Escape Room, written by Noah Dorsey and directed by Adam Robitel, is a riveting psychological science-fiction thriller that was released on January 4th, 2019.

It’s about a group of four indisposable protagonists that are mysteriously chosen to play this escape room “game” via a black box delivered in the mail, but soon regret it, as the penalty for failing to solve the near-impossible puzzles is death. The prize, however, is $10,000 for anyone lucky enough to outsmart the gamemaster or designer of the game, and make it out alive. The scenarios presented to them play to their individual fears and past traumatic experiences: in other words, it’s a death trap. I don’t know if it was just because I can’t handle extreme gore or disturbing exorcism scenes in true horror movies, or because it incorporated two of my favorite things – mystery and thrill – but I thoroughly enjoyed every second of it.

Kicking the new year off right, the movie plays off of the recent escape room trend sweeping across America, bringing it to a whole new, terrifying level with plenty of twists and turns that will keep you at the edge of your seat for the duration of the film. The game starts out in an unsettling way, as the players are locked in a room that quickly turns into a toaster oven, getting hotter by the second. With each escape room comes an entirely new level of genius.

While some may find the plot repetitive, the constant urge to survive is what allowed me to stay so engaged, along with the incredible acting. Each actor brought something different to the table and allowed us audience members to put ourselves in their shoes, wondering what we would do and how we would react in similar situations. Thanks to the diverse cast, the audience could easily pick a character that they related to the most or sympathized with the most. This made the movie more fun to watch overall, with the help of action-packed scenes that never disappointed. I was not bored for one second watching Escape Room – in fact, I almost felt an adrenaline rush at times, like I was there experiencing everything with them. Every single detail of this movie was so meticulous and well thought out. I don’t have anything negative to say about the movie, except that you may be annoyed that you have to wait for the sequel, as there was a big cliffhanger insinuating that something else will probably be in the works. I would highly recommend seeing this exhilarating movie if you haven’t already. Saville’s Rating: 10/10