Games Are Fun, Do You Want To Play One?
Escape: Puzzle Of Fear appears to be both a suspenseful horror/thriller and a kind of a film that is hilariously sexy, but it’s not meant to be. In an odd mash-up of ‘Escape Room style’ filmmaking, this movie takes bits and pieces from many others and fuses them into one giant mess. However, horror is an extreme way to categorize this film as, although it is aimed at horror fans, there is nothing that is particularly frightening about this film. Unless you take into consideration some of the actors, and their performances that is.
With its plot beginning at a rather interesting point, the movie shows how a bunch of people run across an escape room. Ominous music builds in the background, which intensifies the moment as eventually the group makes it outside, but some puzzling aspects are clearly seen in this arrangement.
After this point, we advance to where the majority of the characters we will be following around the film, our group of randy teenagers, are located. Matthew fit’s the stereotype of a bad boy, reeking of a nonchalant demeanor towards girlfriend Brittany, long hair and a short beard. Also in the house for the weekend are Matthew’s best friend Tyler and his girlfriend Angie.
As the film steady depicts all of the steamy moments of intimacy between both couples (for a moment, I was convinced that this was something completely different from what I had signed up for), the group brings up a terrifying escape room that “is like Saw but a lot worse.” They decide to give it a try, so they head up and brace themselves for the worst.
Considering that this is a synopsis in brief of the first 10 minutes, the viewer should come to expect a slow-paced opening act, which in this case lasts for 40 minutes without any unnecessary interruptions. There’re even some flashbacks here, along with cutaways to the escape room employees for good measure. One of the most hilarious moments in the entire film is Sam and Tabitha ordering coffee and there’s a lone shot of them that last 10 seconds. They seem to be such a terrible fit that their delivery is almost chaotic. It doesn’t matter that it was not the style that the filmmakers were going for because it is quite fun to watch and only adds to the cheesiness of the plot.
But then everything gets completely out of hand towards the end and it is irritating that there is not really an escape room per se at work here. Rather, these events unfold more like a nostalgic moment. Unlike the last year’s Escape Room which this one has gotten the poster design from, a lot of traps, aggression or bloodletting get missing for our oblivious characters.
Rather, the film shamelessly copies other films such as The Usual Suspects, Urban Legend and Saw. In fact, I would have liked it more if the movie was marketed as a comedy because trying to present a parody in the form of a thrilling movie would surely have given it some brownie points increasing the score. The conversations made no sense and were completely out of context to the situation which made this a funny watch for me. Or, rather, this is the most I can say in praise of the film.
Even though there’s a lot wrong with this, I will confess that I had fun watching it. It has some really funny jokes, scenes that are uncomfortably strange like an awkward fan meeting, and a “twist” ending that would have worked better had it not played a scene over and over again. The film has numerous tonal and structural flaws, making it one that you are not likely to want to see anytime soon if you want to see it at all.
On the other hand, for those seeking a cheesy exploitation, grotesqueness without gore and plenty of sexual tension, this can be the film for you.
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