Escape Room is a 2019 American psychological horror film directed by Adam Robitel and written by Bragi F. Schut and Maria Melnik. The film stars Taylor Russell, Logan Miller, Deborah Ann Woll, Tyler Labine, Jay Ellis, Nik Dodani, and Yorick van Wageningen, and follows a group of people who are sent to navigate a series of deadly escape rooms.
Development of the film began in August 2017, then under the title The Maze, and the casting process commenced. Filming took place in South Africa in late 2017 through January 2018.
Escape Room was released in the United States on January 4, 2019, by Sony Pictures Entertainment, and grossed over $155 million worldwide. The film received mixed reviews from critics, who praised the atmosphere and cast, but criticized the familiar plot and its failure to take full advantage of its premise. A sequel, Escape Room 2, is planned for release on January 1, 2021.
Plot
Six people from varied backgrounds are presented with a puzzle cube: Zoey, a physics student; Jason, a wealthy daytrader; Ben, a stockboy; Mike, a truck driver; Amanda, an Iraq War veteran; and Danny, an escape room enthusiast. When they solve the puzzle, they are invited to take part in an escape room with a $10,000 prize. The participants arrive at an office block. They gather in the waiting room, waiting for the Gamemaster to arrive, but no one comes.
When Ben tries to leave, the door handle falls off, revealing that the challenge has begun. The room turns out to be a giant oven that begins to heat up. The players discover how to unlock an escape passage and climb out before the room is filled with fire. Next, they find themselves in a winter cabin, where Ben deduces how to open the door. They step out into an icy room where the temperature is dropping. They eventually find the key, but Danny falls through the ice and drowns. Some players notice reminders of traumatic events in their past: A song Ben heard before almost dying in a car crash and a red coat Jason wore when he escaped a shipwreck. The remaining five players enter an upside-down billiards bar, where parts of the floor periodically fall into a deep shaft below. They realize the room contains a giant sliding puzzle, and a missing 8 ball is the key. Amanda retrieves the ball and throws it to Jason before plummeting to her death.
The next room is a hospital ward with six beds, each representing a player. It is revealed that all of the six players were each sole survivors of various disasters: Mike escaped a mine cave-in, Zoey survived a plane crash, Danny survived when his family died of carbon monoxide poisoning, Amanda survived an IED blast, Jason survived a shipwreck in frigid weather, and Ben survived a car accident where his friends died. Zoey realizes that the purpose of the game is to determine which player is the luckiest of all. Jason discovers that the room is about to be filled with poisonous gas. Zoey refuses to continue playing and instead destroys the room’s surveillance cameras. A clip about a heart surgeon called “Dr. Wootan Yu” suggests that someone needs to record a certain heart rate to escape. Mike has the highest heart rate, but not high enough to work. Jason suggests using the defibrillator on Mike. Mike is unwilling at first, but Jason manipulates him by mentioning the mining tragedy. Jason accidentally kills Mike with a shock. He then solves the puzzle when the gas is released. Jason and Ben escape, but Zoey refuses to follow and disappears into the gas.
Jason and Ben enter a room with optical illusions and strobe lights. While drugged with a hallucinogen, they fight over an antidote. Ben kills Jason and injects himself with the antidote. He then falls into the last room, where a wall moves inwards to crush him. Meanwhile, in the hospital room, employees enter in hazmat gear to dispose of the dead bodies. Zoey appears and attacks them. Ben solves the last room and meets the Gamemaster, who controls the game that the Puzzle Maker designed. The Gamemaster explains that each year they lure in players with something in common – college athletes, savants, etc. – and wealthy viewers bet on the result. The Gamemaster tries to kill Ben, but Zoey intervenes, and together they kill the Gamemaster.
As Ben recovers, Zoey returns to the building with a detective. The police do not believe Zoey, as all evidence of the game has disappeared. They do not believe Ben either, as he was found to have drugs in his system. While looking at the graffiti on the wall, Zoey notices the words “No Way Out”, an anagram for “Wootan Yu”, suggesting the game is not over. Six months later, Zoey meets up with Ben. Zoey shows Ben newspaper articles that passed off the other players’ deaths as everyday accidents. While Ben suggests Zoey should move on, she refuses. She reveals clues to Ben that point to an unlisted building in Manhattan. Ben agrees to go with her. However, the mysterious Puzzle Maker is already preparing to make their flight a new deadly game of survival.
Cast
Taylor Russell as Zoey Davis
Logan Miller as Ben Miller
Deborah Ann Woll as Amanda Harper
Jay Ellis as Jason Walker
Tyler Labine as Mike Nolan
Nik Dodani as Danny Khan
Yorick van Wageningen as the Gamemaster
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.