News
Adam Robitel’s Horror/Thriller ‘Escape Room’ Opens This Week
Escape Room, written by Bragi Schut (Season of the Witch) and Maria Melnik (American Gods) and directed by Adam Robitel (The Taking of Deborah Logan), hits theaters this Friday, January 4, 2018, and marks the beginning of a whole new year of big screen thrills and chills for horror audiences.
It’s a particularly tricky spot for any film, and one that Robitel has only previously navigated under the umbrella of a larger franchise with last year’s Insidious: The Last Key which raked in an estimated $167 million worldwide with an impressive $30 million in its opening weekend.
Robitel is a gifted filmmaker, however, who possesses the ability to tell an intense, genuinely scary story that compels audiences to stand up and pay attention. He proved that in 2014 when The Taking of Deborah Logan, a film he directed and co-wrote with Gavin Heffernan, became the indie film that everyone was talking about.
It was, after all, those experiences that paved the road to Escape Room.
“Escape Room represents the first time I’ve been able to help develop a script and really mold it, as well as develop a film’s visual aesthetic from scratch on a studio level,” Robitel told iHorror. “Our biggest focus was digging in to character and really making them the biggest puzzles/mystery of the film. I did a lot of research on local Escape Rooms and saw how visual and art-directed the good ones are. I got really excited about how the space can transform as the players interact with the puzzles and this was super exciting when thinking about ways to make the film visual and visceral.”
In the new film, six strangers find themselves chosen to compete in “the most immersive” escape room ever created with a $10,000 cash prize upon completion. Unfortunately they realize far too late that the traps in this environment are designed to kill and their only way out is to work together.
“My team and I saw every room as a visual reset and a movie within a movie and that influenced everything from the design and lighting to the way the camera behaved. We also strove to really make the rooms extensions of the characters, sort of like stepping inside their subconscious minds,” the director further explained. “The Minos Organization has this creepy omniscience and the rooms were meant to trigger each player’s past trauma.”
Because of these factors, many moviegoers have compared the film to earlier franchises like Saw and Cube, but Robitel is quick to point out that while he’s happy to be in that company, that’s not how Escape Room plays at all.
“We’ve always envisioned Escape Room more in the vein of an unrelenting Hitchcockian Roller Coaster ride with perhaps a dash of Cabin in the Woods and Final Destination,” Robitel pointed out. “The rooms and spaces themselves are the final character and often the gore and kills are secondary to the unbelievable suspense we worked really hard to create.”
“Each room is like a Rube Goldberg device of death, but the are triggered and transformed, hopefully in startling ways,” he continued. “We set out to make a movie that is action-packed but also with characters that have deeply mysterious and painful pasts– the idea is that by going through the death gauntlet they might perhaps grow stronger on the other side. I’m very proud of this film and what we were able to accomplish and look forward to sharing it with the world!”
Escape Room, which was filmed last year in South Africa, has an impressive and diverse cast with Deborah Ann Woll (True Blood), Tyler Labine (Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil), Taylor Russell (Netflix’s Lost in Space), Logan Miller (Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse), Nik Dodani (The Good Neighbor), and Jay Ellis (Shortwave).
The film’s trailer alone has garnered over 8 million views since its release, and we’re betting that Robitel will have another hit on his hands this Friday.
Escape Room opens what promises to be a banner year for horror enthusiasts.
Not only are we expecting a slew of Stephen King adaptions including Doctor Sleep, Pet Sematary, and IT: Chapter Two and Jordan Peele’s highly-anticipated Us, but we’ll also (finally) be treated to Marvel’s superhero/horror crossover The New Mutants.
This is a year that promises something for every horror taste!
You can check out the trailer below and get ready for Escape Room January 4, 2019!
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Movies
‘The Strangers’ Invaded Coachella in Instagramable PR Stunt
Renny Harlin’s reboot of The Strangers isn’t coming out until May 17, but those murderous home invaders are making a pit stop at Coachella first.
In the latest Instagramable PR stunt, the studio behind the film decided to have the trio of masked intruders crash Coachella, a music festival that takes place for two weekends in Southern California.
This type of publicity began when Paramount did the same thing with their horror movie Smile in 2022. Their version had seemingly ordinary people in populated places look directly into a camera with an evil grin.
Harlin’s reboot is actually a trilogy with a more expansive world than that of the original.
