Escape Room (2019) - Movie Review

Well, it’s February and you know what that means: Horror movies. No, I didn’t just suffer a stroke; it’s just that the start of the year is usually when studios dump off the movies that weren’t good enough for release the previous year, and horror movies are nothing if not plentiful regardless of the time of year. Knowing that off-season horror fare usually isn’t worth writing home about (we’ll ignore the irony that I do that for literally every new film I see), I can’t say I was expecting much from this. Hell, between director Adam Robitel, whose last film was pretty plain in the visual department, and writers whose best-known work between them is an early-2010’s Nicolas Cage flick, there’s not much reason to expect more than mediocrity here. Well, thankfully, this film does have quite a bit going for it. And it even manages to achieve some of it.

From the setup to the main group of trapped strangers as the lead characters, this is basically Saw with better production values. It carries the same brand of convoluted bombast that helped make that series what it is in the eyes of its fanbase (which, as I’ve stated before, includes myself), only tied to something a bit more believable than a cancer patient risking people’s lives as part of a twisted form of therapy. As much as the formula itself is quite well-worn by this point, between Saw and its many, many copycats, this is at least a good depiction of that formula. The individual puzzle rooms show some definite creativity, the pacing is good and tight as it should be, and as much as I clowned on the director and writers earlier, this both looks and reads pretty damn good.

Admittedly, part of that comes with Saw déjà vu once again, as this also deals in contemplations on the phrase ‘survival of the fittest’ and pushing people to their limits, physically and mentally. Specifically, this feels like Saw V in that it actually has some solid character development for the individuals in the titular escape room. From the douchebag who thinks he’s funny (Jay Ellis doing a surprisingly good job with an annoying archetype) to the stoner-looking dude who actually is funny (Logan Miller) to the socially-withdrawn genius (Taylor Russell in what is effectively the lead role) to the games nerd (the annoying best friend from Atypical), it all checks out. With how their individual backgrounds are revealed, it ties them neatly together as a group worth bringing together for a story, especially with how the idea of ‘escape’ takes on a layered meaning with how their respective pasts have affected them.

However, this level of efficacy sticks to the bulk of the film in-between the beginning and the ending; go beyond those barriers and things start to turn sour. Now, the opening is quite effective as a cold opening, but it initially has that effect of feeling like you already know how the film itself is going to end which does rob it of some of its tension. But, credit to the filmmakers, they actually manage to work around what could potentially be a film-ruining start… in a way that makes me wish that actually was the ending.

Yeah, in a bizarre turn of events, things go really downhill as we get to the ending, lathering on even more borrowed ideas from other horror flicks (I noticed a few direct connections to Hostel and, for some reason, Cabin In The Woods) and truly petering out into an ending meant to keep this open for another installment. Oh, the eternal fucking annoyance that is the horror film already priming for what’s next when it hasn’t even finished making the first one entirely worth watching.

Which really is a shame, as this film is mostly pretty decent. It does rely on sufficient suspension of disbelief to really get into, much like the Saw series, but if good characters and atmosphere are enough to pique your interest when it comes to horror, this should slake your thirst. And since this is pretty much locked in for a sequel, between the ending and its current box office, I’ll admit that I like the idea of another puzzle-oriented horror series to get into. I just get the feeling that the big reveals for this series aren’t going to measure up, based on the ending here, but I guess we’ll wait and see.