Escape through movies!

It’s ironic to watch films about people trying to get out while we’re all under a lockdown. However, the genre is packed with enough thrills and twists to give you an ‘escape’ from your daily grind.

-> Escape Room: Tournament of Champions

Following the events from the first film, the winners who barely made out of the previous challenge find themselves dragged back into another round of Escape Room game.

This time, the evil and mysterious organization named Minos has gathered all of the previous champions and put them to the test.

The first film has been praised for its clever traps and smart twists. To ramp up the thrill, director Adam Robitel said the new escape rooms and traps will be brought up to another level in the sequel. The film will be released on July 16, 2021.

-> Happy Death Day

Happy Death Day is a black comedy slasher film praised for its fiendishly fresh scifi premise. Everything looks normal and a little out of place for university student Theresa Gelbman (Jessica Rothe) when she woke up in Carter Davis’s room without memory of how she got there.

When the day ends with her gruesome death, she finds herself waking up in the same room again. She soon realized she had to relive her murder over and over again. The only way to break the loop is to find out who murdered her.

The first film earned itself a sequel titled Happy Death Day 2U, with a third film – Happy Death Day To Us – currently in development.

-> Toy Story 3

Woody and his friends are donated to a daycare and are excited to try something new. When they realise the daycare is run by a tyrannical teddy bear named Lotso, the gang desperately devise a plan to break out and return to their beloved Andy.

What makes this particular film a standout for adults as well are the numerous references to the other great escape movies before it, such as The Great Escape and Escape From Alcatraz.

Toy Story 3 is also seared into the minds of many fans until today due to a terrifying scene near the end of the film.

-> The Shawshank Redemption

The Shawshank Redemption (1994) remains one of the most iconic and emotional prison break films today. The film is based on a novella by Stephen King, and details the story of an innocent man who is sent to prison for life.

Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) is framed for his wife’s murder and begins a new life at the Shawshank maximum security prison, forming a close friendship with an older inmate named Red (Morgan Freeman). Both men bond over a number of years and find eventual redemption though acts of common decency.

-> Holes

After being wrongfully convicted of stealing a pair of sneakers, Stanley Yelnats IV is sent to a brutal juvenile detention camp named Camp Green Lake. At the camp, Stanley is quickly put to work digging cylindrical holes with the other inmates. When asked why, they are just told digging holes will help them build character. As time goes by, Stanley gradually learns the mystery of the tunnels – and how it might even help break his family’s generational curse.

-> King of Devil’s Island

This thriller tops many film lists simply because it’s based on a true evil story set in a real prison colony for young boys on the cold Bastøy Island in Norway. In the prison camp, the youths are abused and used as cheap labour by the sadistic guards and officials of the school. But a new arrival brings hope to the youths for the first time because he comes with an escape plan.

-> Logan Lucky

Logan Lucky is a half-heist, half-prison escape film revolving around three siblings played by Channing Tatum, Adam Driver and Riley Keough. The Logan siblings plan to rob the Charlotte Motor Speedway during a NASCAR race but in order to do so, they need to recruit a pro safecracker to help. The guy they want, Joe Bang (Daniel Craig), is currently serving a prison sentence and they figured it’s an amazing alibi if they manage to break him out.

-> Out of Sight

Directed by Steven Soderbergh, Out of Sight has been touted by film critics for showing the best performances of George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez to date.

Jack Foley (Clooney) is the most successful bank robber in the country and he manages to burst out of jail. Hot on his tail is Federal Marshal Karen Sisco (Lopez) who’s enamoured by Foley. The cat and mouse chase comes to a head when they decide to take the risk to find out if there’s more between them.

-> Snowpiercer

Directed by Bong Joon-ho, the story set aboard the Snowpiercer train is brought to life by a star-studded cast. Earth has suffered a devastating climate change event, and the last remnants of humanity are forced to survive on a large train which travels all over the globe. While things look swanky from the outside, life on the inside is divided by class and status.

Sick of receiving poor treatment in the lower-class tail-section, Curtis Everett (Chris Evans) takes charge to lead a revolution against the elite class. The popular film has been made into a TV series starring Jennifer Connelly, Daveed Diggs and Sean Bean.

-> Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle is the third instalment to the Jumanji franchise, and a direct sequel to Jumanji (1995). Twenty-one years after the events in the first film, the Jumanji boardgame transforms itself into a video game and traps a group of teenagers in a video game quest.

The film starring Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Karen Gillan and Nick Jonas received much praise for its performances and overall storytelling. The success of the film spawned a sequel, with a third film currently in development.

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