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

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Escape Room: Tournament of Champions

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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‘Longlegs’ Creepy “Part 2” Teaser Appears on Instagram

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Longlegs

Neon Films released an Insta-teaser for their horror film Longlegs today. Titled Dirty: Part 2, the clip only furthers the mystery of what we are in for when this movie is finally released on July 12.

The official logline is: FBI Agent Lee Harker is assigned to an unsolved serial killer case that takes unexpected turns, revealing evidence of the occult. Harker discovers a personal connection to the killer and must stop him before he strikes again.

Directed by former actor Oz Perkins who also gave us The Blackcoat’s Daughter and Gretel & Hansel, Longlegs is already creating buzz with its moody images and cryptic hints. The film is rated R for bloody violence, and disturbing images.

Longlegs stars Nicolas Cage, Maika Monroe, and Alicia Witt.

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Melissa Barrera Says ‘Scary Movie VI’ Would Be “Fun To Do”

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Melissa Barrera might literally get the last laugh on Spyglass thanks to a possible Scary Movie sequel. Paramount and Miramax are seeing the right opportunity to bring the satirical franchise back into the fold and announced last week one might be in production as early as this fall.

The last chapter of the Scary Movie franchise was almost a decade ago and since the series lampoons thematic horror movies and pop culture trends, it would seem they have a lot of content to draw ideas from, including the recent reboot of slasher series Scream.

Barerra, who starred as final girl Samantha in those movies was abruptly fired from the latest chapter, Scream VII, for expressing what Spyglass interpreted as “antisemitism,” after the actress came out in support of Palestine on social media.

Even though the drama wasn’t a laughing matter, Barrera might get her chance to parody Sam in Scary Movie VI. That is if the opportunity arises. In an interview with Inverse, the 33-year-old actress was asked about Scary Movie VI, and her reply was intriguing.

“I always loved those movies,” the actress told Inverse. “When I saw it announced, I was like, ‘Oh, that would be fun. That would be so fun to do.’”

That “fun to do” part could be construed as a passive pitch to Paramount, but that’s open to interpretation.

Just like in her franchise, Scary Movie also has a legacy cast including Anna Faris and Regina Hall. There is no word yet on if either of those actors will appear in the reboot. With or without them, Barrera is still a fan of the comedies. “They have the iconic cast that did it, so we’ll see what goes on with that. I’m just excited to see a new one,” she told the publication.

Barrera is currently celebrating the box office success of her latest horror movie Abigail.

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Thrills and Chills: Ranking ‘Radio Silence’ Films from Bloody Brilliant to Just Bloody

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Radio Silence Films

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett, and Chad Villella are all filmmakers under the collective label called Radio Silence. Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett are the primary directors under that moniker while Villella produces.

They have gained popularity over the past 13 years and their films have become known as having a certain Radio Silence “signature.” They are bloody, usually contain monsters, and have breakneck action sequences. Their recent film Abigail exemplifies that signature and is perhaps their best film yet. They are currently working on a reboot of John Carpenter’s Escape From New York.

We thought we would go through the list of projects they have directed and rank them from high to low. None of the movies and shorts on this list are bad, they all have their merits. These rankings from top to bottom are just ones we felt showcased their talents the best.

We didn’t include movies they produced but didn’t direct.

#1. Abigail

An update to the second film on this list, Abagail is the natural progression of Radio Silence’s love of lockdown horror. It follows in pretty much the same footsteps of Ready or Not, but manages to go one better — make it about vampires.

Abigail

#2. Ready or Not

This film put Radio Silence on the map. While not as successful at the box office as some of their other films, Ready or Not proved that the team could step outside their limited anthology space and create a fun, thrilling, and bloody adventure-length film.

Ready or Not

#3. Scream (2022)

While Scream will always be a polarizing franchise, this prequel, sequel, reboot — however you want to label it showed just how much Radio Silence knew the source material. It wasn’t lazy or cash-grabby, just a good time with legendary characters we love and new ones who grew on us.

Scream (2022)

#4 Southbound (The Way Out)

Radio Silence tosses their found footage modus operandi for this anthology film. Responsible for the bookend stories, they create a terrifying world in their segment titled The Way Out, which involves strange floating beings and some sort of time loop. It’s kind of the first time we see their work without a shaky cam. If we were to rank this entire film, it would remain at this position on the list.

Southbound

#5. V/H/S (10/31/98)

The film that started it all for Radio Silence. Or should we say the segment that started it all. Even though this isn’t feature-length what they managed to do with the time they had was very good. Their chapter was titled 10/31/98, a found-footage short involving a group of friends who crash what they think is a staged exorcism only to learn not to assume things on Halloween night.

V/H/S

#6. Scream VI

Cranking up the action, moving to the big city and letting Ghostface use a shotgun, Scream VI turned the franchise on its head. Like their first one, this film played with canon and managed to win over a lot of fans in its direction, but alienated others for coloring too far outside the lines of Wes Craven’s beloved series. If any sequel was showing how the trope was going stale it was Scream VI, but it managed to squeeze some fresh blood out of this nearly three-decade mainstay.

Scream VI

#7. Devil’s Due

Fairly underrated, this, Radio Silence’s first feature-length film, is a sampler of things they took from V/H/S. It was filmed in an omnipresent found footage style, showcasing a form of possession, and features clueless men. Since this was their first bonafide major studio job it’s a wonderful touchstone to see how far they have come with their storytelling.

Devil’s Due

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