During the 2010s, and to this day still, it seems like everyone goes to or has at least tried an escape room. That explains why, in 2019, Escape Room was released and is a movie that takes the fun activity and manages to turn it into something completely terrifying. It ended up as an underrated horror movie of the 2010s.

The concept of an escape room, where a group of people are locked in and must solve clues to get free, is perfect for a horror movie. Escape Room played with that idea and turned into a solid hit that produced a sequel. In fact, it had all the makings of a major horror franchise, though that never happened.

Escape Room Turns The тιтular Activity Into A Horror Story

As noted, the premise of Escape Room is an intriguing one that is very similar to real escape rooms. A group of people gets invited to participate in the escape room, with $10,000 going to the winner, only to find out that each successive room is ᴅᴇᴀᴅlier than the previous one.

The тιтular activity is designed to be a fun, bonding experience for those involved. However, the movie takes that and flips it on its head to turn it into something harrowing. Each room is its own nightmare of sorts, specifically designed for each member of the party.

It all starts with the lobby that turns into a giant oven before they move into a cabin room that involves freezing cold temperatures. There’s also an upside-down billiards room, a hospital, and an illusion room that all feature their own horrors. It makes for one of the most creative horror movies in recent memory.

Escape Room Almost Became The New Saw

Following the success of Escape Room in 2019, as it grossed over $150 million on a budget of under $10 million, a sequel was greenlit. COVID pushed it back to 2021 but it was planned for 2020, which would’ve given us two installments in two years.

For a lot of movie series, that would be difficult to do, but it’s most common with horror franchises. The Saw series is one of the most famous cases of this, with a new entry arriving every year from 2004 through 2010. It hit a point where Saw was ᴀssociated with Halloween, as that was when a new installment arrived.

That’s one of the ways Escape Room should’ve become the new Saw. A new entry in a creative horror movie franchise each year would’ve made this the perfect replacement for Saw. That’s not the only similarity the movies share, though.

Like Saw, Escape Room focuses on a group of people who have to survive traps and if they don’t, they die in interesting ways. However, Escape Room has a bit more appeal because the killings are nowhere near as gruesome as they are in Saw, which often sent away some viewers.

Both Escape Room Films Are Underrated

Although Escape Room was a commercial success in 2019, the film was only met with mixed reviews. It currently holds a 51% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and the sequel, Escape Room: Tournament of Champions, is only slightly higher at 52%. Those are fine scores but they should be higher.

While nobody will say the Escape Room films should be in Best Picture conversations or anything like that, they are clever, well-made horror flicks with a lot of appeal to them. They’re the kind of films you watch with a group to have a wild, good time and they never try to be anything more.

Unfortunately, the demand for these movies wasn’t high enough to garner a third Escape Room as of now, despite an interesting ending to Tournament of Champions. However, if one is eventually made, it’ll likely be more of the same, which is fine for the fans of the franchise who know what they love about it.