Recently heard of escape rooms? And looking forward to trying one?
But then, a little voice in your head said, “Shouldn’t you watch an escape room movie before actually going in for one? You know, sort of like an instructional video?”
This article explores both escape rooms and escape room movies and ponders whether experiencing one is really necessary to enjoy the other.
Should YOU watch a Movie before taking part in an Escape Room?
Escape room experiences have become increasingly popular in recent years, providing a thrilling and immersive adventure for individuals and groups of friends. They are live-action adventures designed to challenge participants to solve puzzles, find clues, and escape a themed room within a particular time limit.
Everything popular becomes a movie. We have bank heists, murder mysteries, poetic serial killers, rock climbing movies, comic book movies, and escape room films, among many others. And with the rise in popularity, it is not surprising that the escape room industry has made its way to the big screen.
There are many escape room movies to choose from. But remember that these movies are fictionalized versions of an escape room adventure. And most of these movies are psychological thrillers purely meant for entertainment purposes.
So, do you need to watch an escape room movie before visiting an escape room? The answer is no. To try an escape room, you do not have to watch an escape room movie.
Separating real life from the movies becomes an integral part of our lives. Hence, it is very important to realize that movies are dramatized versions of real life and are not at par with them.
Let us understand the difference between escape game rooms and escape game movies.
What are Escape Room Games?
Real-life escape rooms are themed live-action adventures. Through visuals, set design, props, lighting, and sound, the room is given a theme, a backstory, and a narrative that makes the games interactive and immersive. Hidden clues must be found and solved to escape the room within a specific time limit.
The time limit may vary from 45 to 80 minutes, with an average of 60 minutes for almost all the escape rooms. Depending on your circle, you can gather friends from 2-10 or more to escape the room together.
Having said that, in real-life escape room games, no one dies or is left unsupervised at any point in or during the game. You are not locked in and can leave whenever you want. The game master surveys the team from a control room and will intervene if needed.
Each escape room has unique themes, including horror, adventure, mystery, science-fiction, magic, wonderland, haunted hotels, and heists, among many others. They are staged with props and actors.
Each of the escape room games is unique and offers its own set of challenges and puzzles. So watching a movie won’t give you any advantage when solving puzzles and escaping the room.
The entire setup is created to give you an immersive feel, to transport you to an alternate world in a different time and place. You must think creatively, find clues, and solve them while making decisions and escaping the room in time to win.
Head here to understand how to solve an escape room like Sherlock Holmes!
Escape2Win – An Escape Room Game
Located in Virginia Beach, Escape2Win offers a variety of escape room games for players to enjoy. Themes include horror, rescue mission, crime, and adventure, offering a range of difficulty levels from beginners to experts.
If you are visiting Virginia Beach anytime, visit us at 5241 Cleveland St #101, Virginia Beach, VA 23462, United States, at Escape2Win to feel the adrenaline pumping fun! Head here to view our games.
We offer many escape room themes to choose from. We also provide party rooms for birthdays, anniversaries, and other special events. So get your family and friends to have a blast! We are kid friendly and our property is wheelchair accessible.
Our escape rooms also made great date activity ideas allowing couples to bond and have fun together. If this is your first time in an escape room, head here to learn about it.
Now, what are Escape Room Movies?
Escape room movies are based on the concept of escape room games.
They often feature suspenseful and intense storylines with characters facing life-threatening obstacles at every step. Themes include generic movie themes like psychological, horror, and sometimes comedy. The entire setup is staged and exaggerated for dramatic effect.
The movies include deadly traps set by the game’s designer or the scriptwriter in reality. They provide a sense of excitement and thrill for the audience without having actually to participate in a real escape game.
The movies are typically shown in theaters, halls, online streaming platforms, or on televisions. Escape Room (2017), Escape Room (2019), No Escape Room (2018), and Escape Room Tournament of Champions (2021) are a few of the best escape room movie examples.
The movies provide a great chance at adventure but be mindful that the real escape games aren’t anything like the movies.
Escape Room Movies VS Escape Room Games
The clues and puzzles are much more difficult and unrealistic and are often designed to be challenging in the case of escape movies. In real-life escape rooms, the difficulty is way less and is as real as possible. The puzzles might be complex, but with common sense, they are solvable within the given time frame.
In the movies, the stakes are often life or death. At each level, a member succumbs to a terrible death. But in real-life games, the stakes are not high except for a few screams that can be dialed down accordingly. Nobody dies, and everybody escapes within the time limit if you are not able to solve the puzzles, you can be given extra time or are shown how to do it. This feature depends from escape room to escape room.
Another factor that plays a role is the realism. Escape room movie creators totally take the liberty to exaggerate the level of danger and difficulty to make the storyline gripping. While in real-life escape games, you are in the thick of the action and are looking for puzzles and clues to escape the room!
The image is from the PR Week website: https://www.prweek.com/article/1522550/the-word-escape-room-companies-market-themselves-growing-audience
Escape Rooms & Movies – A Conclusion
Escape rooms and escape movies are two different forms of entertainment based on the same concept.
The main difference between the two are – in an escape room, you have to find and solve puzzles, while in an escape movie, you watch the actors find and solve life-threatening puzzles.
Overall, both give you a sense of excitement but differ fundamentally.
Escape room movies are an exciting way to experience the thrill of an escape room from the comfort of your home. But for a fully immersive and interactive experience, nothing beats a real-life escape room!
If you haven’t tried any yet, it is about time you try one!
