ESCAPE rooms – the kind where you have to cleverly look for clues and figure your way out of the trapped space – are usually popular with people looking to add thrills to their lives, albeit in a controlled and fun environment.
Throw in the claim of being “the greatest immersive experience”, a big cash prize, plus imminent death to the mix, and you’ve got yourself the psychological thriller, Escape Room, directed by Adam Robitel.
Basically, this is your worst nightmare masquerading as an otherwise typical adventure game.
The movie centres on six strangers from different backgrounds who are invited to join a game after successfully unlocking a puzzle box sent to them, with one haunting detail linking them all.
Smart but shy student Zoey (Taylor Russell), Ben (Logan Miller) who spends his day unloading stock from trucks, former soldier Amanda (Deborah Ann Woll), trucker Mike (Tyler Labine), confident and successful trader Jason (Jay Ellis), and the only (super) enthusiast of the game Danny (Nik Dodani), each suffer from a post-traumatic stress experience.
They first realise this is no mere game when the freezing winter cabin room they are in claims its first victim.
And the clues include minute details from their horrifying pasts – supposedly from a Dr Wootan Yu, that Zoey, in the end, realises is an anagram that spells ‘No Way Out’.
Moral dilemmas come into play, yet the need for survival looms like a giant shadow.
The actors, for the most part, are the ones who keep your attention fixed to the story, even though you know not everybody is going to survive (and it’s obvious who does).
While there is nothing spectacular when it comes to the story as far as psychological thrillers go, it still manages to mess with your mind.
The real horror here is the thought of powerful people with funds to spare, and no regard for human life.
Or perhaps worse, that there are people willing to execute those demands.
