Saw stands as one of the most successful and influential horror franchises of all time. It began in 2004 with the eponymous film and quickly became a cultural phenomenon and, eventually, one of the highest-grossing horror franchises of all time, with its 10 movies making more than $1 billion at the box office combined.
The franchise centers on the fictional serial killer John “Jigsaw” Kramer (played by Tobin Bell), who, instead of directly murdering his victims, places them in ᴅᴇᴀᴅly traps, framed as “tests” or “games,” that challenge their survival instincts through intense physical pain or psychological torment. The immense success of the Saw franchise has inspired a wave of similar horror movies.
Movies such as Hostel (2005), Wolf Creek (2005), and The Collector (2009) borrowed elements from Saw, such as the use of gruesome traps, extreme violence, and survival-based narratives, cementing the genre’s popularity throughout the 2000s and beyond. Now, a Saw-like horror movie from 2019 is currently climbing Netflix’s chart in the United States.
Escape Room Climbs Netflix’s US Chart
Escape Room is climbing Netflix’s chart in the United States. Directed by Adam Robitel (Insidious: The Last Key), with a script written by Bragi F. Schut and Maria Melnik, the horror film follows a group of individuals forced to survive a sequence of lethal escape rooms, each filled with intricate traps designed as part of a twisted game of life-or-death.
The cast includes Taylor Russell (Bones & All), Logan Miller, Deborah Ann Woll (True Blood), Tyler Labine (Tucker & Dale vs. Evil), Nik Dodani, Jay Ellis (Top Gun: Maverick), Yorick van Wageningen, Cornelius Geaney Jr., Jessica Sutton, Russell Crous, Bart Fouche, Kenneth Fok, and Jamie-Lee Money.
Six years after its release, Escape Room ranks eighth on Netflix’s Top 10 movies in the United States for the week of September 1–7. It ranks below Unknown Number: The High School Catfish, KPop Demon Hunters, The Thursday Murder Club, Shrek, Shrek the Third, Shrek 2, Wind River, and above Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Shrek Forever After.
Our Take On Escape Room’s Netflix Success
Escape Room‘s Netflix surge seems to be a continuation of its box office success, since it surprisingly grossed over $155 million at the box office against its small $9 million budget, and was followed by the sequel Escape Room: Tournament of Champions in 2021.
However, Escape Room received mixed reviews, indicated by its 51% and 54% scores on Rotten Tomatoes, with many praising its atmosphere, cast, and production design, but faulting its predictable storyline and underuse of its premise. Even with its flaws, perhaps Escape Room’s greatest trap is the one that dares audiences to keep watching.
