Movie #623: Hellraiser

Hellraiser is an 80s horror movie written and directed by Clive Barker and starring Ashley Laurence, Clare Higgins, Andrew Robinson, Sean Chapman, Oliver Smith, and Doug Bradley. 

Jaded sensualist and all-around creep Frank Cotton (Chapman) buys a puzzle box in Morocco, solves it in his decaying family home in...um...America somewhere, definitely not England...and winds up getting torn apart by fishhooks. Some time later, his brother Larry (Robinson) and Larry's wife Julia (Higgins) take possession of the house. The marriage seems strained, and we quickly learn that's because Julia and Frank were having enthusiastic sex sometime in the past, and Julia is still pretty obsessed. Larry, for his part, seems a decent guy and is just trying to get on with their life. 

Through a series of wacky, bloody, mishaps, Frank is summoned back from hell as a monster (now played by Smith), and Julia goes about procuring more blood for him by seducing guys and murdering them in the attic. Larry's daughter Kirsty (Laurence) witnesses this, winds up stealing the puzzle box and fleeing, and solving it, summoning the Cenobites (led by Pinhead, played by Doug Bradley here and for the next seven movies) and eventually sending Frank back to hell. 

Watching Hellraiser again, I can totally see the telltale marks of a movie directed by someone who knows storytelling but not filmmaking. What's on screen is important and explicit, but I do come away thinking that I'm not entirely sure what's going on (felt the same way after Nightbreed, as I think about it). I do enjoy that it's not really the Cenobites who are the antagonists, here. Sure, they're monsters from Hell, but they only show up when you invite them, and they were at least willing to consider not taking Kirsty to Hell even after she solved the box, so that was polite of them, even if they later decided she had to go, too. 

But it's things like the mysterious bug-eating vagrant (Frank Baker) stalking Kirsty and then grabbing the box and turning into a big old skeletal demon...like, what? What are we supposed to take away from that? I'm sure if you've read the novella it makes more sense, but books are for nerds, and knowing what to cut and what to simplify is a big part of changing a story's format from page to screen. 

With all of that said, it's a fun horror movie. Small cast, tight focus, obviously a labor of love for Barker. 80s as hell, especially the Gozer-like hairdo that Julia's rocking. 

My Grade: B+
Rewatch Value: Medium

Next up: Sabrina

Atlantis: Bugs Go Squish

Into a strange new world, a world of savagery, super-science, and sorcery! Except the announcer kinda said it "sor-cer-ray" which I always found weird. 

Pictured: Sorceray.

Anyway, here's last time.

Three of the heroes are on a ship, the Agony, heading across the Red Sea into Joktan. Eithne, already in Joktan, stands on the shore watching the swarm of horrific bugs closing in. She conjures up fire and hurls it at the bugs, frying a bunch of them, but the swarm closes in. Imani lights a torch and lays out with it, burning more scarabs. Akala tries to catch a bunch with a cloth, but misses the little bastards. Eithne, realizing that the bugs are now too close to the ship to safely burn, calls up a wind and blows them off the ship. Thanos summons up punishing red sand to suck the life out of them...but the swarm is still there, despite being depleted.

Imani spurs the sailors to get the ship moving faster, while Akala takes to the sky and calls in reinforcements - there are seagulls near the shore, and they love eating bugs. They snap up some of the scarabs, but then the swarm closes around one of the birds and reduces it to scraps in seconds, to Akala's horror. 

Eithne calls up a wind to drive the ship on, and it finally lands. The passengers disembark and greet Eithne (and thank her for her assistance); Akala and Eithne get the feeling they've met before. (They have, but it's been a good 13 years.) They don't really have time to figure that out, though, before the scarabs return.

The bug-swarm swoops in faster than anyone knew they could move and attacks Thanos and the other former slaves. They rip chunks of flesh from them, and Thanos collapses. Imani takes a swig of booze from Masamba's flask and spits it through the torch, burning a bunch of the bugs, while Akala launches into a fiery speech about how the evil bastards in Khemit are still trying to recapture them. Eithne casts a spell, creating a dome of light around them to keep out the bugs...but she's only able to keep it up a few minutes.

