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BTS of ‘Escape Room: Tournament of Champions’ with Adam Robitel

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Escape Room: Tournament of Champions

Escape Room: Tournament of Champions is set to hit theaters this Friday, July 16, 2021! The sequel to the hit 2019 action-thriller boasts an impressive cast of old and new faces, and enough twists and turns to keep you on the edge of your seat until the credits roll.

In anticipation of the new film, returning director Adam Robitel (The Taking of Deborah Logan) sat down with iHorror to discuss the project and to lift the curtain just a tad for fans who are ready for the franchise’s next outing.

Escape Room: Tournament of Champions has had quite a journey to the screen. The production completed filming in January of 2020. Less than two months later, the world found ourselves in the midst of a global pandemic that shut down theaters and placed most films on a release schedule that updated daily to cover delays and suspensions.

Escape Room was no exception. The film’s release date was bumped forward and back and  was last announced to hit theaters in January of 2022 when it suddenly moved up six months to July. The director admits that the film’s impending release is almost surreal.

“I was mentally prepared for it to come out in January,” Robitel explained. “I’ve had two successes in January. So, I was prepared for it mentally. In some ways, I’m glad it’s coming earlier because it’s not hanging over us anymore. Usually, July is like the monolithic movies so to have a little movie like ours coming out is exciting. They have that confidence in us. It’s also a little daunting. I’m excited but I’m also really nervous. So, I’m trying to stay away from it a bit. I’m going to be offline in the woods, hiking, because it is a little crazy making.”

Still, he says, there are things that will no-doubt resonate with viewers in a different way than they’d originally intended in a world that’s still recovering from a pandemic. The sequel leans heavily into the idea of choices and how much power we have over our own lives.

Director Adam Robitel with Logan Miller and Taylor Russell on the set of Columbia Pictures’ ESCAPE ROOM: TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS.

“The thing that’s more exciting about the sequel is realizing that it’s not just about the escape rooms,” he said. “The whole world is a puzzle. Every person in your life, every choice you make…you do not have agency over your own choices. I think coming out of the pandemic we feel like we’ve been upended and here’s this monolithic force pulling the strings. I thought that was a fun way to expand the game. Even the idea of public transit–a train or a bus or taxi–that Minos has the power to pull you in from where you thought you were safe. That was a fun way into the story.”

Of course, the best story in the world still needs actors and Escape Room: Tournament of Champions has no shortage of onscreen talent.

Taylor Russell and Logan Miller reprise their roles from the first film as Zoey and Ben they’re joined by an exciting new ensemble who, Robitel says, each filled an essential role in the cast from Pose star Indya Moore’s effervescent vibe and Thomas Cocquerel’s star quality to Carlito Olivero’s presence and physicality and Holland Roden’s tenacity.

“Holland Roden from MTV’s Teen Wolf is like the alpha in the group,” he said. “She butts heads with Zoey. She was game for anything. We sunk her in the sand, she was getting her corneas scratched. She’s yelling, ‘Did you get it?!’ She’s covered in sand all over her face. It was really fun.”

As with the first film, Escape Room: Tournament of Champions walks a very thin line when it comes to revealing just enough about the dreaded Minos Corporation to keep the audience interested without ruining the mystique. In the second film, that involved bigger and more intriguing puzzles that challenge viewers as much as they do the characters on screen.

Escape Room: Tournament of Champions BTS

“These movies are really hard,” the director said. “On the script, it’ll say, ‘Ben comes over here and does this,’ but then I have five other actors who need to know what they’re doing at every moment. So they’re really challenging, exhausting. The beach set smelled like a dead crab. We have 40 people walking over sand. Every time the sand was kicked up it’d be in your eyes. Each room had its own challenges.”

The sandy set was only one of the mountains production had to climb, of course. From electrified train cars to gorgeous art deco banks decked out with deadly laser grids, the rooms are used to make the audience question the world around them with the same energy as Final Destination, making us look over our shoulders and question why we tripped over our own feet.

So, what does Robitel hope the fans will take away from the film, especially getting to see it in theaters?

“I think that, at the end of the day it’s just an adrenaline, high-energy thrill ride,” the director said. “It’s a popcorn movie. It’s fun for dates. It’s fun with friends. It gives a little peek behind the curtain of the murderous band of carnival people that is Minos. I’m hoping it sets the stage for a trilogy. The sky is the limit, but I feel like movie two cements a franchise in a way. Sequels are tough. For every Alien and Aliens there are innumerable misfires. I hope the fans like it really. That’s my biggest hope.”

You can see Escape Room: Tournament of Champions in theaters this Friday, July 16, 2021! If you haven’t checked out the trailer, take a look at that below!

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‘Immaculate’ Stars Reveal Which Horror Villains They Would “F, Marry, Kill”

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Sydney Sweeney is just coming off the success of her rom-com Anyone But You, but she’s ditching the love story for a horror story in her latest film Immaculate.

Sweeney is taking Hollywood by storm, portraying everything from a love-lusting teenager in Euphoria to an accidental superhero in Madame Web. Although the latter got a lot of hate among theater-goers, Immaculate is getting the polar opposite.

