Movie Review: No Escape Room (2018)

Synopsis: After a failed attempt to bond with his teenage daughter, Karen, ends with car trouble, Michael suggests visiting a local escape room while waiting for repairs. They are joined by three others and immediately begin having fun. However, it soon becomes apparent something is amiss and they eventually realize their lives are in danger.

Who's in it? The movie stars Jeni Ross, Mark Ghanimé, Kathryn Davis, Hamza Haq and Dennis Andres.


Review: My daughter wanted a horror movie for family movie night and, wanting to make sure I found something my wife and I hadn't seen before while still making sure it was suitable for her, I wound up looking for one on SyFy. This was one I've been interested in giving a try and, as it turns out, it was better than expected.

I think one of the things I liked most about this film is while everything felt real, there was also just enough mystery to make it easy to question whether or not it was all part of an elaborate show. Even as the characters began to question if their lives were in danger, there were legitimate reasons to think it might just be part of the game. When they found a dying woman, for example, they didn't get a chance to see her die.

The film also had some great visual effects that added to the overall creepiness, ranging from severed hands in toilets to a puzzling scene involving one of the escape room participants walking in a loop. Even the ending of the film was well-done, pulling off an impressive fake out that was both surprising and didn't suck (the latter is a lot less common than it should be).

My only real complaint is the movie never really gives any information about Andrew (Andres) despite going out of its way to make him seem suspicious. The fact he seemed to go out of his way to spend time with Karen (Ross) made me wonder if he was some sort of pedophile or something and it would have been nice to see some proof he was as nice of a guy as he claimed to be and an explanation about why he was the one person who came by himself.

Final Opinion: It's a made-for-TV movie so there are some expected limitations. However, it is a surprisingly entertaining film that I would recommend.

My Grade: B

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