Movies

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

Published

3 years ago

July 12, 2021

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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Editorial

Yay or Nay: What’s Good and Bad in Horror This Week

Published

13 hours ago

May 4, 2024

Timothy Rawles

Welcome to Yay or Nay a weekly mini post about what I think is good and bad news in the horror community written in bite-sized chunks.

Yay:

Mike Flanagan talking about directing the next chapter in the Exorcist trilogy. That might mean he saw the last one and realized there were two left and if he does anything well it’s draw out a story.

Yay:

To the announcement of a new IP-based film Mickey Vs Winnie. It’s fun to read comical hot takes from people who haven’t even seen the movie yet.

Nay:

The new Faces of Death reboot gets an R rating. It’s not really fair — Gen-Z should get an unrated version like past generations so they can question their mortality the same as the rest of us did.

Yay:

Russell Crowe is doing another possession movie. He’s quickly becoming another Nic Cage by saying yes to every script, bringing the magic back to B-movies, and more money into VOD.

Nay:

Putting The Crow back in theaters for its 30th anniversary. Re-releasing classic movies at the cinema to celebrate a milestone is perfectly fine, but doing so when the lead actor in that film was killed on set due to neglect is a cash grab of the worst kind.

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Lists

The Top-Searched Free Horror/Action Movies on Tubi This Week

Published

1 day ago

May 3, 2024

Timothy Rawles

The free streaming service Tubi is a great place to scroll when you’re unsure what to watch. They are not sponsored or affiliated with iHorror. Still, we really appreciate their library because it’s so robust and has many obscure horror movies so rare you can’t find them anywhere in the wild except, if you’re lucky, in a moist cardboard box at a yard sale. Other than Tubi, where else are you going to find Nightwish (1990), Spookies (1986), or The Power (1984)?

We take a look at the most searched horror titles on the platform this week, hopefully, to save you some time in your endeavor to find something free to watch on Tubi.

Interestingly at the top of the list is one of the most polarizing sequels ever made, the female-led Ghostbusters reboot from 2016. Perhaps viewers have seen the latest sequel Frozen Empire and are curious about this franchise anomaly. They will be happy to know it’s not as bad as some think and is genuinely funny in spots.

So take a look at the list below and tell us if you are interested in any of them this weekend.

1. Ghostbusters (2016)

Ghostbusters (2016)

An otherworldly invasion of New York City assembles a pair of proton-packed paranormal enthusiasts, a nuclear engineer and a subway worker for battle.An otherworldly invasion of New York City assembles a pair of proton-packed paranormal enthusiasts, a nuclear engineer and a subway worker for battle.

2. Rampage

When a group of animals becomes vicious after a genetic experiment goes awry, a primatologist must find an antidote to avert a global catastrophe.

3. The Conjuring The Devil Made Me Do It

Paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren uncover an occult conspiracy as they help a defendant argue that a demon forced him to commit murder.

4. Terrifier 2

After being resurrected by a sinister entity, Art the Clown returns to Miles County, where his next victims, a teenage girl and her brother, await.

5. Don’t Breathe

A group of teens breaks into a blind man’s home, thinking they’ll get away with the perfect crime but get more than they bargained for once inside.

6. The Conjuring 2

In one of their most terrifying paranormal investigations, Lorraine and Ed Warren help a single mother of four in a house plagued by sinister spirits.

7. Child’s Play (1988)

A dying serial killer uses voodoo to transfer his soul into a Chucky doll which winds up in the hands of a boy who may be the doll’s next victim.

8. Jeepers Creepers 2

When their bus breaks down on a deserted road, a team of high school athletes discovers an opponent they cannot defeat and may not survive.

9. Jeepers Creepers

After making a horrific discovery in the basement of an old church, a pair of siblings find themselves the chosen prey of an indestructible force.

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Movie Reviews

Panic Fest 2024 Review: ‘Haunted Ulster Live’

Published

2 days ago

May 2, 2024

Jacob Davison

Everything old is new again.

On Halloween 1998, the local news of Northern Ireland decide to do a special live report from an allegedly haunted house in Belfast. Hosted by local personality Gerry Burns (Mark Claney) and popular children’s presenter Michelle Kelly (Aimee Richardson) they intend to look at the supernatural forces disturbing the current family living there. With legends and folklore abound, is there an actual spirit curse in the building or something far more insidious at work?

Presented as a series of found footage from a long forgotten broadcast, Haunted Ulster Live follows similar formats and premises as Ghostwatch and The WNUF Halloween Special with a news crew investigating the supernatural for big ratings only to get in over their heads. And while the plot has certainly been done before, director Dominic O’Neill’s 90’s set tale of local access horror manages to stand out on its own ghastly feet. The dynamic between Gerry and Michelle is most prominent, with him being an experienced broadcaster who thinks this production is beneath him and Michelle being fresh blood who is considerably annoyed at being presented as costumed eye candy. This builds as the events within and around the domicile becomes too much to ignore as anything less than the real deal.

The cast of characters is rounded out by the McKillen family who have been dealing with the haunting for some time and how it’s had an effect on them. Experts are brought in to help explain the situation including the paranormal investigator Robert (Dave Fleming) and the psychic Sarah (Antoinette Morelli) who bring their own perspectives and angles to the haunting. A long and colorful history is established about the house, with Robert discussing how it used to be the site of an ancient ceremonial stone, the center of leylines, and how it was possibly possessed by the ghost of a former owner named Mr. Newell. And local legends abound about a nefarious spirit named Blackfoot Jack that would leave trails of dark footprints in his wake. It’s a fun twist having multiple potential explanations for the site’s strange occurrences instead of one end-all be-all source. Especially as the events unfold and the investigators try to discover the truth.

At its 79 minute timelength, and the encompassing broadcast, it’s a bit of a slow burn as the characters and lore is established. Between some news interruptions and behind the scenes footage, the action is mostly focused on Gerry and Michelle and the build up to their actual encounters with forces beyond their comprehension. I will give kudos that it went places I didn’t expect, leading to a surprisingly poignant and spiritually horrifying third act.

So, while Haunted Ulster Live isn’t exactly trendsetting, it definitely follows in the footsteps of similar found footage and broadcast horror films to walk its own path. Making for an entertaining and compact piece of mockumentary. If you’re a fan of the sub-genres, Haunted Ulster Live is well worth a watch.