35 Horror Movies Like Escape Room You Need To Watch

There is a long and illustrious cinematic tradition of confining characters within close quarters and turning up the heat. This is quite literally the case in 2019's "Escape Room," a remarkably charming horror-thriller directed by Adam Robitel that sees a group of six strangers launched into a series of deadly puzzles based around their past traumas. Grounded by a compelling ensemble cast ranging from a shy math wiz (Taylor Russell) to an Army veteran (Deborah Ann Woll), the gang must work together and keep their heads on straight in order to stay alive.

If you saw "Escape Room" and thought to yourself, "Gee, I could certainly go for more of that," we've got you covered. Lucky for you, there are plenty of films that exploit this especially fruitful corner of the cinematic psyche. Because, as with "Escape Room" itself, whether it's a siege film or a murder mystery, confined genre flicks are a rich space for character study. And that never goes out of style. So whip out your watchlists (keep an eye out for clues) and read on for the films we think you'll enjoy if you got a kick out of "Escape Room."

This list assumes that you have seen (and enjoyed) "Escape Room," so be wary of spoilers ahead for the 2019 film.

It's fun to know that human beings have pretty much always been obsessed with movies about trapping a group of strangers in a confined space and forcing them to work together to outwit their devious host. Case in point, 1934's pre-Code mystery "The 9th Guest," which sees eight strangers summoned by telegram to a penthouse apartment filled with horrifying, fatal surprises. 

Locked in the apartment, the gang is introduced to the ninth guest. (Spoiler alert, as the dramatic voice informs the guests, the ninth guest is death itself). Directed by genre film heavyweight Roy William Neill (who readers may know from "Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man" and "Terror by Night"), "The 9th Guest" is an entertaining and shockingly early entry in the closed-room murder mystery that gets to the heart of what the subgenre is all about — unlocking the puzzle of the human psyche. If you can readily find it, and you have a soft spot for nearly century-old cinematic fare, we heartedly recommend giving this old gem a watch.

A group of strangers desperate for cash that could turn their lives around all agree to participate in the party of a lifetime (or, potentially, death-time). Eccentric millionaire Frederick Loren (Vincent Price, in one of his most delightful scene-chewing roles) is hosting a soirée in the titular house on haunted hill, which as its name suggests, is rumored to be a tuning fork for all manner of depravity and violent death. But with the promise of a sizeable chunk of change as a reward for spending one night in the macabre mansion, who could resist? 

As with "Escape Room," the inciting gambit of William Castle's 1959 masterpiece belies a sinister ulterior motive. It's a chilling and undeniably charming classic, and "Escape Room" owes a lot to "House on Haunted Hill." In other words, it's a must-watch for anyone who can't get enough of summoned strangers and good old-fashioned campy horror flicks.

Look at that title, how could we pass up recommending this film? Whereas the players in "Escape Room" were chosen because they were the sole survivors of harrowing incidents, the group of this 1974 film are in the process of surviving. Plucked from their homes with no warning, each individuals is brought to a remote bomb shelter carved deep below the surface of an undisclosed desert. There, they learn the shocking reason behind their abduction: A world-ending nuclear war is taking place, and an algorithm has decreed that they are the ones who will persist to continue the human race once the dust has settled. Then, just when you're pretty sure the nightmare can't get any worse, their shelter is invaded by literally blood-hungry bats intent on kicking humanity while it's down. This is a bananas film with a devilish twist, and we're thrilled to have the opportunity to recommend it.

When you're watching "Escape Room," it's immediately obvious that director Adam Robitel and company have a notably meta spring in their step. Characters are patently self-aware and quick on the uptake of the deadly reality of their situation. One character in particular barely needs reminding to pull the trigger a second time, given horror villains' propensity for lurching back to life for one last scare. 

You can't dip your toe into meta-horror waters without paying respects to the film that popularized planting a post-modern tongue firmly in horror's cheek: Wes Craven's "Scream." The film turns a cookie-cutter slasher premise (deranged masked killer offing teens) into a wry meditation on the rules and patterns of horror movies themselves. As it becomes clearer and clearer that the murders are swirling around Neve Campbell's Sidney Prescott, the young teen looks to her tragic past to untangle the stab-happy mess of her nightmarish present.

There's a good chunk of the first act of "Escape Room" where it's not entirely clear what's going on. Are these strangers truly engaged in a fatal death-trap scenario? Or is escape room aficionado Danny Khan (Nik Dodani) correct and the whole thing just feels super real and immersive? One wrinkle that complicates things is the fact that each of the players received their letter of invitation from someone they trust: a kind-hearted physics teacher, a relative, a mentor. And sure, whoever is behind this house of horrors could've pretended to be these loved ones. Or maybe, just maybe, the conspiracy runs deeper. 

