Escape Room (2017) Horror Movie Review

 

The 2017 film “Escape Room” directed by Will Wernick, presents a dark twist on the popular interactive game concept. The movie follows six friends who find themselves in an escape room scenario that quickly escalates into a life-or-death situation. With a premise that promises suspense and psychological thrills, the film aims to captivate audiences with its claustrophobic setting and intricate puzzles.

The narrative of “Escape Room” is built around the growing popularity of escape rooms as a form of entertainment, where players solve puzzles to unlock doors and escape within a set time limit. This movie takes that concept to the extreme, adding a sinister edge to the challenge. The director, Will Wernick, was reportedly inspired to make the film when his producer pointed out that no films had been made about the escape room phenomenon at the time.

Despite its intriguing premise, “Escape Room” struggles to deliver a cohesive and satisfying experience. The film’s IMDb rating of 4.2/10 reflects a consensus among viewers and critics alike, indicating that while the idea was promising, the execution fell short. User reviews on IMDb describe the film as having an interesting storyline that starts out with potential but devolves into a nonsensical and unfulfilling narrative. The characters, while portrayed by a capable cast including Evan Williams and Annabelle Stephenson, are criticized for being unlikable and making irrational decisions that detract from the viewer’s investment in their fate.

From a critical perspective, the movie has been compared to a hybrid between the “SAW” and “Cube” franchises, suggesting that it borrows elements from these established horror-thrillers without bringing much innovation to the table. Rotten Tomatoes reviews echo this sentiment, highlighting that while the escape room concept is appealing for horror filmmakers, “Escape Room” fails to puzzle its way out of its own narrative limitations.

The production values, cinematography, and set design are noted as positives, providing a visually engaging backdrop to the unfolding drama. However, these technical merits are overshadowed by a script that leaves several loose ends and a conclusion that many found unsatisfying. The puzzles within the film, which are central to the plot, are criticized for lacking complexity and realism, further diminishing the film’s impact.

In the Nutshell

“Escape Room” (2017) is a film that capitalizes on a trendy concept but ultimately disappoints due to its underdeveloped plot and character dynamics. While it may offer some entertainment value for fans of the genre, it is unlikely to be remembered as a standout entry in the horror-thriller category. For those seeking a film that fully realizes the potential of its premise, “Escape Room” may feel like an opportunity missed. I give 3 out of 5 stars. 

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Genre: Death Trap and Gore

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10 comments

  1. Just watched this and was really hoping for a strong ending. Left disappointed and confused as to what the ending was supposed to suggest. Whilst at the phone booth it showed the killers tv screens in front of him with footage of some other room with people stripping down and naked….. is there a relevance or a message I was supposed to get ? Halllppppp

     
    1. The girl stripping down was the girl who didn’t pay for food and left to go to a party? But what did she have todo with it?! Confused!!!

       
    2. They were blatantly setting up for a sequel. It suggests that the naughty party is part of the game and that it’ll be explored in part 2.

      I will never watch another movie by this director as an ending like this completely disrespects the viewer. The mystery of the events was completely undressed and we have no resolution for the characters still around at the end. I’m okay with movies seeding ideas for the future but this was the wrong way to do this especially since it’s likely a sequel will never get made.

      Escape Room (2019) did this properly and ended in a similar fashion but in a much more satisfying way. They ended one arc, introduced a new one, and gave some information on why these things were happening.

      Escape Room (2017) gave us no explanation and no conclusion. The only thing we learned was that girl in the cage knows she was cheated on (I let out an audible “ugh” when she hinted that at the beginning) and that she knows more about what’s going on than she divulged to the group.

       
    3. Hey have that last scene. There was naked people with mask and at the beginning the other girl that couldn’t come had a mask too

       
  2. The idiot who directed this piece of garbage needs to refund the money and time spent watching this horrible movie it moves along at a pace getting you to watch it but your left hanging with no explanation of what the ending was all about no clue as to who was running the escape room Don’t waste your time wTching this there is no rhyme or reason to this movie at all. Total garbage the director should be hung up by his nuts

     
  3. One huge thing that bothered me, was that the “Morgue Room” puzzle didn’t need to be solved, AT. ALL. I’m assuming it went off because of 3-strikes? But it served no purpose…

     
  4. I UNDERSTOOD THE ENDING: AS WE KNOW ONE OF THE FRIEND DIDN’T JOIN THEM AND WENT TO A PARTY (the party in the end) AND THIS GIRL KNOWS THAT KRISTEN TOOK THEM TO THE ESCAPE ROOM… IN THE PHONE CALL THE GUY TELLS KRISTEN “they won’t believe you” HE’S PROBABLY MENTIONING THE FACT THAT THE GIRL WHO DIDN’T GO IS GOING TO BLAME KRISTEN (the only survivor) FOR THE DEATH OF HER FRIENDS.. AND KRISTEN WASN’T WITH THEM SHE WAS IN A TRUCK LOOKING AT EVERYTHING THEREFORE IT IS BELIEVABLE THAT SHE IS TO BLAME… THAT’S WHY THE GUY ON THE PHONE TOLD KRISTEN: “DID YOU ESCAPE OR DID THEY?” IT REFERS TO THE FACT THAT SHE’LL PROBABLY GO TO PRISON

     
  5. This comment contains a not so enthusiastic movie recap, an explanation of the shit show ending because it leaves everyone confused, and a deeper analysis of the metaphorical meaning of this movie.

