Escape Room | Film review - Skeet Ulrich stars in dire micro-budget horror

Four friends. One room. One hour. One killer.

Getting yourself locked in a room and having to puzzle your way out of it isn’t everyone’s idea of fun. But you can see why the on-trend adventure game should appeal to horror filmmakers as a plot device.

Sadly, the concept is totally wasted by Escape Room, a boring micro-budget effort , which traps two nerdy horror buffs and their girlfriends in the decidedly low-rent version of the game being operated by Skeet Ulrich’s failing entrepreneur.

Unfortunately for them, he has just bought a mysterious old box as a prop for the room, despite antique dealer Sean Young’s warning that a demon lurks inside. Unfortunately for us, the game’s ticking clock countdown only highlights at every step how much more of their dull ordeal we have to endure.

Certificate 15. Runtime 84 mins. Director Peter Dukes

Escape Room debuts on Sky Cinema Premiere on 8 February. Available on DVD & Digital from Signature Entertainment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lw_rcgQtiIE

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A film critic for over 25 years, Jason admits the job can occasionally be glamorous – sitting on a film festival jury in Portugal; hanging out with Baz Luhrmann at the Chateau Marmont; chatting with Sigourney Weaver about The Archers – but he mostly spends his time in darkened rooms watching films. He’s also written theatre and opera reviews, two guide books on Rome, and competed in a race for Yachting World, whose great wheeze it was to send a seasick film critic to write about his time on the ocean waves. But Jason is happiest on dry land with a classic screwball comedy or Hitchcock thriller.