Akala bandages Thanos, and the heroes look around at the bugs. Akala notes that they have the same symbol on their backs as the slaves have branded on their faces, and she wonders if she could cut or burn the brands away. Eithne mentions that she tried, but was unable to reshape their flesh. Thanos tries to call up the red sands again and kill the bugs, but has lost too much blood. He suggests that he and Eithne combine their powers, and they create a fiery sandstorm. Thanos curses Set and all the things that crawl on the earth, and the flames rise higher, burning the bugs to cinders (Thanos and the other slaves whom the scarabs bit feel the pain of their flesh burning away - horribly, the flesh chunks the scarabs took were still alive). The fire recedes, and the sand around them has been rendered red and black in the shape of serpents. Set may have heard them.

The character prepare to move on, but Imani asks for Eithne's help in finding the "prophecy sands" that the Mercenary Queen wanted. Akala actually senses the magic nearby, and so the characters wind up following her into the desert (Eithne notes that she is, again, following an owl). Akala stops at a seemingly nondescript patch of sand, and Eithne changes into a digging mouse and tunnels into the ground...and finds an urn. 

With the others' help, she digs it up. Inside is black sand that feels magical. Imani considers just taking a few handfuls, but Thanos opines that she found it, she should keep it. Masamba notes that other folks besides Queen Nyavinghi would pay for this stuff, and Imani agrees.

Everyone decides that they need rest, so they make camp for the night. We shall see what the morrow brings!

Character Creation: Corporia

KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE.

We dance when e'er we're able.

The Game: Corporia
The Publisher: Brabblemark Press
Degree of Familiarity: None
Books Required: Just the one

Despite the rather uninformative title, Corporia is kind of a cool concept. You're playing folks protecting the inhabitants of The City from evil. No, not The Tick and his friends, it's just called The City because the exact geography isn't important. But it's not too far off a supers game, I guess, because you're playing members of the Knightswatch, a group of monster-hunters protecting their fellow man. You don't have to play a reincarnated member of the Knights of the Round Table, but like, why in the world wouldn't you?

I am, therefore, going to do exactly that, and the knight I would like to reincarnate is one of the lesser known ones: Melion. In brief, Melion swore never to marry a woman who had loved another man first, married a princess of Ireland, she turned him into a wolf so he could hunt down a delicious stag, and she fucked off with his squire, leaving him stuck as a wolf until Arthur and his other kaniggits rocked up and got things sorted out. 

Other than "reincarnated Melion," I don't know what I want to do with this character, so let's just start the process and see what shakes loose. 

This character sheet has very small type and if I were actually going to run this I'd have Michelle make a fillable version. Anyway. First thing is I can choose an archetype. I can't pick two "special" ones, and I know I want Knight-Errant as a special, so I have to combine with a "standard" archetype. Hmm. Runner or Suit? Different aspects of "wolf" in either. I guess I'll lean into my inner James Spader (in Wolf) and go for Suit. 

Reading a bit more, it doesn't look like archetypes do much except give a jumping-off point, which is fine. Let's consider background and so on. 

Before awakening, Melion was a corporate fixer, a negotiator, and the fellow who smoothed things over and talked people out of lawyering up. He joked that he was a "pre-lawyer," so he majored in Pre-Law. Once he awakened, I think he actually wound up pretty confused. He has memories of Melion as a wolf, but also as a knight. He remembers the betrayal of his wife, but through modern eyes, his desire for a woman who had never loved another man was kind of ridiculous anyway. Pre-awakening, his name was Julius Bowman. Nowadays, he prefers to go by Melion, but just with other Knightswatch folks.

OK, not a bad start. I now get to pick personality traits, three public and one private. Public traits are facets of the character that are obvious from interacting with him, while private traits are traits he keeps to himself. Oh, and I can take an extra private trait for a +1 to general assets during chargen, so I may do that. 

Well, what's obvious about Melion? I think that he's Unfailingly Polite, both by pre-awakening training and knightly inclination. He's Resourceful and Creative, so those can be the other two publics. As for private, I want him to be torn between the two halves of his nature (knight and wolf). I'll take Always Hungry as a private trait, and also Loves Selfishly. 

Cool, now what? I choose "core competency." This is basically a measure of how supernatural I want to be (more supernatural siphons points away from normal stuff). I'll be Gifted, in the middle, as seems to be thematic for Melion. That gives me 12 in Core Values, 18 in Skills, 10 in General Assets (+1 for my second private trait, actually, so 11) and 5 in Supernatural Assets. 

Starting with Core Values, I get 12 points to spread around, nothing lower than 1 or higher than 4, and there are 6 of them. What I don't seem to have is any kind of scale; if I spread them evenly, what does that mean? Am I average or do I suck? 