    Movie Recap:
    introduction to characters
    Goes to escape room and arrives 30 minutes into the movie.
    Couple accidentally solve a rope puzzle the wrong way and later find a key that was meant to be used.
    They open a hatch while the movie tries to make us think there will be a jump scare, then
    The hatch closes while the movie makes us think a dude will get his fingers chopped off. Neither happen and nothing exiting has happened yet. It’s been 45 minutes.
    They open a door by solving a simple puzzle.
    They find one of the four essential key cards just sitting on a desk in plain sight.
    They rearrange pictures to become the food chain, but there are only 4 pictures and 2 of them are a fox for some reason. When they hang the pictures they say the names and it goes “rabbit” “fox” “this guy” and they don’t say the last one which it think is a very weird looking wolf. How did the characters know which fox eats the OTHER FOX. They rearranged the picures so that one would go in front of the other instead of leaving it. THERE WAS NO DIFFERENCE. The writers of this movie couldn’t think of a better puzzle than this? They were clearly hoping the audience of this movie would be brain dead or 9 years old.
    meanwhile the last two characters solve a combination lock of a genital cage by spelling the word “head” and revive a key card. Why was this a puzzle? It was a morgue themed room. There was no puzzles in this room besides the genital cage and a word puzzle that turned out didn’t actually need to be solved and just killed two if the characters for seemingly no reason. The characters actually point this out. They say something along the lines of “why did all the clues lead to that if it was just going to kill them and leave us with nothing”? We never get an answer to that.
    After seeing his sister die and finally realizing his life is in danger. wait.. we are an hour in with only 26 minutes left and up to this point they where just casually solving puzzles, having a good time and thinking it was a game? Yes. That is what happened. So anyway, this dude decides they should leave and finds the air vent, then promptly realizes he was meant to find it and there is a puzzle in it. Here is where things start to get illogical. So we later find out that the key cards are for the people who die meaning they are meant to die, however the next dude dies by chance. They could have went on with no one dying, and he only died because his leg got stuck. stuck on what? nothing. there was nothing in the vent. we saw the vent. there was nothing in the vent. Maybe you think that he was meant to get stuck. No. he went in last by chance. and was meant to died there. The plot could not have progressed past the last puzzle if he didn’t die there. Logically there was a 66% chance that he wouldn’t have died and they wouldn’t have gotten past the last puzzle. IT MAKES NO SENSE.
    So. What’s the next puzzle? They touch live electrical wires and don’t react. Then upon solving the puzzle any first grader would breeze through the next clue is a song about a bear to lead them to the mounted bear head. Wow, I couldn’t have come up with something so brilliant myself. The part that is weird about this is that the character say something like “only [insert wife name] (Maybe Christina?) would know i hate this song and when he later confronts her he thinks she did it because of this. he also says something like “have you been watching us this whole time?” and she says “no” even though there are scenes scattered aimlessly throughout the movie of her watching them on a monitor in front of her.
    Anyhow, back to the bear puzzle. Dude pulls leaver and girl opens door. A piece of metal presses down on his hand, and she says she can’t open the door. Dude knows what’s going on and is like, c’mere you useless b*tch pull this lever and I’ll open the door, then proceeds to open the door and say sorry while crushing her wrist, and she screams that her arm is broken. he then leaves the room and the door shut, which means the trap opened and she could pull her arm out. This was not addressed in the rest of the movie, so i guess she was just locked in that room with a broken arm trying to get out and we are supposed to assume she later gets killed. To be honest I think the writers thought you would die from a broken wrist. Also the dude knew what was happening and could have at least tried to quickly tie his sweater sleeve around the bar for her to pull and they could have both left. I guess he just wanted her to be trapped in the room and die?
    In the next room there are the faces of the four people who died and he has to match the keys you get for solving the puzzles with their faces. He screws up EVERY SINGLE CARD, but it actually didn’t matter and he just went into the next room. He sees Crisis what’s her face and they both hit a button to save him. The man kills him and later tells Christmas that the people who died are actually the ones who escaped, meaning the save button actually meant kill, but it’s not explained why. I have no sweet clue why he killed them, why them, or how he knew about the song. The man also says stuff about people not believing Crimley, but there’s no explanation of who. I assume the cops. Meanwhile he is looking at a monitor with a girls from the beginning of the movie at a sex party with no explanation of why, and also no mention of it to Chimney top.