While ultimately in "Escape Room" it turns out to be the former, David Fincher's "The Game" is a different story. The film follows Nicholas Van Orton (Michael Douglas), a cold-hearted banker who receives a gift certificate from his baby brother to participate in a ... special ... kind of game. Unaware of the ever-changing rules and progressively convinced that this little joke is rather deadly, Nicholas' reality begins to merge with the ever-present Game that lurks around every corner.

As "Escape Room" draws to a close, we learn that the common trait that unites the players is that they are all sole survivors of various tragedies. As the overseer later explains, they were selected to test the hypothesis that they are "luckier" than most when it comes to cheating death. What James Wong's "Final Destination" supposes is, what if the opposite is true? What if capital "D" Death isn't too thrilled about losing out on lives that evaded the inevitably coming for us all? Indeed, this is the premise laid plain in the first entry in the "Final Destination" franchise. After boarding a plane, a teen experiences a visceral vision of the aircraft's crash and leaves in a hurry along with a handful of his friends. When, sure enough, the plane crashes, the teens count themselves lucky. That is ... until Death begins to hunt them down one by one.

In more ways than one, "Escape Room" is effectively "Saw" for kids. This is, to be clear, not a bad thing. How else are we supposed to indoctrinate the next generation into falling head over heels over bear trap mask with one of the core franchises of modern horror? Indeed, the bird's eye premise of "Escape Room," — a group of strangers with mysterious pasts being forced to participate in deadly games — is the core principle of the "Saw" films. And nowhere is this thesis clearer or more pure than James Wan's original 2004 film, which sees a brilliant and blood-hungry serial killer forcing folks to make impossible choices in order to save their lives. The key difference (and it's a doozy) is that unlike the participants of "Escape Room" who have (mostly) done nothing wrong, the victim's of Jigsaw's gruesome machinations are morally suspect individuals who need to "learn" to not take their lives for granted. It's a key, macabre difference, and one that would make for a splendid double-bill.

We have a couple of films on this list that fall into the "absolutely not for everyone" category. And Michael Haneke's English-language remake of his own film absolutely qualifies. 2007's "Funny Games" is a decidedly un-funny (but admittedly game-filled) nightmare about two psychotic young men who take a family hostage while they're on vacation. Forcing the family to participate in sadistic "games," with the promise that they will kill them the following day, the lads' charming grins are at odds with their increasingly wretched acts of depravity. Why are they doing this, you ask? Why, for the amusement of the viewer, of course. Not for the faint of heart by any stretch of the imagination, "Funny Games" is intended to be a viscerally unpleasant viewing experience, and on that point, it delivers. View at your own risk!

If you want to watch a film similar to "Escape Room" and you don't mind subtitles (good for you!), then we recommend seeking out 2007's "Fermat's Room." Directed by Luis Piedrahita and Rodrigo Sopeña, the film sees four strangers, all of them mathematicians, invited by a mysterious host to attempt to solve an unsolvable enigma. As it turns out, the "enigma" in question is that if they don't figure out what they all have in common and why someone might want them all dead, they will be crushed to death by an ever-shrinking room. So, basically, imagine if that terrifying almost-final puzzle room that Ben (Logan Miller) finds himself in, where the walls literally close in on him, was a feature-length film — only with a lot fewer riddles and a lot more mathematics. 

Like many of the movies on this list, the puzzles and riddles are just the set-dressing for some pressure-cooked character study. So if you're a numbers person and wish the trash compactor scene from "Star Wars: A New Hope" was somehow nerdier, this is the film for you.

Alright, now listen — despite being a horror film, "Escape Room" is, for all its genuine peril, pretty family-friendly. "Martyrs," the pillar of the stomach-churning subgenre known as French Extremity, is decidedly not something you want to show anyone without what we call in the business "an iron stomach." Again, we cannot stress this enough, "Martyrs" is not for the faint of heart. And that is, indeed, the entire point of Pascal Laugier's 2008 film. 

Without saying too much in case you haven't been scared away by all our warnings, "Martyrs" is keenly interested in probing the same territory as the final twist of "Escape Room." Namely, a shadowy organizations subjecting civilians to untold suffering in order to, as they see it, learn some fundamental truth about the human condition. While "Martyrs" takes this ghoulish conceit to some extremely depraved places, it remains an essential watch for any sadists out there who wished "Escape Room" had done more with that idea.

