Tag: Escape Room

ESCAPE ROOM – Review


ESCAPE ROOM tells the story of a half-dozen strangers trapped in a series of rooms who need to figure out why they’re there and/or discover a way out. Also, the rooms are trying to kill them. We’ve seen this before (CUBE and MAZE RUNNER come to mind) and while ESCAPE ROOM sometimes plays like a bloodless, young-adult version of the SAW films, it’s an interesting PG-13 attempt at something a little different. Despite the generic promises of its title, ESCAPE ROOM is not as stale a take on the convention as you might expect. It begins with a nice Twilight Zone-style vibe to it, but the story tips its hand too soon, runs out of ideas, and fails to sustain suspense.

ESCAPE ROOM is a cash-in in on those interactive adventure games that have popped up in strip malls. Places where folks pay to solve a series of puzzles and riddles using clues, hints, and strategy to complete objectives and get out “alive” within a set time limit. That’s basically this film’s plot and it’s what Jason (Jay Ellis), Zoey (Taylor Russell), Danny (Nik Dodani), Amanda (Deborah Ann Woll), Mike (Tyler Labine), and Ben (Logan Miller) think they’re getting into as the story begins, but they soon learn that it’s no game and that the rooms have murderous intentions.

ESCAPE ROOM is a decent thriller, its plot structured to keep the audience guessing, and it does take these six strangers and the story to imaginative places. It’s ambitious enough and it held my attention with its pretzel-logic plot, at least for the first half. A big problem with the script is that these rooms become less and less interesting as the story progresses. The sequence in the first room, a seemingly normal den that begins turning into an oven, is clever and exciting. Room 2 isn’t a room at all, but an exterior near a frozen pond, a scene that seems to go on forever. Room 3 is an inverted pool hall, which makes for some eye-popping visuals but the sequence also seems to run on. At about the one hour mark, ESCAPE ROOM runs out of steam and starts revealing secrets about these characters and why they’re there. It turns out they all share a certain trait, but it’s not a particularly compelling twist. The story eventually enters CABIN IN THE WOODS territory, with a showdown with the game-masters behind the curtain, which spells out too much and seems anti-climactic. Though never for a moment original, ESCAPE ROOM forges ahead with the kind of conviction and energy that may keep horror junkies entertained, at least for a while.  While the strength of ESCAPE ROOM is some early tension, the weakness in is the dialogue, which sometimes turns remarkably trite. The cast is comprised of attractive actors that young viewers may recognize from TV shows, but nobody stands out. Keep your expectations low and you may find ESCAPE ROOM just crafty enough to warrant your time.

3 of 5 Stars

 

Columbia Picture’s ESCAPE ROOM – Take the Million Dollar Challenge!


Want a chance at winning a million dollars?! Columbia Pictures’ Escape Room movie is giving YOU a chance to use your puzzle-solving skills and a chance to enter to win a trip to Los Angeles and a shot at $1,000,000! And don’t miss the new movie Escape Room, only in theaters January 4th!


In the Escape Room Movie Million Dollar Challenge Sweepstakes, gamers, horror fans, and puzzlesolvers alike can enter an immersive digital experience at EscapeRoomMovieChallenge.com. To survive all three (3) 360° movie-themed escape rooms you must solve a series of puzzles utilizing clues and custom interactive riddles. Survivors will be able to enter for a chance to win a trip to Los Angeles, go through a real escape room, and have a shot at $1,000,000! NO PURCHASE, PAYMENT OR PUZZLE COMPLETION NECESSARY. See the Official Rules at EscapeRoomMovieChallengeRules.com


Escape Room is a psychological thriller about six strangers who find themselves in circumstances beyond their control and must use their wits to find the clues or die. Their secrets hold the key. Uncover the dark truth that connects them all. Directed by Adam Robitel. Produced by Neal H. Moritz and Ori Marmur. Screenplay by Bragi Schut and Maria Melnik. Story by Bragi Schut.

