Parents' Guide to

Escape Room

By Michael Ordona, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 14+

Constant peril, limited bloodshed in trap scare-fest.

Movie PG-13 2019 100 minutes
Escape Room Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

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age 13+

Based on 12 parent reviews

Sea16
Sea16 Parent of 11-year-old
June 2, 2023
age 15+

Don’t watch at all unless you really want to.

I watched this movie and couldn’t believe how insanely violent and bloody this movie was considering it was pg-13. There are scary films and then there are films that SCARE you. This movie discussed so much fear and trauma and death. So much stress and human torcher. This movie is for adults.

This title has:

Too much violence
Ivy E.
Ivy E. Adult
February 1, 2023
age 12+

Worst movie I’ve ever seen

Worst movie ever. Don’t waste your time on this trash. The acting is terrible and it ends without explaining the mystery throughout the whole movie. Excessive violence too. So so bad. Never watch this!

This title has:

Too much violence
Too much drinking/drugs/smoking
See all 12 parent reviews

What's the Story?

In ESCAPE ROOM, six strangers are summoned to solve puzzles in locked spaces. And the dangers in the elaborately constructed chambers -- including the inside of a giant oven and an upside-down pool hall -- turn out to be real. The players, including brilliant but traumatized student Zoey (Taylor Russell), guilty young Ben (Logan Miller) who's trying to rebuild his life, and tough Iraq vet Amanda (Deborah Ann Woll), must work together to survive.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (12):
Kids say (57):

This horror film/thriller has its virtues, but it badly strains viewers' suspension of disbelief and can't avoid feeling like Saw with duller teeth. The most fun parts of Escape Room are the occasional solvable puzzle and the detail and imagination in the sets. Production designer Edward Thomas (Doctor Who) is the MVP. And some of the performances, including Russell's sympathetic lead work, are good. But the movie is inconsistent in just about every other way. Some of the characters are drawn in detail, while others are thumbnail sketches leaning toward cliché. Some traps allow viewers to think along; others require information we're not given. And some are so implausible that they're likely to shake viewers out of the film. Its 10 Little Indians structure (picking off characters one at a time) and standard moral compass prevent the story from delivering significant surprises.

Plus, with its ultra-elaborate traps and unlikely amount of insider knowledge about the players, the movie can't "escape" comparisons to the much more violent, much crueler torture-porn franchise Saw. Escape Room is tailored for a younger audience, and it's certainly not as ugly as the gorier franchise -- and, thankfully, it has less of that series' bitter, faux moralistic overtones. There's some fun to be had, a few laughs, and a reasonable amount of tension throughout, with only a few jumping-out-of-the-cupboard startle scares. But predictable story beats and the movie's extreme reliance on suspension of disbelief keep Escape Room from rising too high above the genre.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the violence and peril in Escape Room. If you've seen horror movies like Saw, does the level of violence here feel similar to you? Why or why not? How does the impact compare?

  • Did the traps seem realistic/possible? Did the trapmakers' knowledge of the players seem believable? Do you require some baseline level of realism for a movie like this, or are you able to suspend your disbelief enough to go with it?

  • How are the women in the film portrayed? Are they weak or strong, stupid or smart, empathetic or unfeeling? Is that typical for this genre?

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