In Escape Room, six strangers find themselves in circumstances beyond their control when they sign up for a mysterious and deadly Escape Room experience. Throughout the movie, they must use their wits in order to survive. It features actors and actresses such as Deborah Ann Woll (who was on True Blood from 2008-2014), Taylor Russell (who recently rose to fame for playing Judy Robinson in the new Lost in Space series), and Tyler Labine (from Tucker and Dale vs Evil). The director of the movie (Adam Robitel) is also known for writing/directing other scary movies like The Taking of Deborah Logan, Insidious: The Last Key, and Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension.
But what people love about this movie—even more than the stars and the writing—is the thrill of it all! There is just something about strangers being stuck together, everything going wrong, and the mystery of finding out who will survive that is so appealing. So, for those who are looking for similar thrills, we suggest the following 15 movies.
Updated on October 3rd, 2020 by Mark Birrell: With fans not wanting to escape the fun, and with plenty of other examples of the same kind of twist-filled games for them to enjoy, we've added an extra 5 entries to our list of movies to check out if you liked Escape Room.
The Maze Runner
This explosive adaptation of James Dashner's young adult novel of the same name sees a young man with amnesia awake in a large elevator hurtling him towards an uncertain fate.
At the end of the ride, he finds himself in a commune of other boys in a similar situation, and together they must solve the mystery of their memory loss and the giant shifting monster-filled maze that they have been imprisoned within.
Unfriended
A group of high school friends on a Skype call together begin to be harassed by a mysterious interloper into their conversation who reveals deeply personal information about them and forces them to play an ominous game.
As the teens' guilt over their many indiscretions (including the death of one of their former friends) bubbles to the surface, it begins to become apparent that deadly supernatural forces may be at work.
Exam
When 8 candidates vie for the same lucrative position at a powerful company, they meet in a small room to complete an entrance exam to win the job.
It quickly becomes clear that it's no ordinary interview, however, and they must put their heads together to figure out exactly what's going on and what's expected of them. Their collective fear, greed, anger, and selfishness bring out the worst in each other though as their desperation intensifies while the number of applicants gets whittled down by some deceptive thinking.
The Belko Experiment
A group of administrative office workers suddenly find themselves locked within their building one day out of the blue, and they're told that they must murder a certain percentage of their colleagues before a time limit expires or small explosive devices implanted in their heads will go off and do the job for them.
Gory and full of grim sci-fi commentary and fun character development from screenwriter James Gunn, The Belko Experiment is quite an original rollercoaster despite drawing inspiration from famous sources.
Battle Royale
This Japanese classic from director/father Kenji Fukasaku and writer/son Kenta Fukasaku sees a group of high school kids pitted against one another in a battle to the death full of explosive traps and random grab bags of weapons on a secluded island.
Clearly a huge influence on the Hunger Games series, Battle Royale is gory, twisted, fun, and a must-watch for fans of deadly games in movies.
Devil
There is also a random group of people featured in this movie, and throughout the story, they are trapped in an elevator. It gets worse, though... The devil is mysteriously amongst them.
Who is it?! That is part of the fun of this story from M. Night Shyamalan (a story that, due to its famous name, comes with a giant twist).
Nine Dead
In Nine Dead, the audience is introduced to a group of strangers who are kidnapped and forced to figure out their connection and until they figure out how they are all intertwined, someone has to die every 10 minutes.
A fun fact about this one is that it starred Melissa Joan Hart; she was the title character in the original Sabrina the Teenage Witch series and has since been mainly in comedy series and made-for-TV holiday movies. Seeing her in this is quite an interesting change of pace, to say the least!
The Killing Room
Four individuals sign up for a psychological research study in this thriller and it turns out that they are actually now subjects of a brutal, classified governmental program.
It definitely has a similar plot to Escape Room and big-name star power like Nick Cannon, Timothy Hutton, and Chloë Sevigny!
Unknown
The movie starts with 5 strangers who are all men. As usual, they wake up in a creepy place (a locked-down warehouse), and things start off on the wrong foot as they try to remember how they got there and who they even are.
In Unknown, the characters are forced to figure out who is good and who is bad, all in order to stay alive and Escape Room fans should have a lot of fun here.
Saw
Of course, we are including the Saw movie franchise because ever since Escape Room came out, Saw has been getting some more attention due to the similar vibes of these titles. For those who do not know, Saw brings together strangers who are pawns in a deadly game.
There are crazy traps, an end goal, and there is that creepy clown doll that everyone remembers so fondly. So horror fans looking for more excitement can turn to any of the movies that are in this series but particularly the first.
Identity
Before Saw and Escape Room, there was Identity, a fun horror thriller from 2003. Again, we see 10 strangers who find themselves stranded at a motel in the middle of nowhere during a rainstorm. While getting to know each other and while waiting out the storm, they realized they were each being killed off one by one!
John Cusack leads this psychological thriller and it has gained quite the following over the years. Ray Liotta and Amanda Peet star in it too and it's definitely recommended for people who love twisted plots.
The Hole
Strangers don't randomly come together in order to tell this particular tale. Instead, this movie features four teenagers who all went to a British private school. Outside of school, they discovered a huge hole in the ground that was created decades ago as a possible bomb shelter.
This one is definitely interesting, and we don’t want to give anything away... Just go watch it right now! Plus, fans who enjoy this one get to take in a young Thora Birch and a baby Keira Knightley.
Cube
Another one on this list that may not surprise some people is Cube, a movie that now has a cult-like following ever since coming out in 1997. There is drama, there is mystery, there are sci-fi elements, and yes, there are six complete strangers of widely varying personality characteristics who all end up in an endless maze. Oh, and the maze is full of deadly traps.
Love the movie already? Then also check out Cube 2: Hypercube (from 2002) and Cube Zero (from 2004), although originals are often hard to beat.
The Game
Also in 1997, The Game was released, and this is a movie like no other. The story centers around a wealthy banker who is given a rare opportunity to participate in a mysterious game.
At first, it seems like it could be sort of neat, but he finds his life turned upside down. Things get super intense in this one, and the ending makes it a true classic!
House On Haunted Hill
Last but not least, we have the OG of this genre! It's one that puts random people together, has a game-like scenario, and keeps fans on their toes and on the edges of their seats. House on Haunted Hill is the oldest movie on this list, as it was released in 1959, but no less thrilling because of it!
There was a remake in 1999 which starred Geoffrey Rush, Taye Diggs, Ali Larter, and Peter Gallagher, and in 2007, it received a direct-to-DVD sequel called Return to House on Haunted Hill. But this is all about the original story, featuring Vincent Price, a millionaire who offered $10,000 to five people who agreed to be locked in a large, spooky house overnight and, of course, many fun frights are in store.