The film was screened at SXSW this past week and was well-received. It also gained a reputation for being extremely gory. Derek Smith of Slant says the, “final act contains some of the most twisted, gory violence this particular subgenre of horror has seen in years…”

Thankfully curious horror movie fans won’t have to wait long to see for themselves what Smith is talking about as Immaculate will hit theaters across the United States on March, 22.

Bloody Disgusting says that the movie’s distributor NEON, in a bit of marketing smarts, had stars Sydney Sweeney and Simona Tabasco play a game of “F, Marry, Kill” in which all their choices had to be horror movie villains.

It’s an interesting question, and you might be surprised at their answers. So colorful are their responses that YouTube slapped an age-restricted rating on the video.

Immaculate is a religious horror movie that NEON says stars Sweeney, “as Cecilia, an American nun of devout faith, embarking on a new journey in a remote convent in the picturesque Italian countryside. Cecilia’s warm welcome quickly devolves into a nightmare as it becomes clear her new home harbors a sinister secret and unspeakable horrors.”

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Michael Keaton Raves About “Beetlejuice” Sequel: A Beautiful and Emotional Return to the Netherworld

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After more than three decades since the original “Beetlejuice” film took audiences by storm with its unique blend of comedy, horror, and whimsy, Michael Keaton has given fans a reason to eagerly anticipate the sequel. In a recent interview, Keaton shared his thoughts on an early cut of the upcoming “Beetlejuice” sequel, and his words have only added to the growing excitement surrounding the film’s release.

Michael Keaton in Beetlejuice

Keaton, reprising his iconic role as the mischievous and eccentric ghost, Beetlejuice, described the sequel as “beautiful”, a term that encapsulates not only the visual aspects of the film but its emotional depth as well. “It is really good. And beautiful. Beautiful, you know, physically. You know what I mean? The other one was so fun and exciting visually. It’s all that, but really kind of beautiful and interestingly emotional here and there. I wasn’t ready for that, you know. Yeah, it’s great,” Keaton remarked during his appearance on The Jess Cagle Show.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

Keaton’s praise did not stop at the film’s visual and emotional appeal. He also lauded the performances of both returning and new cast members, signaling a dynamic ensemble that is sure to please fans. “It’s great and the cast, I mean, Catherine [O’Hara], if you thought she was funny last time, double it. She’s so funny and Justin Theroux is like, I mean, come on,” Keaton enthused. O’Hara returns as Delia Deetz, while Theroux joins the cast in a yet-to-be-disclosed role. The sequel also introduces Jenna Ortega as Lydia’s daughter, Monica Bellucci as Beetlejuice’s wife, and Willem Dafoe as a dead B movie actor, adding new layers to the beloved universe.

“It’s just so fun and I’ve seen it now, I’m gonna see it again after a couple little tweaks in the editing room and I confidently say this thing is great,” Keaton shared. The journey from the original “Beetlejuice” to its sequel has been a long one, but if Keaton’s early rave is anything to go by, it will have been worth the wait. Showtime for the sequel is set for September 6th.

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‘The Unknown’ From Willy Wonka Event is Getting a Horror Movie

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Not since the Fyre Festival has an event been so lambasted online as Glasgow, Scotland’s Willy Wonka Experience. In case you haven’t heard about it, it was a children’s spectacular that celebrated Roald Dahl’s offbeat chocolatier by taking families through a themed space that felt like his magical factory. Only, thanks to cellphone cameras and social testimony, it was actually a sparsely decorated warehouse filled with flimsy set designs that looked like they were bought on Temu.

The famous disgruntled Oompa Loompa is now a meme and several hired actors have spoken out about the inelegant party. But one character seems to have come out on top, The Unknown, the mirror-masked emotionless villain who appears from behind a mirror, terrifying younger attendees. The actor who played Wonka, at the event, Paul Conell, recites his script and gives some backstory to this frightening entity.

“The bit that got me was where I had to say, ‘There is a man we don’t know his name. We know him as the Unknown. This Unknown is an evil chocolate maker who lives in the walls,'” Conell told Business Insider. “It was terrifying for the kids. Is he an evil man who makes chocolate or is the chocolate itself evil?”

Despite the sour affair, something sweet may come out of it. Bloody Disgusting has reported that a horror movie is being made based on The Unknown and may get a release as early as this year.

The horror publication quotes Kaledonia Pictures: “The film, gearing up for production and a late 2024 release, follows a renowned illustrator and his wife who are haunted by the tragic death of their son, Charlie. Desperate to escape their grief, the couple leave the world behind for the remote Scottish Highlands – where an unknowable evil awaits them.”

@katsukiluvrr evil chicolate maker who lives in the walls from willies chocolate experience in glasgow x #glasgow #willywonka #wonkaglasgow #scottish #wonka #theunknown #fyp #trending #foryou ♬ its the unknown – mol💌

They add, “We are excited to begin production and look forward to sharing more with you as soon as possible. We are actually only a few miles from the event, so it is quite surreal to see Glasgow all over social media, worldwide.”

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