10 Movies For Escape Room Fans

Escape Room fanatics can’t always be locked in a room filled with puzzles. I mean, I suppose they could, but in their own home? That’s just weird. For the boring moments between escape adventures, these thrill-seekers have to get their kicks somewhere else, right? When they can’t step inside and solve the puzzles themselves, watching a good movie is the next best thing. For the days when you want to kick back and watch the action unfold, here are our top 10 Movies For Escape Room Fans! 

Escape Rooms That KILL

10) Escape Room & Escape Room: Tournament of Champions

I suppose I would be remiss to not mention Escape Room, you know, the movie all about horror-filled escape rooms except it’s rEeEeAL? (ahaha how crazy would that be?) Although actual escape rooms won’t kill you, here at The Basement is about as close as you get! We were actually mentioned by name in that picture, as an example of one of the world’s finest escape experiences.

I’ve also been informed that the best moment in the sequel, Escape Room: Tournament of Champions, was when a character literally said, “What is this? Some sort of… Tournament of Champions?” That kind of camp can only be found in horror films under a certain budget line, and I’m absolutely here for it. These are not the best movies, but they’re good for escape room movies. 

Adventurous, American Thrills

9) National Treasure & National Treasure: Book of Secrets

This is kind of an obvious pick, but genuinely, who doesn’t love watching Nicholas Cage run around in the dark with a fiery torch. This movie really does a great job setting the mood to make discoveries and solve puzzles. I just want that thrill of holding up a water bottle to look at the back of a $100 bill to see the tiny clock hands.

Hidden clues reveal major historical secrets. Finding the extraordinary in the mundane is soooo on theme with the goal of escape rooms and their adventures. Absolutely required viewing. A must watch.

The Brave and the Bloody

8) The Belko Experiment (2017)

Thinly veiled as a psychological research study/ social experiment, The Belko Experiment pits a group of average office workers against each other in a lock-down murder trap. Cubicles turned killing room, tensions begin immediately when the unseen manipulators announce that killing your coworkers is the only way to survive. Thinking at first that this must be some kind of sick joke, minds are changed in an instant when they watch one man’s locator chip explode his head.

Even if it is a highly desirable corporate job, what kind of company requires you to have a chip implanted in the back of your head? Major red flag. This outrageous horror movie supplies blood and ridiculous scenarios on par with the Saw franchise, but goes to show that Man is the real puzzle to solve.

All Locked Up

7) Cube (1997)

Filled with deadly traps around every corner, no room is safe in Cube. With limited resources and no one to turn to, the characters in Cube must use their wits to survive. Strangers work together to survive a gauntlet of dangerous challenges and begin to wonder, are the others more dangerous than the traps?

If you’re looking for a good thriller that rewards creative problem solving, definitely check out this flick. It really makes you think, what would you do in their shoes?

Contain the Evil

6) Evil Dead (1981)

What? The Evil Dead? Yes. Okay, so hear me out. One of the most classic themes for escape rooms is that of the “Zombie Lab” containment. People trapped in a room with a zombie have to solve the puzzles before they become infected or the evil escapes out into the world. Sound familiar?

Evil Dead follows the story of a man trapped in an old house in the woods and his scramble to survive while his friends are possessed or killed one by one. Evil Dead is one of those classic horror movie stories that Hollywood can’t help but tell again and again. A small group of people with a set time limit endure horrors while attempting to escape? Very escape room-y.

Heist of the Century

5) Now You See Me (2013)

Many escape rooms are centered around the hunt for a missing fortune, or evading deadly traps while trying to steal millions of dollars in precious jewels. Everybody loves a good heist movie. Now You See Me blends the excitement of escape rooms, magic acts, and high prize theft into one wild trip to the movies.

This is the perfect film to get you pumped to play heist themed escape rooms. Confidence, secret knowledge, and room in your wallet enough to spare, your final test is to get away clean.

Jailbreakers

4) Con Air (1997)

Con Air is like a film in a bottle. Taking place in one location, aboard a prison transport plane, we watch on the edge of our seats as the plane is hijacked by the criminals aboard. Running (or flying) from the authorities, it feels like a classic jailbreak story in the sky.

As so many escape rooms feature breaking out of jail or eluding authority, Con Air is the perfect film to get you in that mindset. Also, this list obviously needed more Nicolas Cage. I mean come ON. He’s like the king of camp and action.

“Put the bunny… back in the box…”

Amateur Bomb Squad

3) The Dark Knight (2008)

Brimming with brooding bats and jovial jokers, The Dark Knight also features some seriously cool bomb-centric plot points. With sweat on their brow, encountering the terrifying tick tick tick of an explosive is enough to shake even the most super of heroes. To see the everyman come face to face with diffusing a bomb (or the situation surrounding one!) puts you in their shoes.

Cut the red wire! Wait no, the blue wire! Communication, collaboration, and a steady hand paints the line between life and death. Fans of puzzle adventures know this pressure well. Will you crack under it?

A Deadly Game

2) CLUE (1985)

“It’s not just a game…Anymore!” This 1985 cult favorite is the perfect escape from reality. Six strangers, all given pseudonyms, are being blackmailed by their mysterious host. Each have contrasting and widely varying personality characteristics. When Mr. Boddy turns up dead, everyone has a proper motive.

This black comedy is quotable gold with amazing performances by the entire cast (but let’s be real, especially Tim Curry.) Definitely put this one on your watch list. It’s one of the best movies for an entertaining night in. Who doesn’t enjoy playing a harmless board game?

The Blueprint

1) House on Haunted Hill (1959)

Finally, at #1, a classic whodunit mystery starring Vincent Price. Seven people are locked in a mansion with the promise of a huge sum of money should they survive the night! These strangers find that perhaps they aren’t really strangers after all…

Spooky, campy, and with a KILLER ending, House on Haunted Hill is a cinematic masterpiece. Uncovering the mystery of a haunted house and its strange happenings is perfect popcorn fodder for fans of escape rooms. It’s also a great example of where some of our favorite themes come from! Several films on this list follow its classic formula.

I definitely didn’t just write this blog specifically to list this film. Not at all! HoHH is available FREE online! Go watch it! Just do it and thank me later.

Escape to the Movies

Whether escaping an endless maze, a twisted social experiment, or a serial killer, escape room inspired movies are the passive way to break free from the slog of daily life. But if you really want to dive into your own, real life escape rooms, your only chance to stay alive may rest in your knowledge of suspense movies like these.

So study up! Grab some snacks and your comfiest blanket; the couch is waiting. If you every find yourself trapped inside a deadly game perpetrated by a deranged killer, solving puzzles may be your only shot at survival. See? It’s probably best that you picked one of the Saw Movies last weekend.

“I think when you go to the movies, you should learn something!”

Bugs Bunny