 

Interview : THE BELKO EXPERIMENT – VR ESCAPE ROOM With David Yarovesky

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Have you ever found yourself suddenly enveloped in a nightmare? You must be dreaming, right? Either that, or you’re in an immersive VR escape room, trying to save your own life while a friend fucks with you from the sidelines! That was the fun, panicked predicament I found myself in when I headed to The Microsoft Lounge to play THE BELKO EXPERIMENT – VR ESCAPE ROOM EXPERIENCE created by my talented friend, David Yarovesky.

The game, co-created by Dan Clifton, is an interactive puzzle which puts you in the middle of The Belko Experiment. You have fifteen minutes to solve the clues in order to save your own life. It’s designed for the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift headsets through the Steam Platform, so you have a bit of a choice. Did I mention that it is FREE? As someone who has experience with both headsets, I was glad to experience this world with the Vive! Within seconds of putting the headset on, you’re completely unaware of the outside world, leaving you to focus on the game. I will refrain from the majority of details, since I don’t want to spoil things for you. Instead I will tell you a bit about my experience.

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One of the first things I noticed was a familiar voice when I put the headset on. Comedian Steve Agee is your guide throughout the game. The best way to explain this is if Jiminy Cricket and Milton from Office Space had a baby, and that baby was just dropped in the center of BATTLE ROYALE… Yarovesky created a perfect balance of fun and fear that leads players through the game.

Taking all personal feelings out of this, because I am friends with Yarovesky, and quite a few people involved with the film, I found this to be a ton of fun! You are locked in your office, and have fifteen minutes to search for clues in order for you live. As the clock ticks down, the voice of your co-worker (Agee) is reminding you, with growing intensity, that you’re about to die. There are a ton of different places to search, and you can’t be afraid to think outside the box. As I played, I found my anxiety level increasing slightly, while finding joy in every puzzle solved or clue found. The game is designed to keep you moving. I found myself on the floor, running back and forth, opening drawers, moving boxes, and reaching all over the place in search of clues. Who doesn’t love that?

Because I was playing in the Vive, which is extremely clear, and easy to get lost in, there was one little surprise in particular that scared me half to death! I’m the type of person who can walk into a haunted house by myself, but this… nope. I squealed like a little girl. Despite knowing completely that I was in a video game, that it was not real, and in no way could it hurt me, I panicked! Don’t worry, you can watch me freak out over the “surprise” below.

Warning: I SWEAR A LOT!

After playing the game, I sat down with Yarovesky for a little chit-chat. Check that out here:

One of the first things that I noticed, and it’s something that I noticed when I played ‘Lollipop Chainsaw,’ is that it completely changes your experience when you recognize a voice or two, or know people in it. You heard me as I yelled “Steve! Be nice!” How has your experience been working with friends?

YAROVESKY: It’s great! Working with James [Gunn] is always great. I think James and I like to work together. Working with Steve [Agee] is great. He’s a close friend of mine. It’s nice to have that shorthand, and comfort where you can go “Yo, that wasn’t right. Do it again.” You just know each other so well, so it’s more like hanging out, and it’s less intense. There’s so much in this industry that’s intense and tough, and you have to think hard to navigate choppy waters. When you work with your friends, it’s simple.

I’ve seen a lot of your projects… from music videos, to even writing and directing THE HIVE. We’ve played VR games a million times, but we’ve never actually talked about you going in and creating a game or world. How do you even start something like this?

