologue, going over the work that had been done over the previous 'sessions' while adding the note that the player's fears are being used against the survivors, concluding by asking if it was all worth it. As he takes out and examines the picture from the prologue in one of his folders, he jumps back in surprise upon seeing The Psycho in front of him.

Chapter 6

The office has changed slightly, adding monitors at the back where Dr. Hill is forced to watch the horrid events set up by The Psycho unfold. He gives The Psycho a piece of his mind, verifying that he has gone too far with his game, questioning him as to why he has to do this and demanding to know what has happened to the victims, all while insulting him by calling him a psychopath.

Chapter 8

The office that Dr. Hill is seen sitting in has become molded with the snowy forest that the Psycho, who at this point has been revealed as Josh, is being dragged through by the Wendigo.

He tells Josh that he should should have listened to him, and because of his actions people have died. He blames the disappearance of the twins on Josh, and comments on how the game has fallen apart before questioning why he hurt his own friends, hoping that he will somehow atone for his sins.

If during the Fourth Therapy Session, the player picks that they most dislike Josh, instead of Dr. Hill asking why he hurt his friends, he will question Josh as to why he dislikes himself as much as he does.

• Later in the session, when Dr. Hill berates Josh for his inexcusable behavior, if Josh apologizes for his actions, Chapter 9 will be called Despair and Chapter 10 will be named Repentance. On the other hand, if Josh claims that it was just a game, Chapter 9 will instead be named Karma and the final chapter will be called Resolution.

Josh can eventually be remorseful about his actions or be unrepentant.

• Making Josh remorseful about his actions is a necessary prerequisite for his survival in the 2024 remake. He must pick "They hurt me," which then (depending on earlier made choices) unlocks the following option to say "I'm so sorry." However, note that the option for Josh to express remorse does not always appear, and it is unclear which specific decisions trigger this outcome, as the necessary decisions vary significantly and there are multiple different accounts given for how to get it.

Chapter 10

The last scene involving Dr. Hill is no longer in his office, but in the cave that Josh has been trapped in, although the chapter does start off with him sitting at his desk per usual, making popping noises with his mouth supposedly emulating the dripping of water. He gets up and walks over to Josh who is curled up in a panicked state, and questions whether or not the 'sessions' are helping him since he doesn't seem to be listening to him anymore.

Dr. Hill comments on the current situation being "fucked up" and warns Josh that he is going to leave him, since he has a lot more to be afraid of than what he is imagining in his mind. He sarcastically reassures Josh, advising him to take deep breaths, and telling him he won't be alone for long.

Credits

As opposed to Dr. Hill's absence in Josh's two possible fates in the original game (his death or his transformation into a Wendigo), Dr. Hill's disembodied voice can be heard if Josh showed remorse over his actions earlier and survives in the remake without transforming. He tells Josh that his game drove him to his deepest fear – isolation – and that he hopes Josh can find redemption.

The Scar's Awakening

Dr. Hill calls out Sam's name in the epilogue of the remake, as she - after taking medication - notices a strange scar that profusely bleeds.

Until Dawn (Film)

• Main article: Hill

Dr. Hill is a prominent character in Until Dawn (2025). Before the film's release, Dr. Hill was described as 'the connecting tissue between the game and the film,' eventually providing answers behind the mysteries of the world' by writer Dauberman.

He first appears as a gas station worker when Clover enters the establishment to ask him about her missing sister, Melanie. Hill, however, ominously notes she is missing before Clover can explain so herself, and warns her about many people going missing in Glore Valley. Disturbed, Clover and her friends continue their search using the lead he provided.

Dr. Hill in the Until Dawn film.

Ultimately, Hill is revealed to be a villain who experimented with the Glore Valley curse. He originally was working with the Glore Sanatorium during a mining incident, circa 1998, where he contributed to the transformation of patients into Wendigos - a parallel with the 1952 Blackwood Mines mining disaster and the survivors turning into Wendigos in the Blackwood Sanatorium. Hill confesses to Clover that he studies fear itself, and reveals that her own fears manifested the monsters that hunted the group throughout the night. Victims who fail to survive the thirteen-day death loop are doomed to transform into Wendigos. Clover eventually defeats Hill by poisoning him with contaminated water, causing him to gruesomely explode.

In the film's final scenes, Josh's patient file and the Washington Lodge are briefly shown, implying that Dr. Hill was involved in the events of the original Until Dawn game, likely through manipulating Josh and exploiting his fears. However, it is suggested that Hill was not directly responsible for the original Wendigos on Blackwood Mountain, as those creatures originated from acts of cannibalism, unlike the fear-born Wendigos of Glore Valley.

