Escape from Tomorrow

While this may not exactly be Heaven's Gate, Escape From Tomorrow is a case of the film's production being far more interesting than the film itself. Surreptitiously shot at Disneyland without any permission at all, this film can still earn its title of ultimate guerrilla film based on that fact alone. However, the most interesting factor is that not only do Disney now know about it, but they're not doing anything about it. Evidently it's not worth the effort but boy is is that a hook beyond the film's context itself. Everyone loved the idea of this film. It's a great juxtaposition, a surreal David Lynch/Terry Gilliam-esque nightmare in Disneyland. Unfortunately the films we concocted out of our imaginations are much better than the material Moore thought about. This is the work of an eager amateur.

Contrary to expectation, Escape From Tomorrow has an incredibly mild execution, focusing on cheap gags and slapstick rather than scares or atmosphere (black and white film is not atmosphere). Granted, I'm sure Moore had a lot of challenges and maybe the film doesn't match his initial vision, but the scenes away from the parks match the weirdly off tone so maybe this is who he is. The photography is only okay. The technical aspects do suffer, particularly with sound and visual effects in green screening, but that's forgivable given the circumstance but not forgivable given the script. The fundamental problem is that the acting is very unconvincing. Instead of a protagonist undergoing an understandable mid-life crisis, he ends up like Lester Burnham without the charm, acting just like a terribly unlikeable 16 year old pervert. And this guy is supposed to be a parent.

Perhaps Moore wants us to be uncomfortable watching him, maybe there's things to be said about man's desire for young women, but it's not the kind of meaningful discomfort that really makes a viewer think, it feels thrown in there as a character quirk. It's hard not to go into these types of films without expectations, but it simply didn't go as dark as I would've wanted and ended up feeling random instead with too many plot threads. The film could've saved itself by its final minutes by tying up all of them in an interesting way that actually says something, but instead they vouch for a single one that negates the others. It can be interesting and engaging at times, but as a whole it doesn't really work since Moore doesn't have anything to say about the human psyche, just that this would probably be cool if a film shot in Disneyland about bad things happening existed. Please make this a curiosity viewing only and don't get too excited.

5/10

DisneyLand, the land of dreams to come true right in front of your eyes, and your nightmares too.

The film is about a middle-aged American husband and father of two learns that he has lost his job. Keeping the news from his nagging wife and wound-up children, he packs up the family and embarks on a full day of park hopping amid enchanted castles and fairy tale princesses. Soon, the manufactured mirth of the fantasy land around him begins to haunt his subconscious.

Escape from Tomorrow is one of those films that you have to wait about two days after seeing the film, to get all my thoughts of the film to come together it's basically like solving a jigsaw puzzle. I tried my best to dissect the hell out of this movie by it's story, it's different and new style and the movies uncomfortable tone. I found out a lot of interesting things of this movie and the fact that they didn't have Disney's permission to film and get away with it, blows my mind how they pulled it off.

I enjoyed Escape from Tomorrow, I enjoyed it in a way that it feels like a guilty pleasure for me and overall I think this movie is weird, messed up, but still a well done film from a first time director. What the movie does so well is putting you in the main character shoes and showing you the anxiety and what it can do.

The cinematography in this movie are some of the best and perfect shots I have seen in a movie. I love the black and white look to it, it made the movie more sinister and nerving to watch, which worked so well. I kept thinking to myself of how they didn't get Disney's permission to film but still got away with shots that I have no idea how they got away with, Moore you are a genius.

Randy Moore first time film and straight away I want to see him doing other films, because he went for it and it didn't back fire on him.

Some people may be put off by the weirdness of the film and it's style and it's laughable moments, which is fine because people can like what their want to like, but what the movie dose so well and I think so people might agree on and that is Randy Moore made DisneyLand look like a place to avoid.

Overall I enjoyed watching Escape from Tomorrow and I'm not going to give it the perfect rating, because I don't feel that this movie is "amazing" or "the best movie of century", no but the movie is still worth checking out.

I was intrigued by the premise of Escape from Tommorow after stumbling across a trailer a few weeks ago, with the notion of horror/paronia flooding a family during a day at Disney World sounding unique.

After finishing this painfully boring and uncreative slog of a film, I realized the whole black-and-white and "guerilla-style" film making, being a huge selling point of the film, was entirely a gimmick. I'm expecting most of this film's slim budget went towards getting Disney Park passes for the cast and crew, because the acting is atrocious (especially with the children and wife) the special effects are entry level After Effects, and the writing is piss poor. The various "twists" throughout the film are idiotic, the character motivations non exsistent (the father character literally stumbling through most of the plot trying to chase a pair of teenage girls in some unexplained perversion), and the Disney setting is painfully underutilizied (I'm sure this was partly because of legal issues).

Escape From Tommorow is one of the worst films I've ever seen. It's not even a worthwhile watch if you're looking for a B-Movie horror film. Not recommended under any circumstances.

i have watched this movie (not film), and i feel compelled to warn everyone who are pondering about wasting their time on it. it is a bad one. the first thing to notice is the horrendous, bad "acting". if they were to come and say it was on purpose, to depict the average mainstream Joe and his family in the u.s. of a., it would be only an excuse. it is obvious this is a very low quality independent film that "has to" recur to the pathetic guerrilla filmmaking card, as though that itself were worthy of cinematic grandeur or merit of whatever kind. i am utterly baffled by the good reviews and comparisons to the works of Polanski or David Lynch! certainly, those who express such opinions are ignorant people who have very little knowledge of cinema (or even common sense), and have not watched quality work (ever?), mostly by European and some Asian filmmakers, who have a deeper human sensibility. but, compare it to David Lynch?! we are talking about a master artist here. have these people watched David Lynch films at all? if they have, they must have very bad perception problems (no, it is not about people having different tastes and all that; you don't compare plastic bottles with The Beatles' Blackbird). then, the plot: totally childish. does one have to praise this director for stating the obvious Disney's superficial appeal on the unthinking mass? umm, no. this looks more like a high school project, at best. then, the "surrealism" in this is so weak it's not even surrealism, it is a botched attempt at it, rather. all the situations are but puerile ideas that are as shallow as the criticism they pretend to attack. it all has a very "american" reek to it, but it cannot be claimed that it was on purpose. all in all, a very bad waste of resources. oh, wait! i may have missed the point! maybe these guys were just having a laugh! maybe they were like, hey guys, what if we make this "guerrilla film" at Disney...? hey dude, that would be awesome! let's do it! and then, it all turned even better, with promotion and people praising it and comparing it to a Lynch film!!!!! hmmm...maybe i could make a guerrilla film about a bunch of guys making a guerrilla film and being compared to David Lynch...! maybe i could even be compared to David Lynch...!!!

The fact that so much time and effort was put into putting together this guerrilla film does show in it visual return and the for the novelty factor it's totally worth dredging through once and it should stand as a resume for anybody on the production staff (and a couple of the actors) as a wonderful accomplishment, but for the writer, director and majority of the the cast all I can say is YICK! I'm sorry to say I think a lot of hipper then though people are trumpeting the wonderfulness of this movie more on it's "Sticking it to the Mouse" in it's having been made then on it's actual merit. I would have loved to see a movie that subversively used the "Disney World" as a back drop for darkness but this halfhearted Shining rip off and/or remake is by far not it. If not for some of the wonderful production sense you are watching a student film that may have received a C+. If I were Disney I would not bother suing either I would let this movie make the rounds and even help promote it because they can't do anything to the movie that it does not already do to itself.