Director: J. Jones
Writer: Lizze Gordon (Screenplay)
Starring: Tommy Nash, Aubrey Reynolds, Omar Gooding, Naina Michaud, Nicholas Turturro, Sara Stretton
Plot: Hot-shot Hollywood agent Matthew Blake has a dark past. He thinks that he is on his way to a double date with his oldest friend to a new Escape Room in Los Angeles. When the couples are locked into the Escape Room, Matthew quickly finds himself at the center of a revenge plot meant to right the wrongs of his past, with deadly results.
Runtime: 1 Hour 23 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Another Escape Room Movie
Story: Escape: Puzzle of Fear starts as Matthew (Nash) welcomes his old friend Tyler (Gooding), ex-girlfriend Angela (Michaud) for a get together, to meet his new girlfriend Brittany (Reynolds), with the idea of heading to an escape room together.
The four are joined by other guests on the escape room for a detective inspired one, that starts to take a unique twist which will become a fight to escape alive.
Thoughts on Escape: Puzzle of Fear
Characters – Matthew is the agent who is having a reunion with one of his best friend, he comes off friendly to strangers, always looking to charm to get him through life, along with old stories with his friend. Tyler is the old friend that is now married to Angela, between the two they are always arguing, while both trying to remain relevant to Matthew’s life. Brittany is the new girlfriend that has a distressing past, one that haunts her, while getting to enjoy being involved in an escape room.
Performances – Tommy Nash is the highlight of the film when it comes to performances, while nobody else is bad, they do a good job through the film, it is Nash that makes us want to see more from his character.
Story – The story here follows four friends that enter into an escape room, one that has a huge reputation that soon becomes a battle to survive. While this does use the very basic ideas of an escape room, we dive in a very different direction with how the story unfolds. This story does have a very clever twist involved in the story that constantly keeps us guessing along the way, it seems to focus too much on the importance of the escape room side of the film, which seems to be used to lead us in the wrong direction.
Thriller – We are kept wondering to what is happening in the Escape Room and with the characters involved.
Settings – The film uses two main settings, first the luxury house, which is used to show Matthew and his wealth, with the second location being the escape room, which is designed wonderfully well, to create the rolling movement of a criminal case unfolding.
Scene of the Movie – The truth.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – Certain side of the film doesn’t feel as important when things are done.
Final Thoughts – This is a twist filled thriller that uses the escape room as a backdrop rather than a main event, which does work in giving us more shock to the story.
Overall: Twist Filled Thriller.