    No one online can seem to piece together this heaping pile of garbage that is an ending, but I think I have, and here it is. (In case you skipped the recap, any word beginning with C is the blonde woman.)

    The serial killer man owns an escape room website and online stalks the people who visit it. We see this at the beginning. He sends them an invite and charges $1000 per person. We see this in the drive. This particular group was targeted not only because they were rich, but also because he could pin the blame on Chimley Chimerson and the police would arrest her instead of investigating him. Chim chimery’s knew her husband cheated with their friend. The friends husband also knew. The girl at the beginning probably knew too, and so did the man. The beginning girl can’t attend or the plan won’t work. Apparently she wasn’t invited because she couldn’t be contacted. We know the man can F*ck with telephones because of the payphone ending, so we can reasonably assume he stopped the group from contacting the beginning girl so she couldn’t be invited. Next step is to lure her to a sex party that night so she can be watched and occupied. We also know that the deaths were pre-planned and the man made sure only Chimp lady would survive. Now beginning girl knows that Chum lee was planning on taking the group to a non disclosed address, and also knows about the cheating. This is who the man says won’t believe Chick-fil-a. She will be arrested because of beginning girl and the man can continue murdering and torturing people which we hear at the beginning of the film. This is also the motive. The man is just a serial killer. As for why he is saying the ones who died are the ones who escaped, its just because of the cheating, which he is aware of. Why did dudes sister and her lover have to die? because they were invited and the man likes killing people. That’s why the puzzle they died in lead to nothing. He just likes killing people.

    If you want to look for a deeper meaning you might find it.
    I will name and explain quickly to make this easier.
    tall dates girl. dude dates blonde. dude’s sister dates guy.
    girl and dude have an affair. blonde and tall know about it but pretend they don’t.
    girl want’s tall to know because she is unhappy. girl also knows that blonde knows.
    dude seemingly doesn’t know that blonde knows. Ok

    during this whole thing blonde is in a cage
    first, tall, dude, and girl tell guy and dude’s sister an answer, and while they dance around, but then they realize it wasn’t the right answer and they die
    this is tall, dude, and girl lying about everything being fine, then the group of friends splitting because of it.
    this is followed by girl blaming tall for them dying when it clearly wasn’t his fault.
    this is because girl want’s tall to know about the affair so they can just be done, but he only continued the charade.
    next tall sacrifices himself for the others.
    this is what tall thinks he is doing
    then, girl tries leave, but is too weak, so dude forces girl to be sacrificed and with a broken arm, stuck in the room still, so he can leave and confront blonde.
    this is girl not being strong enough to stop the affair with dude and dude leaving the affair by telling blonde and leaving girl broken and in an unhealthy relationship that she can’t leave.
    earlier on girl told dude that blonde knows about the affair
    this is this
    dude confronts blonde. He is mad and says that she’s been watching them die the whole time. she says that she’s been trapped in a cage and it wasn’t her who killed them.
    The man later tells Blonde that this what she’s been looking for. something exciting. and that the ones who died are the ones that actually escaped, not her.
    dying earlier was disassociation, and it this case she was the only one who didn’t die because she still loves dude.

    So the reason this movie had a weird irrelevant cheating theme was because it was actually a metaphor for:

    Blonde want’s something exiting. She dates dude. Dude cheats with Girl. Girl hates her relationship with Tall and wants him to know about the affair and leave her. Tall decides to pretend there is no affair to save the friendship in the group. meanwhile Blonde knows about the affair and feels like she’s trapped in a cage. She loves Dude. Girl knows that Blonde know about the affair. Girl, Tall, and Dude tell Dude’s Sister, and Guy that everything is fine. This leads to Dude’s Sister, and Guy distancing them selves from the friend group after finding out about it. Girl blames Tall for this because she wanted him to leave her, but he stayed and continued the charade. Girl tries to stop the affair, but can’t and Dude leaves their affair by confronting Blonde. Girl doesn’t want him to leave and this leaves her broken and stuck in an unhealthy relationship. Dude knew that would happen, but did it anyway. Dude confronts Blonde, but only feels anger. He blames her because she was watching the whole time and did nothing not stop them. Blonde says she couldn’t. She felt like she was trapped in a cage. Everyone escaped except for Blonde because she still loves Dude.

     
    1. @Please don’t watch this movie –
      I looked up a summary about 45 mins in, wondering when things would get moving. Consequently I found your post, which frankly is more entertaining than the movie itself. By the time I got to “He sees Crisis what’s her face and they both hit a button to save him. The man kills him and later tells Christmas that the people who died are actually the ones who escape” I was cracking up. Thank you for making a dull movie much more interesting!

       
    2. Much much better than the movie! I was cracking up when I saw any word starting with C. This is better than the movie plot. People gotta read this than watch the movie and waste their time.

       

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