Escape Room

Escape Room (2017, dir. Peter Dukes) offers a distinctive-looking killer and a refreshing take on the old "it's a game... but if you lose, you DIE" trope, even within the sub-genre of escape room horror. I won't spoil what makes it special, but it keeps the threat dynamic over time. Unfortunately, despite those good aspects, it was a bad film overall and I didn't like it.

Why is the movie so frustrating? Simple: it's because all of the escape room participants are constantly oblivious and/or panicking. You have to watch them waste their time freaking out and trying to give each other pep talks, all while none of them can figure out the exceptionally obvious clues and puzzles until at least five minutes or so after you noticed and solved them.

Additionally, the first scene, which takes just above EIGHT MINUTES (a.k.a. Over a tenth of the total runtime), is entirely unnecessary background for the inane mechanism of evil that is supposed to drive the killer. It's enough to have the Mysterious Antique Store Owner tell the Desperate Escape Room Owner that the box carved to look like a skull is cursed and not a good choice for decor in his attraction. We get it. It's not an especially clever writing choice, but it would work fine if we weren't subjected to so much empty screen time surrounding it.

I do not recommend watching this film, but if you're a horror fan, do yourself a favor and look up "stitch face escape room" and then read the plot summary for this film (but be careful- this wasn't the only film titled Escape Room released in 2017).

I honestly had a great time with this movie, despite wanting to turn it off until 30 minutes in. The first 10 minutes of this movie were pointless, and once the characters start to be introduced, you don't really care for or resonate with any of them. They are either annoying or useless, and don't really add anything of value to the story.

That being said, once they enter the Escape Room, the movie really just takes off and never lets up for a minute. It is edge of your seat, the tension is really well done, and the antagonist is genuinely creepy. Several times throughout the movie I wondered if I had switched movies and I didn't realize it. The first 30 minutes of this film do a poor job at setting up the rest of the movie, but once the horror ramps up, it really is an entertaining experience.

Thoroughly enjoyed this, despite the initial 30 minutes.

Well I thought it was a clone of Saw and I like Saw so I gave it a shot.

Turns out it's not a clone at all, it's an original movie. Can you believe it ? A horror film with an original scenario ? Not your typical house-in-the-woods horror film, for sure. Thumbs up for that.

This movie is not exceptional. But it was so happy to finally find a horror movie which actually offers something new.

Acting is average, but a special effort has been made to the sound effects. The snitch sounds like he is 200 pounds, and that makes him really scary. I've seen a lot of horror movies, and I'm not scared easily, but this one has definitely a nice tension.

TLDR ; not Oscar-winning, but finally something new. I recommend.

I saw this recently on a dvd.

Had seen the trailer n liked it. The film opens in a middle eastern desert, creating the atmosphere n the dread.

The director did a fine job considering the budget n he managed to tell the story about the box n its evil thru the actions of the two desert fellas n some thru the opening credits.

After the opening credit, our film moves to Los Angeles, where four friends plan to take a trip to an escape room. A tight confined room compared to the open desert. The room has no phones, no wireless, and it is completely sound proof. No neighbors or outsiders will be able to hear your scream once the action starts. As for the cctv u have to watch the movie. I don't want to spoil it. One death scene is very brutal, the scissor in the head one.

The makers can make a prequel setting the picture in the 19th century.

Don't know if it was just my copy but there were no subtitles at the beginning which was puzzling.

Excellent acting from Skeet and Sean Young (For the ten minutes they appeared) but couldn't save it from movie oblivion.

Interesting idea , started off well and quickly went down the big white telephone!