Film of the Week: Escape Room

Not to be confused by the recent 2019 film, Escape Room, 2017s film of the same name proves to be a testing zone for the actors involved as the entire story focuses on one small room with an unwanted guest, twisting an innocent game with the theme of horror, into an actual nightmare.

The beginning sets up the plot of the film in a realistic way. This isn't saw where all the characters are kidnapped by a mysterious stranger and made to play a game, these people are entering the room voluntarily, to be locked in until either the time is up or they find the clues and escape. The owner (Brice, played by Skeet Ulrich) of the escape room has hit an ever increasing rough patch where his business is rapidly failing and he's losing money quicker than he can make it. When the camera malfunctions and cuts the live feed from the room, the owner is trapped between ending pausing the game and potentially ruining their experience, or letting the game continue in the hopes it sparks something which will help his business grow. Whilst the owner is mulling over that decision, he's completely unaware of what's actually happening inside the room, and when he eventually does, it's too late for them all.

I went in blind with this movie. It wasn't recommended to me by anyone, I wasn't intrigued by it for some time and haven't found the right moment to invest my time into it, it was something that caught my attention whilst browsing through Amazon Prime Video on a late Sunday afternoon finding something I'd like to watch for my semi-traditional movie night before work recommences the next day. With three stars to its name, I wasn't expecting the best horror movie of all time, but I give as many films as I can a chance as it's all relative when it comes to our perception of quality. I may like a film someone else hates and vice versa. Unfortunately, this was one of those films where I have to agree with the masses and say it could have been better. The acting from those inside the escape room weren't at all believable - they weren't even properly crying, just making some forced noises to allude to crying their hearts out, but with bone dry faces.

It tries its hardest to build tension but ultimately only goes so far as to maintain that sense where you're half expecting the director to shout cut and everyone just goes off to break without mentioning the scene they just shot. Characters are killed off in this film, but there's no impact. You get a few scenes establishing the bond together, but we, the audience, aren't exactly on the edge of our seats wondering whether anyone is going to survive or not; and to be completely honest, as the film went on, I found myself not really bothered whether they survive or not. I came close to turning the film off as it failed to entertain me.

In conclusion, all I can say is, Escape Room is certainly one of those films that don't imitate what it says on the cover: Once you're in, you're not trapped by good storytelling or character developing, this is certainly not an escape room, but more like one where you can simply walk out through the front door and never turn your back. Or in other words, this is certainly one film you'd find no difficulty in escaping... Yes, I really did write this entire paragraph for that one lame sentence.

Kind regards;

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)