So this is ass kickingly cool — an escape room themed around Saw (2004), which is pretty much the ultimate of escape rooms. SAW: The Experience is now open in London (dang it), and you can get tickets for £39.00 (or $37.99 in US folding coupons). Hopefully, you won’t have to hacksaw your piggy bank to fund this fun. (You got the reference, yes?)
Behold — the sales pitch: “You thought it was over, but the games have just begun. This multi-room, theatrical experience is combined with escape room style challenges. Those who dare to play the game will be split into teams of up to six people who will work together to complete challenges and explore multiple rooms to test themselves and others. The experience lasts a full 90 minutes, plus there is a themed bar at the end of it all called The Traproom. So it could easily be a full night of fun with Jigsaw.”
“The Traproom is a themed bar experience based on Jigsaw’s workshop, and features a collection of some of his most legendary traps throughout the films franchise. Players will be able to unwind from the horrors they have endured with a selection of drinks created specifically for the experience.”
They had me at “a selection of drinks.” So while you plan your kayak trip to London, mate (I think that’s in England somewhere — I’ll have to look it up), here are a few upcoming horror/sci-fi movies that may or may not need editing with a hacksaw…
MASKING THRESHOLD / Out now
“Frustrated by a constant ringing in his ears, a paranoid data analyst documents his obsessive attempts to cure his own debilitating tinnitus through a series of home experiments conducted in a make-shift lab. But as his research becomes increasingly dark and macabre, a horrifying secret behind his maddening condition is revealed with a potential cure more sinister than he could have ever imagined.”
Listening to heavy metal really loud caused his tinnitus. The sinister cure is listening to smooth jazz. Really loud.
RUN SWEETHEART RUN / October 28, 2022 (Amazon Prime™)
“Initially apprehensive when her boss insists she meet with one of his most important clients, single mom Cherie is relieved and excited when she meets charismatic Ethan. The influential businessman defies expectations and sweeps Cherie off her feet. But at the end of the night, when the two are alone together, he reveals his true, violent nature. Battered and terrified, she flees for her life, beginning a relentless game of cat-and-mouse with a bloodthirsty assailant hell-bent on her utter destruction. In this edge-of-your-seat dark thriller, Cherie finds herself in the cross-hairs of a conspiracy stranger and more evil than she could have ever imagined.”
This would work better as a video game.
I’M TOTALLY FINE / November 4, 2022 (VOD)
“Vanessa embarks on a solo trip to clear her head after the death of her best friend Jennifer. But her self-care vacation takes a detour when she finds the recently departed Jennifer standing in her kitchen, claiming to be an extraterrestrial. Together they spend the next 48 hours partying and reminiscing on better days in a comedy that’s out of this world.”
Normally, I wouldn’t go near a teen “sci-fi” comedy, but I have been known to party with extraterrestrials on occasion. In fact, I’m doing it right now.
DARK HARVEST / Pending release 2022/2023
“Every fall in a small Midwestern town, a supernatural specter named Sawtooth Jack arises from the cornfields and approaches the town’s church, where violent gangs of young boys hungrily await their chance to confront the legendary nightmare in an annual harvest rite of life and death. Richie Shepard lives in the shadow of his big brother who won last year’s ‘October Prize’ to get his ticket out of town. To prove himself and join his brother, Richie pairs up with restless dreamer Kelly Haines, who will do whatever it takes to escape this dead-end town. Against the rules and the odds, Richie and Kelly decide to hunt down the legendary nightmare to win the Run and their freedom, together.”
Sounds like a Halloween version of The Hunger Games (2012). FYI — There was a Dark Harvest movie that came out in 2004. That one had teens being harvested by a killer scarecrow. It was the…last straw…for all of them. Heh.
Drinkin' & Drive-in 