Escape rooms are themed rooms where you use your knowledge and what you may have learned in school to escape a room by figuring out a series of clues that help you get out of the room.

“Escape Room” is a movie in theaters just about this concept, except with a twist. Six strangers are thrown into an escape room together in a mysterious building, where they play for the chance to win $1 million. However, here’s the twist–either solve the puzzles or someone dies. Additionally, the characters’ worst fears are brought back to them in the game, and they are forced to relive those situations again.

“The shocking part of the movie for me was when the first person died,” Junior Dasha Stepaniouk said. “It was crazy because that’s when everyone realized they were in real danger, and it became more about surviving to make it to the next room.”

Under the direction of Adam Robitel, the acting was typical for drama/mystery movies, but “Escape Room” included more shock and angrier emotions that the characters had to portray that really hit home with the audience.

The six main characters include Taylor Russell as Zoey Davis, the shy, down-to-earth girl who isn’t used to taking adventures; Logan Miller as Ben Miller, your average 20-year-old male working at a grocery store just trying to get by in life; Jay Ellis as Jason Walker, the businessman who represents strength and dominance; Tyler Labine as Mike Nolan, also a down-to-earth person who is kind to everyone and optimistic about everything; Deborah Woll as Amanda Harper, a military woman trying to forget a traumatic experience that has led her to where she is now; and Nik Dodani as Danny Khan, a know-it-all kid who thinks the game is sweet until he is the first one to die.

The acting is a big element to bringing the movie to life and really selling the concept to the audience. The actors bring the emotion that the audience feels as the movie plays out while they completely embrace the personality they need to have to play their character to their fullest ability.

“My favorite part of the movie was how the girl beat the system by only acting like she was dead,” Senior Skylar Luich said.

Another major element in the movie was setting. Each room was designed specifically to recreate the terror one of the characters had to go through. The rooms were carefully planned out and executed perfectly in the movie. The setting added to the intensity of the movie because it helped the audience imagine the traumatic situations the characters experienced, which allowed the viewers to understand the characters’ personalities better.

“My favorite part of the movie was when they were in the 8 ball room; the room was upside down, and the floors were falling down from beneath them,” Stepaniouk said.  “The visuals and the creepy music made this part of the movie intense, dramatic and very memorable.”

Though the lesson of this movie may be unclear, it is still a great film to see when you need something fun to do. Maybe it will make you want to try a less scary version of an escape room because they can be fun and a great way to bond with friends and family over an activity.

This thrill-seeking movie is for those who love drama/mystery movies with little twists throughout the movie. It isn’t limited to any group of people, though; it was made for anyone to watch and enjoy. It is rated PG-13, so it is a perfect thrill-seeking movie for high school and middle school students who need a new movie to watch.

This movie is definitely a five out of five stars. It made me laugh. It surprised me and even angered me– so many emotions went through me when watching this film.

The person I saw the movie with, Senior Logan Kvien, highly recommended the movie, too, because “it was really great at capturing the audience’s attention and then holding it for the entire movie.”

“It had me on the edge of my seat waiting to see what kind of twist would come next and what would happen,” Kvien said. “People looking for that kind of feeling while watching a movie should go and see ‘Escape Room.’”

If you’re looking for your first intense thriller for 2019, this is the movie to see, so I encourage you to go see it with someone who enjoys dramatic movies full of twists you would never expect.