Top 10 Best Escape Room Movies
An Introduction to Escape Room Movies
Escape room movies are a combination of survival game films and horror movies. In an escape room, a group of people is mainly locked in a room or building, and they try solving different puzzles for freedom before running out of time. Often involving elements of traps and consequences, these films might fall into either the thrilling or suspenseful category. While the genre picked up steam in the late 2010s, its predecessors can be found in escape-the-room video games as far back as the late 1980s, such as Behind Closed Doors in 1988, and Crimson Room in 2004.
It basically started as a concept of real-life escape rooms in the 2000s and almost immediately found its representation in movies. Encouraged by the box office successes of films like Cube (1997) and Saw (2004), this subgenre gained quite an upward trend within the genres of thrillers and horrors. Following are a few of the best movies created under this subgenre, from indie small-budget movies to big-budget movies.
1. Cube (1997)
The movie Cube by Vincenzo Natali has often been considered a harbinger of the more contemporary genre of movies of escape rooms. Plot The five full strangers are placed inside a network of interconnected rooms. Some of these hold deadly traps. As the characters maneuver through the rooms within the maze, they come to understand that the survival principle is based on the decoding of hidden numbers scattered around in the rooms themselves. The film is minimalist in construction as it creates the sense of an awful claustrophobia through slow tension. This makes the film Cube quite particular.
2. Cube 2: Hypercube (2002)
Cube 2: Hypercube ups the ante of the first with its reality-warped traps. Characters are expected to use their brains to get out of outrageous challenges in rooms that break every rule of physics in a futuristic series. Less full of puzzles and more of a weird experience, this sequel nonetheless retained some of the feel of the escape room quest. Its gaudy, high-concept looks make it a feel-alike but still not entirely uninteresting.
3. Saw (2004)
James Wan's Saw often shows up in lists of escape room movies, even though only a few in the franchise qualify. The first is a psychological thriller where two men are confined to a dingy room and make their way out through clues and confrontation with their past. Not purely a puzzle film, the movie does fall into the realm of escape room movies with its foreboding atmosphere and a little screwy moral dilemmas.
4. Saw II (2005)
Saw II has a more traditional idea of an escape room, where a group of strangers gets sent to a house rigged with deadly traps. There, the characters have to figure out some sort of cryptic clues to get out alive. Filled with Jigsaw's typical gore-laden tests, the emphasis is on teamwork and puzzle-solving squarely, making it an escape room movie. This probably has one of the more memorable plot twists at the end.
5. Fermat's Room (2007)
This Spanish thriller places a group of mathematicians in the middle of a confining room-the walls of which are designed to close in on the individuals should they fail to reach a solution to the puzzles given to them within the stipulated time. Intellectual challenges here are imbued with life-and-death stakes; this makes for a dense, mentally stimulating experience. Fermat's Room stands out with its intelligent plot and really pulsating moments of suspense, making it an underrated epiphany for the genre.
6. Breathing Room (2008)
Breathing Room is your low-budget thriller that's more Cube-like in tone. A bunch of strangers wake up and are forced to carry out some really cryptic instructions as part of their life-or-death escape room. To raise the stakes, all the strangers wear deadly collars, adding that there can be only one winner. While it does nothing particularly new, it is still quite an entertaining escape room pic for fans.
7. Exam (2009)
Exam is a thriller film where eight candidates have to solve a mystery during an interview for a very prestigious job. Strict rules and time constraints bring out the worst in candidates who are supposed to cooperate with each other in finding out a cryptic question. Though not typically, psychological tension and puzzles make it more of the escape room genre.
8. Escape Room (2017)
The first in a pair of Escape Room films from 2017, this follows the usually dreadful scenario of a group entering an escape room, only to find it carries fatal consequences. With its shadowy host and creepy atmosphere, rather than over-the-top puzzles, this installment is purely based on horror and suspension. While not particularly groundbreaking, it certainly delivers on tension and many plot twists.
9. Escape Room (2017)
Much more down to earth is the second of the Escape Room franchise from 2017. In celebration of one of their friend's birthdays, a group of friends enters a high-priced birthday-themed room of escape, only to find the puzzles are to kill them. It's here the secrets and interpersonal drama add some heft to the movie. It is a well-oiled, albeit predictive, wheel of an escape room thriller with just a tad of the feel found in Saw.
10. Jigsaw (2017)
Jigsaw is the eighth entry into the Saw franchise, rebooting the storyline with new deadly puzzles. Like its predecessors, it involves a group having to navigate through a series of interconnected traps set in consecutive rooms. While not original, the movie provides the expected amount of gore, suspense, and concepts of puzzles that fans of escape room movies would enjoy.
Conclusion
This is the reason why the thrill and excitement of trying to solve a problem, combined with the tightness in situations and the lurking fear of not making it out - is tackled through these escape room movies. Not all films fall under these categories as some may be more cerebral while others are more horror-drenched, each takes their own twist on the formula. These ten films are perfect if you're a fan of the genre or even if you just love high-stakes thrillers.
