Parents' Guide to

Escape the Field

By Jeffrey Anderson, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 15+

Violent escape/puzzle movie is too lost to even be corny.

Movie R 2022 89 minutes
Escape the Field Movie: Poster

A Lot or a Little?

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

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What's the Story?

In ESCAPE THE FIELD, nurse Sam (Jordan Claire Robbins) wakes up in a cornfield with no memory of how she got there, a gun with a single bullet by her side. Then another person, Tyler (Theo Rossi), appears, and, after a tense standoff, they decide to work together. They soon run into Ryan (Shane West), Denise (Elena Juatco), Ethan (Julian Feder), and, not long after, Cameron (Tahirah Sharif), each of whom has their own objects (a knife, matches, a lantern, etc.). The six of them begin working to find a way out of their situation. They discover that the cornfield has puzzles that, when solved, offer them essentials like water and maps. Unfortunately, there's also a malevolent force lurking among the stalks, and it can whisk a human being away in a heartbeat.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: Not yet rated
Kids say: Not yet rated

This thriller almost works as a fun puzzle-box popcorn-muncher, but it borrows too many familiar elements from other movies and can't overcome its mechanical, artificial feel -- or its logic holes. The old "waking up with no memory of how you got there" scenario is always a nifty way to start a story, and Escape the Field gets that part right. But the moment the first two characters start speaking to each other, it sounds unnatural, i.e. clearly written dialogue. The most basic information -- such as Tyler telling Sam that he, too, has woken with no memory of how he got there -- is ignored in favor of vain attempts to create suspense.

On the other hand, the movie doesn't seem to be trying for suspense when the puzzles are solved. They occur in a dry, matter-of-fact way that makes them far less electrifying than the ones in, say, Saw or Escape Room. But the biggest flaw in Escape the Field is that the movie fails to convey the distance traveled or the passage of time. Night and day change places arbitrarily, and when one character must backtrack to obtain a crucial item, the journey ought to have taken days, but she returns in what seems like half an hour. And no one even thinks to check the corn itself as a potential food source for what seems like the first 36 hours. Last but not least, the monster is most disappointing, looking more like a dollar-store Halloween costume than anything blood-curdling. Bottom line? This movie is too lost to even be considered corny.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about Escape the Field's violence. How did it make you feel? Was it exciting? Shocking? What did the movie show or not show to achieve this effect? Why is that important?

  • Is the movie scary? What's the appeal of horror movies? Why do people sometimes like to be scared?

  • How does the movie demonstrate teamwork?

  • Which characters seem more important than others? Which characters are leaders or problem solvers? Do you consider them role models?

  • Did the puzzles in the movie seem intriguing? Do you think you could have solved them?

Movie Details

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