Well, let's reverse engineer from the base system. When you do a thing, you roll 2d6 and add the higher of the two to a Core Value + Skill total. Average target number is 7, meaning if I had 2s in my Core Value and Skill, I'd need to roll a 3 or more on one die to higher that target, which gives me better than 50/50 odds. OK, so even a 1 isn't necessarily crap, it just means I'm not likely to hit higher diffs. 

Oh, wait, looking ahead, there aren't any magical assets that I want or can actually take, because knights don't do magic. Which is fucking stupid, because the Arthurian legends are full of weird-ass magic (though you could argue that Melion didn't actually use magic, since he turned into a wolf with a magic ring). Anyway, I think that means I won't be Gifted, I'll be Touched, which changes my totals to 14 Core Values, 20 Skills, 10 (11, really) general assets and a big fat nada in supernatural assets. 

Geez. OK, then, moving on. Six Core Values, 14 points, I'll put 2 into everything but Magic, which I'll leave at 1 (11 points spent). The other three I'll put into Strength, Deftness, and Wits, I suppose. 

Skills! I have 20 points, and no Skills can be more than 1 point higher than its controlling CV. So I want Fisticuffs and Getting Medieval (side note: I am really tired of that joke). I need Business, Crime, Influence, and Instinct. Do I need any Knowledge of Science Skills? I don't think I do. Let's arrange points thusly:

Fisticuffs 4
Getting Medieval 4
Business 3
Crime 3
Influence 4
Instinct 4

That's 20. Glorious. 

Assets! I get 11 points. Ooh, and I get Fortitude for free. Master of Red Tape is only 1 for me, so I'll do that. I'll spend 3 on Street Fighter (extra damage because I fight dirty), Prudent (wolf's ears and eyes), and Lady Luck (because a re-roll is never a bad thing).

I get Flux Points equal to the sum of Knowledge, Wit, and Magic, which is 6. I get REPP (social capital, basically) equal to Wit x 6, which is 18. And then I get stuff. What stuff would I like? I get a pistol (which Melion isn't terribly comfortable with), an "additional weapon," armor, an eyephone, and an augment. 

Well, for my additional weapon, I want a com/bat (an extendable baton). Slicing people up with a bladed weapon just seems gauche to Melion. For armor, I'll take suit weave (minimal armor, but I look good). For my augment, I'll take silkskin (subdermal armor that gives me additional protection from bullets). 

And I do believe that's it! Sad that I wasn't able to do something more overtly werewolf-y, but I like that Melion is a corporate hunter and Knight Errant. There's an element of menace to him sometimes, but he's usually on guard and seemingly very friendly. I think I can see Paul Dano playing him. 

Predation: Kevin Gets a New Collar

Rar, chirp, coo, go the dinosaurs. Here's last time.

Tallahassee and Dakota go into the city of Kelaino, their dinosaurs close behind. Tallahassee is from Kelaino, and so is used to the big city, with people and their dinosaurs and shops and so forth everywhere, but Dakota is pretty awestruck by it all. They head to the Market District to get some lunch, and pass by a trio of venators (local police force) and their trained venaraptors. Dakota stops to marvel at how well the little buggers are trained, and asks to feed one. They're on duty, though. Sebie snaps at one, but Dakota calls her off quickly before anyone gets hurt or arrested. 

Outside, Omaha and Buffalo hang around playing cards (Omaha wins) and "guess the plant" (Buffalo wins). Betty, Omaha's albertosaurus, wanders off and finds a tiny T rex giving children rides on her long, long tail. Betty is sociable and happy to meet another tyrannosaur, and Omaha and Buffalo catch up and survey the situation. Buffalo notes that the t-rex is an adult, but a dwarf (it's only about 6 feet tall), and well cared-for but not a companion. Omaha winds up talking to an adult who's hanging out keeping an eye on the t-rex, and tells Omaha that her name is "Sue the T-Rex 2," and she's kind of an unofficial mascot of the city. They get to chatting, and the man (Ferris) says that he used to be an active-duty venator, but then his venaraptor disappeared one night and he didn't want to get another one. He asks where Omaha is from, she tells him she mostly lives out in the wilds, and he tells her if she wants to spend some time in Kelaino, now's a good time - it might get politically messy soon. One of the folks on the city council, Vernon Maldonado, has announced his retirement, and the some of the potential replacements...aren't great. 

