A thriller that places a group of seemingly random strangers into a series of hi-tech rooms that are engineered to kill them, this picture is impressively designed but low on scares. Despite walls that inexorably close in, blast furnace heating systems and a score that is practically screaming with panic, even when there’s nothing to panic about, Escape Room is too contrived to convince us of genuine peril. This is particularly evident in the exposition-heavy final half-hour, where it becomes clear that director Adam Robitel and co have effectively written themselves into an inescapable box full of cliches.
