From Adam Robitel, the director of the truly terrible Insidious: The Last Key, comes the only Saw like film to actually look good. Escape Room is the story of Six Strangers, all with past traumas of some kind, who are invited to take part in an immersive Escape Room experience. They all think it is someone in their lives trying to give them something nice, a way to help them battle whatever they are dealing with, however what they get is a series of seemingly impossible rooms  designed by a mysterious games master hell bent on seeing is these soul survivors are just lucky.

I do Like me an Escape Room, we even reviewed one a World War 2 one a few years back, Its a fun experience for all the family, but you really wouldn't want to be stuck in these rooms of death. The designs of the rooms are what make this film overall, I love the amount of detail the production and effects team must have put into making them. The first room really sets the tone of the film, The massive oven like room that wants to bake you alive was awesome. It what makes the film as interesting as it is over some of the more sigh worthy moments. I'm not a huge fan of the overall reveal that this is really a huge organisation, it has Hostel vibes about it where really it would work better for me if it was more of a Saw situation. On the subject of Saw this is what you will think when watching the film. This is basically a less violent less brutal Saw film. The rooms may look stunning but there is a lacking you get with the way Saw does the whole rooms of death. 

Acting wise it was nice to see Daredevil star Deborah Ann Wolf pop up in the role of the kick arse ex-military player Amanda Harper, while Logan Miller (Love Simon, Ultimate Spiderman animated series) plays the role of the kind hearts but damaged Ben. The rest of the cast are hit and miss, it is a shame to see Nik Doani's (The Good Neighbour, Atypical) character Danny die so quick, especially as he was the escape room lover. It would have been nice to see him swap with Ben and have him survive instead but I can see they went with the most guilt ridden of the group.

As a whole Escape Room is a fun watch, it's Saw Lite in many ways but you don't need extreme amounts of gore to sell this idea. I wasn't a fan of the ending, in was a little bit to Hostel and later Purge films for me with the shadowy figure who is providing death games to the rich, but you will not be disappointed overall.

We have another brilliant Netflix original here ladies and gents as we head into a post apocalyptic world where all human life is apparently gone, expect for one girl. A girl raised by a robot who calls her self Mother (Voiced by Rose Byrne - Bad Neighbours, Insidious). Known in the film only as Daughter (Clara Rugaard - Teen Spirit) this young woman has lived her whole life in a bunker, protected from a supposed virus that has destroyed all mankind, or has it? When a human woman (Hilary Swank - Logan Lucky, The Horseman) turns up out of nowhere everything Daughter once believed is left confused and warped. This leads to a series of events that changes Daughter forever and puts the fate of the future human race in her own hands.

Robots are sinister aren't they? The soul-less metallic case with AI IQ better than your average human. I AM MOTHER plays on this perfectly especially at the films conclusion. I personally found it like playing out a little like a Fallout side quest (not in a bad way) in a world not to dis-similar. The look of the film is brilliant, I love the design of the droids (again very Fallout) and Rose Byrne is perfect for the soft caring, yet sinister in a way voice of Mother. It is a slow burn but it doesn't feel dragged out at any point, holding you with a griping plot. Is Mother really behind the death of millions of humans? or is the Woman at their door playing with her mind and using Daughter for her own agenda.

The film leaves you with a few unanswered questions, enough to make to discuss it further after watching it. Was the woman APX01, how many more people came before Daughter? what is the reasoning behind the droids and their actions i.e looking after the food supplies when there is no humans left. 

Overall I loved this film. Clara Rugaard is brilliant in this and you will see more of this young lady in the future. It is good to see a rare film appearance for Hilary Swank as well, see plays the part to perfection of a woman trying to survive. This is a definite must watch over on Netflix.

I think I did the same thing most people did when I first heard that there would be a remake of the 1988 classic ‘Child’s Play’ – I let out a disappointed sigh, and figured it would probably be bad, although the optimist in me still wanted to hold on to a little hope.  Then the trailer didn’t do it any justice and painted it to seem more like a straight up horror without the humour of the original. The cast of the original films also expressed their disinterest in this new take on Chucky. However, much to my surprise I’m actually happy about this remake (I doubt I’ll ever say that about any remake ever again) as it didn’t just copy the original story but instead put a twist on it and made it its own, building on the characters without compromising on the comedy that was much-loved by fans of the first film.

Chucky’s origin differs from the original plot of murderer’s soul possessing a Good Guys doll to reflect real modern fears around AI. Karen (Aubrey Plaza) gifts a damaged Buddi doll to her son Andy (Gabriel Bateman) for his birthday, and it just so happens to be the one whose AI had been tampered with, thereby taking away his behavioural restrictions and safeguards. After imprinting on Andy, Chucky gradually shows more and more red flags in his behaviour as he attempts to do what he believes will make Andy happy. What I love about this change is that Chucky isn’t just a blatantly evil person looking to hurt people, but instead has more behind his motives and actually makes you feel empathy for him. Mark Hamill was the perfect casting to voice him (Mark Hamill is always perfect casting, that’s just a general rule) and he manages to tread the line between being sweet and endearing, as well as funny but also creepy and terrifying in the right places. He actually managed to make me sad at points which was completely unexpected, but it’s all put down to the naivety and the strange sense of innocence that he brings to the character despite everything he does. The violence in the film should also live up to fans’ expectations. There are some gasp-worthy moments (the poor woman next to me in the cinema was squirming at one point) and I liked that the gore isn’t constant, but does make it count when it happens so it doesn’t become desensitising.

Aubrey Plaza is likeable as a young single mother, and it’s interesting to see her in a role different to any other she’s played before. Gabriel Bateman also deserves a lot of praise as he does a great job with portraying the conflict Andy feels as Chucky becomes more dangerous. He previously starred in ‘Lights Out’ (2016) and he was good even then especially for such a young actor, but has shown that he’s improved a lot in this film. He already has a decent amount of horror in his filmography, so hopefully he’ll continue to do more as he’s already doing great work.

I can honestly say that ‘Child’s Play’ has made it into my very short list of good remakes that actually had something to add rather than just trying to copy the original. Of course, it paid tribute, but didn’t do it in an overwhelming way that relied on nostalgia for it to be enjoyed. The casting is good, and the balance of horror with comedy is just right. I look forward to seeing the inevitable sequel in the hopes that it’ll be just as good as this one. Maybe two hits in a row is asking for a little too much…but I want to be proven wrong about that.

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