YAROVESKY : Sure! It’s funny how it happened. Let me break it down…

Break it down for me… 

YAROVESKY: I’ll break it down for you, ok? Everyone out there is looking for directors to shoot 360, and you know that I’m a big advocate of VR. I love VR. A lot of these companies don’t understand VR, and all they know is that they want to do “whatever that is.” The simplest way in is 360 video. The problem with that is that 360 is not the future of VR. It’s just not. It’s not interactive enough. So, every time I meet with these companies I tell them “I’m not interested in shooting a 360 video, but I would love to make a game that is fully interactive… a room scale experience that is designed and created by me, that I can kind of control.” I don’t need to go into all of the specifics the ideas, but I wanted to make something totally immersive, and totally interactive. Meeting after meeting, they would go “No thanks. We’re just going to make a 360 video.’ and that’s fine. That’s what they want to do, but Blumhouse Tilt was awesome enough to hear my pitch, and kind of forced me to put my money where my mouth was! I had pitched it a lot, but I hadn’t really ever made a game before, ever. I partnered with Paper Crane Games, I partnered with Top Right Corner, and a ton of people who worked on the film in terms of sound and music… and we cranked out this really cool, unique experience.

This is, with the exception of the surprise because you’re an asshole [laughs]… intense. It’s crazy how much pressure you feel as the clock ticks down, yet Steve adds humor to the game. How did you find the balance between pressure and fun?

YAROVESKY: I think that was just in-game balancing and tweaking. I think that you approach it like a director, in that same way where you look at how much audio people can take, and balance it. How much abuse people can take before they just shut down… I warn people that it’s a fifteen minute panic attack, and when they get in there, they don’t believe me. Then, in the last three minutes they are soaked in sweat and they are freaking out. It’s so funny to see how people completely buckle under the pressure of that ticking clock… to see people stop thinking at all, and start doing things that are completely nonsensical.

If you had to enter THE BELKO EXPERIMENT with all of or friends involved in the film… throw James [Gunn] in there, and Greg [McLean] in there too… 

YAROVESKY: Oh, I’d kill them first!

… who would survive, and who wouldn’t?

YAROVESKY: Me. I’d survive. First of all, I’d kill James.

Just like Mafia [the party game]… 

YAROVESKY: People listen to James. He’s got a voice that people follow. He’s that alpha dog in the room, so you’ve gotta kill him immediately. You’ve gotta kill Greg…

We should just throw [Michael] Rosenbaum in too.

YAROVESKY: Rosenbaum’s gotta go. Those are all the people who you have to kill first. Anyone who is loud, that can command a group of people… I would kill them first.

What about [Michael] Rooker? 

YAROVESKY: Rooker, I would recruit on my side. I’d slash his throat last…

Wouldn’t you be afraid that he’d turn on you first? Let’s face it, he can be unpredictable? [laughs]

YAROVESKY: Rooker’s the real threat! I’d be the most scared of Rooker. [Stephen] Blackehart’s threatening… I don’t know. I’m enjoying this fantasy. I’d like to think that… do I have to keep people? [laughs]

You have to keep one or two people? 

YAROVESKY: I’d definitely keep James…

You said you would kill him first!

YAROVESKY: Well, if I got to keep someone. I’d just keep James. James and I, we could run it.

Belko VR – The Escape Room Experience VR Game is available NOW available for FREE for HTC Vive and Oculus Rift headsets through the Steam Platform.

Written by the acclaimed writer/director James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy, Slither) and directed by Greg McLean (creator of the Wolf Creek franchise), THE BELKO EXPERIMENT is a terrifying, provocative and at times hilarious thrill-ride that literally provokes the question; what does it take to survive at work?
https://youtu.be/L7ogzhx2P8I
From Orion Pictures, THE BELKO EXPERIMENT stars John Gallagher Jr. (“The Newsroom”, 10 Cloverfield Lane), Tony Goldwyn (“Scandal”), John C. McGinley (“Stan Against Evil,” “Scrubs”), Adria Arjona (“True Detective”), Josh Brener (“Silicon Valley”) and Michael Rooker (Guardians of the Galaxy). The film was directed by Greg McLean and executive produced by James Gunn and Peter Safran ( The Conjuring 1&2, Annabelle).
#BelkoExperiment

THE BELKO EXPERIMENT – In Theaters March 17, 2017

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