Meanwhile, inside, Dakota and Tallahassee head to the Enta Lab and ask to be let in. She name-drops Dr. Alatus Chang, the head of the genetics lab, because she knows that Chang is completely disorganized. Indeed, the guards argue a little and then let her in to give Chang her "data", but insist that Kevin and Sebie get shock collars. Tallahassee tries to argue, but the guards aren't having it, so they clap the collars on (with some difficulty, because Kevin is not interested) and then head into the facility. 

Tallahassee worked here as an intern for a while, so she knows where to go. They head up to level 3 and into the lab of one Dr. Shane Carlson, an aeternologist with an affinity for cybernetics, much like Tallahassee. Carlson isn't exactly happy to see her, but is interested in the chips she found. He plugs them into one of his machines and notes the same thing Tallahassee did - they look like first-gen SATI tech, but they're too new. One chip, the one from the dead troopers' heads, has some kind of protection and won't let Carlson access the data. The other chip, the one that was in the dead troopers' hands, gets his attention. "It's a key," he says.

"To what?" asks Tallahassee. 

"Everything. Every door in Enta, Dota, and Salmon Center." 

The characters digest this (and Sebie manages to remove her collar and give it back to Dakota), and then the lights go out momentarily. They come back, and the PA instructs everyone to go to their offices - the building is on lockdown. Tallahassee quickly takes the collar off Sebie as the characters hear the tromp of boots coming down the hall. SATI soldiers with guns enter, telling everyone to raise their hands. Kevin, finally in his element, leaps at one and the fight is on.

The guards try in vain to collar Kevin, but he goes full cat-in-a-bathtub and throws one dude into another dude. Sebie sneaks up behind another and savages him, and Tallahassee uses her cyber expertise to shut a couple of them down temporarily. Dakota shoots one, and the characters look like they're holding their own, but they realize that there are probably more guards on the way. Tallahassee forces Carlson to tell her another way out, and he tells her that supplies get brought in through tunnels off the basement level. Dakota and Tallahassee mount up and flee to the elevator, but Sebie is shot on the way and her leg badly burned. They do make the elevator, though, and with the key-chip, bypass the security, head to the basement, and find a tunnel leading outside the city wall.

They meet up with the others and explain what happened (and Buffalo tends to Sebie's wounds). They decide to head out of town a bit and rest, and then maybe use the key-chip to go back in and free the dinosaurs in the SATI buildings, maybe figure out what Buffalo's mom is up to with this mysterious egg? Buffalo finds a safe place to rest, but on the way there, Omaha and Tallahassee notice a bug circling them and making a weird noise. Tallahassee tries to short it out (since it's obviously not entirely biological), but it doesn't work and the bug flies back. She warns them that they may have been noticed...

Movie #622: Happy Death Day

Happy Death Day is a horror/comedy starring Jessica Rothe, Israel Broussard, Ruby Modine, Charles Aitken, Rob Mello, Rachel Matthews, and Jason Bayle. 

Tree (Rothe) wakes up in an unfamiliar dorm room on her birthday and quickly takes her walk of shame back to her sorority house. The day progresses pretty much normally for her - exchange quips with her frenemy Danielle (Matthews); acts snarky and unpleasant to her roommate Lori (Modine), who's even made her a cupcake for her birthday (which she promptly bins, because carbs); snogs her married professor (Aitken); skips lunch with her dad (Bayle); goes to a frat party...but on the way there, she's murdered by a lunatic in a baby mask. 

And then she wakes up, same dorm room, same good-natured fellow Carter (Broussard) there to offer her aspirin. The day progresses as it did before, but she avoids death by taking a different route to the party...until she actually gets there, and the lunatic kills her again. 

And then she wakes up, same dorm room...and on and on. 

So, the movie is basically Groundhog Day but with horror. What's interesting to me is how everything in the movie feels like a pretty straightforward slasher/thriller, except for the time loop. Tree gets weaker every time she "dies", so she doesn't have the same kind of time that Phil did in Groundhog Day, but otherwise the movie hits a lot of the same beats, including being a redemption story for Tree. It turns out her birthday is significant because she shared a birthday with her mother, who died some years back, and she's coped with that pain by becoming mean and shallow. As the movie progresses she improves that, but by itself it's not enough to end the loop - that requires stopping her own murder, which isn't as simple as it sounds.