Trivia

• Dr. Hill can affect six chapter titles, excluding Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7 and Chapter 8.
  • To obtain Friendship in Chapter 1, the player must say the card makes them feel happy, and still say they would stay at the cottage even though it could be haunted during Dr. Hill's first therapy session.
  • To obtain Momento Mori in Chapter 1, the player must make any other choice but the requirements of Friendship during Dr. Hill's first therapy session.
  • To obtain Jealousy in Chapter 2, the player must say he/she wouldn't stay at the barn if it was haunted during Dr. Hill's first therapy session.
  • To obtain Darkness in Chapter 2, the player must say he/she is afraid of darkness or would stay at the barn if it was haunted during Dr. Hill's first therapy session.
  • To obtain Isolation in Chapter 3, the player must say he/she wouldn't stay at the barn because they would be lonely during Dr. Hill's first therapy session.
  • To obtain Haunted in Chapter 3, the player must say he/she would be scared to stay at the barn if it was haunted during Dr. Hill's first therapy session.
  • To obtain Malevolence in Chapter 4, the player must say he/she disliked Mike, Josh, Chris or Ashley the most during Dr. Hill's fourth therapy session.
  • To obtain Loyalty in Chapter 4, the player must say he/she disliked Sam, Emily, Jessica or Matt the most during Dr. Hill's fourth therapy session.
  • To obtain Karma in Chapter 9, the player must choose "It was just a game" in Dr. Hill's eighth therapy session.
  • To obtain Despair in Chapter 9, the player must choose "I'm so sorry" or "They need to change" in Dr. Hill's eighth therapy session.
  • To obtain Resolution in Chapter 10, the player must choose "It was just a game" in Dr. Hill's eighth therapy session.
  • To obtain Repentance in Chapter 10, the player must choose "I'm so sorry" or "They need to change" in Dr. Hill's eighth therapy session.
• Dr. Hill is the only character with a non-determinant fate who survives the game.
• Chapter 7 and Chapter 9 are the only chapters without therapy sessions, thus the only ones in which Dr. Hill does not 'physically' appear.
• The painting in Dr. Hill's office is The Last Judgement by Giorgio Vasari and Lorenzo Sabatini which is on the cupola in the Florence Cathedral.
• Each time the player enters a therapy session it takes place wherever Josh is at that time.
• The accouterments that appear in Dr. Hill's office correspond to the answers the player gives during the one of the sessions.
• Dr. Hill's appearance changes depending on how the player answers his questions. If the player said that he/she has a fear of zombies, it will cause his appearance to deteriorate and decay. If the player chose otherwise, his appearance will remain the same.
• During some of the therapy sessions, Johann Sebastian Bach's "Goldberg Variations" can be heard in the background, which may be referencing the 1991 film "Silence of the Lambs," in which Hannibal Lecter listens to it during one of his scenes.
• Dr. Hill is originally from Sweden, as stated by himself (if the player chooses certain choices) and referenced by the flag on his table. This could be alluding to his actor's (Peter Stormare) birthplace.
  • Peter Stormare had asked Will Byles if he should play Dr. Hill with an American accent or keep his Swedish accent, and Byles chose the latter.
• Peter Stormare filmed all of his scenes in the game in one day.
• Dr. Hill's name may be a reference to the popular survival horror video game franchise Silent Hill. In particular, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories frames the plot around psychotherapy sessions that directly affect the game world with the player's answers.
• Other fourth wall breaking narrators similar to Dr. Hill have since become a tradition in horror games from Supermassive Games: the Curator from The Dark Pictures Anthology and Eliza Vorez from The Quarry.
• Peter Stormare also played the role of a psychiatrist in the movie Bad Milo.
• When asked who his favorite character from the game is, Gary Dauberman — one of the writers of the Until Dawn film — stated that Dr. Hill is the most interesting.
• According to Will Byles, Jeff Goldblum was the first actor considered for Dr. Hill.
• One of the game's writers, Graham Reznick, has stated that the premise of the Analyst sections is not that therapy is bad or that it represents how Josh was treated by Dr. Hill, but that Josh had reinterpreted Dr. Hill's advice into something dark: "I think we've gotten a little bit of shit for, you know, treating it like 'oh all therapy is bad.' No, we're not saying that. We're saying that Josh is damaged in some way, and he's reinterpreting what he's heard in this terrible way."
  • This explanation of Hill, as a good or neutral figure getting twisted in the mind of his patient, differs from the movie’s concept which depicts him more as intentionally manipulative of his patients.
    • Will Byles, the director of the game, has also said he is "not sure Sony understood" Dr. Hill when referring to the movie. Byles describes Dr. Hill as a second-person storytelling device, for "the developers to talk directly with the players," as well as a way to give insight into Josh’s history.

Quotes

• "Sometimes these things can be a little scary... even terrifying... but I am here to make sure that no matter how upsetting things may get, you will always find a way to work through it." - Dr. Hill during the first therapy session.
• "Darkness after all, is the unseen and therefore the unknown... And what could inspire fear more than the terror of uncertainty?"
• "I believe that in our last session, you were not completely honest with me. I am an expert with years of experience, don't think you can mislead me."
• "I am trying to help you. And this "game" you're playing... you understand that it's not good for you.. It's not good for anyone. And I can't say that you're being particularly honest/charitable/loyal in the way you're "playing"!"
• "You have gone too far now. Don't you see?! Huh?! Don't you see that this... torture porn has gone too far?! Now what gives you the right to play God, in these people's lives?! What makes you so special then?! Huh?! You're sick! You're a sick fuck! Now what the hell have you done to them?! Huh?! What the hell have you done to them, you psychopath?! Psychopath!" - to the Psycho.
• "Oh Joshua... you should have listened to me. Because of your choices people have died. I don't know which is worse, actively triggering events that lead to someone's death, or passive allowing a tragedy to occur. Because you couldn't lift a god damned finger to help someone else." - Josh hallucinating Dr. Hill.
• "Why did you hurt them? Joshua, why did you hurt them?!"
• "You had so many people who cared about you... who were willing to help! But at every turn you chose to push them away... And now, you're all alone. Though by the sounds of things, you won't be alone for long. No, you won't be alone for long. Deep breaths, Josh. Deep breaths..." - Josh hallucinating Dr. Hill for a final time (besides his voice in Josh's best ending in the remake).

Gallery

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