The horror catalog of Netflix is now expanded with a successful sequel, which stages its fight for survival as a creative death game.
This May 21, 2023, Netflix is also bringing the sequel Escape Room 2: No Way Out to its lineup after the first film. That’s a good reason for horror fans to celebrate, because the creative series has a lot more to offer than just clever killing methods.
Escape Room 2 on Netflix: welcome to the second death games
The Escape Room as a leisure activity (and even as a board game *) is now known worldwide: You get locked in a room as a group and try to get out by solving puzzles. In 2019, the horror film Escape Room turned it into a creepy scenario in which six teenagers, strangers to each other, were held captive against their will and struggled to survive in deadly traps: Hunger Games meets Saw. The sequel, once again directed by Adam Robitel, continues to follow this basic principle on Netflix.
Escape Room 2 now on Netflix
Part 2 brings back main characters Zoey (Taylor Russell) and Ben (Logan Miller) to have them compete in a fresh round of room roulette. In the original English version, Escape Room 2 carries the additional title “Tournament of Champions”, which sums up well that the sequel now raises its bar: This time, those locked in are all people who survived their respective first involuntary exit game. So it’s a duel of the winners (as in The Tributes of Panem – Catching Fire) and so the horror traps also become more challenging.
Escape Room 2 brings creative horror back to Netflix
What sets Escape Room 2 apart, just like its predecessor, are first of all the extremely inventive kill rooms to master.There’s an almost idyllic beach setting, but also a laser room that will make cube fans rejoice. In a recreated New York street, on the other hand, it rains acid, against which only a plastic umbrella helps.
However, Escape Room 2 is not just an imaginative battle platter at Netflix: Unlike many other genre representatives, it is noticeable that the film cares emotionally about its own characters despite the horror setting. All the more it hurts to see intelligently acting fav:ous die in this deadly obstacle course.
As a sequel, Escape Room 2 faces the task of not just repeating the first part. That’s why the mythology of the franchise is expanded at the end, instead of just delivering another bloody game. The logic of the ending is debatable, but the fun that the sequel brings is not. Because in the end, Part 2 also delivers the successful mix of creativity, brutality and puzzles that makes for a very watchable fast-paced horror series.