This is another horror movie that I was initially jazzed about, and then cooled when I found out it was PG-13. I'm starting to rethink my stance on that, though, because the lack of gore doesn't really hurt the movie much. The cast is solid. Rothe sells Tree's frustration and fear as the plot unfolds, and Broussard plays nicely off her as a genuinely good guy (he took her home when she was drunk to make sure she didn't get hurt, although Tree initially assumes there was sex involved). I think that the web of relationships that Tree's involved in is handled a little clumsily, mostly in service to giving her moments to use her knowledge of the day and improving moral outlook to change things, but that's a minor niggle. 

I'm interested to see the sequel, though, because it looks like it leans a little harder into the weirdness of the time loop.

My Grade: B
Rewatch  Value: High

Next up: Hellraiser

Character Creation: Battle for Oz

Off to see the wizard!

The Game: Battle for Oz
The Publisher: Pirate Press LLC
Degree of Familiarity: Never played this game, but it's Savage Worlds, which I know
Books Required: I think just the one, but maybe Savage Worlds core, too

It's all in the title, really: It's Oz, things have gone to shit as an evil wizard has taken over the Emerald City, there are undead Pumpkin-heads and clockwork soldiers romping about, and you're a plucky revolutionary ready to stand up and, well, battle for Oz. 

(Side note: A lot of SW RPGs seem to cast the PCs in the role of revolutionary against a powerful force controlled by a singular foe, yeah? Maybe just the ones I've read? But I've read a bunch. Anyway...)

So! The backstory of Oz explained here seems pretty similar to the one in Adventures in Oz, which makes me think both are taken from the books, which is fine. 

I choose a race, first off, but it may actually behoove me to think about concept a little, because there are some professions and so on that are race-exclusive. I know I want to take an Arcane Background of some kind, both because using magic (or something) in this setting would be cool, and because it's been better than 2 years since I've made a Savage Worlds character that had one. 

Ooh, OK. There's a race called the Niave. They're "dark faeries," very reclusive and mysterious, but some of them do venture beyond their native lands and mingle with other folks. I can get behind playing a mysterious wanderer, though I'm more likely to play him like Jet Li in Forbidden Kingdom than a grizzly, growly dude. That also sets me up to be a Scar Mage, binding spells into the scars on my body. Means I need to put Spirit higher. What else does being Niave get me? I get a +2 to Common Knowledge checks, I get low light vision, and I'm Arrogant. Well, blah. I'm sure I could spin that in some way other than "snotty" if I were playing this dude.

Right, so that's race, then. Traits! I get the usual 5 points for stats, but I do get a +1 bump in Spirit for being Niave. So, I think I would like to min-max a bit. I'll put 3 points into Spirit, giving me a d12, and for the other 2 I'll put one each into Agility and Smarts. 

Skills! Now, I get 15 points, but a) there are a bunch of new Skills (most of which are Knowledge, fortunately) and b) because the Arcane Background I want models itself on Super Powers, every "power" is a separate Skill. I'll get one at d6 for free, but if I want to raise it I'll need to do so from these points, which means I need to pick the damn thing. Well, let's say I save 2 points for my spell, giving me 13 to throw around. 

I want Shooting, Stealth, and Fighting at d6. That's 6 right there. I want Ancient Pre-Evain, too, and I'd like to take it at d8, but that'd cost extra. I'll just take it at d6, I guess. Notice d6, yep. Intimidation? Sure. Actually I'll jack the other 3 points there. 

Hindrances! Do I wish to have more? I SURELY DO. There's a Minor called Scar, which is automatically given to Scar Mages. Does that mean I get a point for it? Let's assume I do.

Oh, wait, this is weird. There are Archetypes, which give you a suite of points spent, and Scar is included in that. But I don't wanna take an Archetype, I think. Do I have to? What's the benefit? Hang on.

OK, I got it. Picking an Archetype is an optional way to make a character, and pretty much replaces chargen. As I'm not doing that, I don't need to take Scar, and I don't think I will, since my dude only has one so far. But what shall I take? Scar was the only new one in the Oz book. 

Well, I think I want Overconfident and Stubborn. My Niave believes that he's out here in Oz for a very special mission, it's important for his people and really all people, so if you want to come along, cool, but just know that the mission is the focus. (Side note: This kind of character is really hard to pull off unless the GM is on board and the player isn't going to be a dick about it.) I shall also take Vow, which would be specific to the mission. I think fulfilling the Vow might be something that I'd want to determine in play or let the GM have some input on, but in my Niave's case it might be a mission of espionage or sabotage. 