“When setting out to remake The Strangers, we felt there was a bigger story to be told, which could be as powerful, chilling, and terrifying as the original and could really expand that world,” said producer Courtney Solomon. “Shooting this story as a trilogy allows us to create a hyperreal and terrifying character study. We’re fortunate to be joining forces with Madelaine Petsch, an amazing talent whose character is the driving force of this story.”
The movie follows a young couple (Madelaine Petsch and Froy Gutierrez) who “after their car breaks down in an eerie small town, are forced to spend the night in a remote cabin. Panic ensues as they are terrorized by three masked strangers who strike with no mercy and seemingly no motive in The Strangers: Chapter 1 the chilling first entry of this upcoming horror feature film series.”
The Strangers: Chapter 1 opens in theaters on May 17.
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Movies
‘Alien’ Returning to Theaters For a Limited Time
It’s been 45 years since Ridley Scott’s Alien hit theaters and in celebration of that milestone, it is headed back to the big screen for a limited time. And what better day to do that than Alien Day on April 26?
It also works as a primer for the upcoming Fede Alvarez sequel Alien: Romulus opening on August 16. A special feature in which both Alvarez and Scott discuss the original sci-fi classic will be shown as a part of your theater admission. Take a look at the preview of that conversation below.
Back in 1979, the original trailer for Alien was kind of terrifying. Imagine sitting in front of a CRT TV (Cathode Ray Tube) at night and suddenly Jerry Goldsmith’s haunting score begins to play as a giant chicken egg starts to crack with beams of light bursting through the shell and the word “Alien” slowly forms in slanted all caps across the screen. To a twelve-year-old, it was a scary pre-bedtime experience, especially Goldsmith’s screaming electronic musical flourishes playing over scenes of the actual movie. Let the “Is it horror or sci-fi?” debate begin.
Alien became a pop culture phenomenon, complete with kid’s toys, a graphic novel, and an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. It also inspired dioramas in wax museums and even a frightening setpiece at Walt Disney World in the now-defunct Great Movie Ride attraction.
The film stars Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, and John Hurt. It tells the tale of a futuristic crew of blue-collar workers suddenly awakened out of stasis to investigate an undecipherable distress signal coming from a nearby moon. They investigate the source of the signal and discover it’s a warning and not a cry for help. Unbeknownst to the crew, they have brought a giant space creature back on board which they find out in one of the most iconic scenes in cinema history.
It is said that Alvarez’s sequel will pay homage to the original film’s storytelling and set design.
The Alien theatrical re-release will take place on April 26. Pre-order your tickets and find out where Alien will screen at a theater near you.
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News
Home Depot’s 12-Foot Skeleton Returns with a New Friend, Plus New Life-Size Prop from Spirit Halloween
Halloween is the greatest holiday of them all. However, every great holiday needs amazing props to go with it. Luckily for you, there are two new amazing props that have been released, which are sure to impress your neighbors and frighten any neighborhood children who are unfortunate enough to wander past your yard.
The first entry is the return of the Home Depot 12-foot skeleton prop. Home Depot has outdone themselves in the past. But this year the company is bringing bigger and better things to their Halloween prop lineup.
This year, the company unveiled its new and improved Skelly. But what is a giant skeleton without a loyal friend? Home Depot has also announced that they will release a five-foot tall skeleton dog prop to eternally keep Skelly company as he haunts your yard this spooky season.
This bony pooch will be five feet tall and seven feet long. The prop will also feature a posable mouth and LCD eyes with eight variable settings. Lance Allen, Home Depot’s merchant of decorative Holliday gear, had the following to say about this year’s lineup.
“This year we increased our realism within the animatronics category, created some impressive, licensed characters and even brought back some fan favorites. Overall, we are most proud of the quality and value we are able to bring to our customers with these pieces so they can continue to grow their collections.”
But what if giant skeletons just aren’t your thing? Well, Spirit Halloween has you covered with their giant life size Terror Dog replica. This massive prop has been ripped out of your nightmares to appear frighteningly on your lawn.
This prop weighs in at almost fifty pounds and features glowing red eyes that are sure to keep your yard safe from any toilet paper throwing hooligans. This iconic Ghostbusters nightmare is a must have for any fan of 80s horror. Or, anyone who loves all things spooky.
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