Puzzles and horror movies have gone hand in hand ever since Jigsaw invited his victims to “play a game” in the 2004 film Saw.
But the 2019 movie Escape Room takes that puzzle fixation further by blending the pop culture craze of escape room games with a deadly mystery.
This week, Escape Room is in Netflix’s top 10 most popular movies — and for good reason.
The Watch With Us team is breaking down why this chilling thriller is as addictive as it is terrifying.
The Story Builds on Modern Pop Culture
From Twitch streams to Squid Game: The Challenge, watching people play games has become a growing form of entertainment. Escape Room builds on that idea with its story, in which six puzzle-loving contestants receive an invitation to compete in an escape room for a $10,000 prize.
Each competitor — Zoey, a physics student (Taylor Russell), Jason, a wealthy day trader (Jay Ellis), Ben, a stockboy (Logan Miller), Mike, a truck driver (Tyler Labine), Amanda, an Iraq War veteran (Deborah Ann Woll) and Danny, an escape room enthusiast (Nik Dodani) — has a different approach to games and problem-solving, but they’re all eager to play. Their efforts are even livestreamed to a paying audience. Things take a shocking turn when they discover that the escape rooms are designed to be deadly.
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Many real-life escape rooms mimic violent scenarios. I’ve played one set in a bloody asylum and another in a frozen outpost with a deadly contagion to contain. Escape Room takes this one step further, asking if we’ve become too comfortable playing out life-or-death situations for fun.
The Cast Stars Horror Pros
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Several of the cast members in Escape Room are experts in the horror genre. From Labine, who starred in Tucker & Dale vs Evil, to True Blood’s Woll and Bones and All’s Russell, many of the cast members look very at home among blood, screams and violence. If you’re a fan of any of these performances, Escape Room is definitely worth checking out. Their combined experience helps elevate the film, grounding its scares in strong performances that keep the suspense engaging.
The Layered Twists of the Plot Are a Puzzle of Their Own
Without spoiling the ending, we’ll say that there’s more to the challenge of Escape Room than meets the eye. Each level of intrigue unfolds like a Rubik’s Cube, with a combination of excellent special effects and clever concepts.
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If you’re a fan of puzzles and intricate plots, you should definitely make Escape Room your next horror movie. The mystery keeps you guessing until the very end, making it just as thrilling to solve as the deadly games onscreen.
Watch Escape Room on Netflix.