Right, that gives me 4 "points" to throw around. Two goes to Arcane Background: Scar Mage right off the bat. I'll spent the other two on d4s in Taunt and Investigation.

Ooh, gotta pick me power. I think I'll take Illusion. Now, Scar Magic trappings deal with nature, but in a twisted kind of Burton-esque kind of way. When my guy casts his Illusion spell, he cups his hands together (his palms are both heavily scarred) and blows out. A jumble of little floating motes of light appears and then arranges itself quickly into the illusion. Cool! And I have that spell at d10.

Money would be the last thing (other than derived traits). I get 500 "Ozzies" (money), so I'll spend 250 on a bow and 15 on a leather jerkin. 

Now I just need a name and description! My Niave is on the short side for his people. He has black hair that he tends to cut shorter than most dark fairies (he doesn't like when it tickles his cheeks). He smiles a lot, but the smiles are cold and kind of impatient. Likewise, he's quick with a joke, but there often seems to be an air of unspoken "you idiot" about him. He's not a patient or warm person, but he's not actually cruel, either, and if you start telling stories around a fire, a lot of times he'll illustrate them with illusions. He's definitely the sort of character who would wander off on his own when the other folks aren't looking, though. He doesn't use his name in the Niave language among outsiders, but he goes by Mias when in Oz. 

That'll do it!

Movie #621: Escape Room

Escape Room is a horror movie starring Taylor Russell, Deborah Ann Woll, Logan Miller, Jay Ellis, Nik Dodani, and Tyler Labine.

Six people received puzzle boxes, apparently sent from people they know and trust, which, when solved, reveal an entry to an escape room called "Minos." The prize for escaping is $10,000, which entices the folks who don't otherwise have much incentive. Of the six, though, we only see three grappling with the box - high-powered financier Jason (Ellis), traumatized and shy college genius Zoey (Russell), and drunk grocery store worker Ben (Miller). The other three, a trucker named Mike (Labine), an Army vet named Amanda (Woll), and an escape room-obsessed geek named Danny (Dodani) we don't see until everyone shows up at Minos.

It becomes immediately apparent that this escape room plays for keep; everyone survives the first room and Danny fulfills his role of bringing the non-geeks up to speed on how escape rooms work before he drowns in the second room. It becomes very clear that the players need to work together to survive, but also clear (at least to the audience) that everyone here is damaged, not just Zoey and Amanda. It comes out that what they all have in common is that they're all sole survivors - Zoey was in a plane crash that killed her mother, Ben killed his friends driving drunk, and so on. The masters behind Minos, who just want to watch people struggle for their lives and bet on the result, have nearly limitless wealth and power, and they just want to see if "luck" is a factor. 

(Ben neatly points out that people who get lured into torture rooms and murdered aren't terribly "lucky" on the face of it, in one of a couple of lines that I really enjoy. The other one, spoken by the Games Master (Yorick van Wagenigen) is "In the Kentucky Derby, do you think the horse gets a prize?")

I liked this movie a lot more than I expected to, partially because of the attention to detail. Each of the character not only has a room tailored to their particular trauma (not that any of them really figure that out), but there are a million little clues around to make the characters think of their trauma and, presumably, heighten their instinct for survival. It takes a second viewing to get a lot of these moments, and the production design is nicely intricate. The premise is pretty ridiculous on the face of it (people betting on the survival of a group of strangers? Sure, OK. The amazingly elaborate and lightning-fast responses of Minos? That's a bit much), but the movie stops just story of making it all seem supernatural. 

The setup for the movie invites comparisons to Cube, and Escape Room follows a lot of the same beats. Where Cube plays on the futility and unknowable nature of the cube, though, Escape Room doesn't have the same kind of thematic weight. There are some good performances (I love Tyler Labine and Deborah Ann Woll in particular, although it took me forever to place Woll the first time I saw this movie), and like I said, the set design is fantastic, but despite Zoey's talk about observation and quantum mechanics, there's not really an overarching point other than "rich people with too much time on their hands are evil," which of course is true. 

That said, it's an entertaining movie and it's a PG-13 rated horror movie that works, which is difficult. I'm looking forward to the sequel.

My Grade: B+
Rewatch Value: High

Next up: Happy Death Day