One of your big takeaways after watching "Escape Room" was, surely, some variation of "holy smokes, how do I watch more films starring human teddy bear Tyler Labine?" Fear not, curious reader, we have you covered. If Labine's turn as the gentle-hearted Mike Nolan, sole survivor of a mine collapse, stole your heart, prepare for that charming dial to be turned up to 11 with the 2010 horror comedy "Tucker and Dale vs. Evil." 

Labine and Alan Tudyk co-star in this meta joke-filled splatter-fest as the titular evil-fighting buddies Tucker and Dale. The pair just want to renovate their fixer-upper lake home in peace, but mean-spirited city kids mistake their folksy ways for the roadside, backwater menace depicted in too, too many horror films. While the dynamic duo wouldn't hurt a fly, the teens' nasty habit of launching themselves into the jaws of death paints them into a stereotype-proving corner. It's up to the two pals to thwart the misunderstanding while keeping as many kids alive as possible.

One of the most effective parts of "Escape Room" is the way the film weaponizes impossible space. It's hard to believe that all of these immense places exist within one building. And the contrast as the players move from one room to the next is always a rug-pulling surprise, especially the transition from the broiling waiting room to the frigid lakeside cabin. 2013's "Snowpiercer" offers many of the same delights, only with the added twist of taking place entirely on a globe-trotting train ferrying what's left of humanity in a perpetual loop around the Earth. With the poor and destitute confined to the train's back carriages and the wealthy living the high life on the other end, the film follows a class conflict led by Chris Evans' Curtis, a born leader with a dark past who wants a better life for his community.

If your favorite part of "Escape Room" was the players' panicked, stomach-sinking realization that their would-be weekend getaway is, in fact, a death trap, you might consider checking out 2015's "Circle." The film, co-directed by Aaron Hann and Mario Miscione, follows the following premise: 50 strangers awaken in a big, black void, with no memory of how they got there. They are all facing inwards towards a large, alien device and quickly learn that if they move out of their circular position, the bizarre machine will kill them instantly. The group also learns, through a very macabre process of elimination, that the machine will randomly kill one of them at regular intervals ... but they can also vote for who the machine will kill. The question is ... how to vote? It's like if the FitnessGram PACER Test got in a car accident with "The Twilight Zone." If that sounds up your alley, we absolutely recommend checking this one out.

The best part of "Escape Room" is right there in the film's title. As the hapless gang of escapees stumble and crawl from room to room, it's an absolute blast to discover each scenario's specific deadly puzzle, its fatal traps, and increasingly out-of-reach solutions. And, in its own way, 2016's "Don't Breathe" plays with a similar, albeit far more specific, premise. 

The film (helmed by "Evil Dead" director Fede Alvarez) follows a group of money-hungry teens who are pretty sure they've stumbled upon the perfect crime — robbing an isolated blind man (Stephen Lang) who inherited a sizeable chunk of change after his daughter was killed in a car accident. And while the man is indeed blind, the three thieves quickly finds out that their "easy mark" is in fact a seasoned war vet who's turned his house into a veritable death trap ... with a sinister purpose. And hey, look, when you're locked inside a murder house with a devious psycho, every room is an escape room.

Directed by Greg McLean and written and co-produced by James Gunn, "The Belko Experiment" takes the familiar "gladiatorial torture games" premise and sets it in a truly hellish setting: a corporate office building. Locked inside their monotonous place of work and commanded by a mysterious voice to participate in a deadly game, the employees find their tedious day becoming a true horror tale. As the intercom booms, they must kill two people within 30 minutes, or there will be consequences. What begins as a potential terrorist threat spirals into a full-blown nightmare as office politics spiral out of control into an all-out bloodbath. A dark comedy black as pitch, "The Belko Experiment" dispenses with the team-building "help-your-fellow-man" shenanigans in favor of all-out chaos. If a 2-hour montage of murder and copious bloodletting sounds like your jam, the fine maniacs at the Belko Corporation have you covered.

If you're looking for a horror film that feels like a Rubik's Cube but errs on the more comedic side of things, consider booting up 2017's "Happy Death Day." The film, much like "Groundhog Day" before it, effectively tasks its less-than-saintly protagonist with figuring out why, exactly, they're trapped in a time loop. Only, college student Tree (Jessica Rothe) isn't just whittling away day after day learning how to play the piano and carve ice sculptures. No, her time loop is a lot deadlier. Pursued by a masked killer hellbent on putting an end to Tree's many, many lives, it's up to the spunky sorority girl to figure out why she's being stalked and who is under that sinister baby mask. You wouldn't think being horribly murdered over and over again would be this fun, and yet "Happy Death Day" is a straight-up hoot grounded by top-shelf character work.

When we're first introduced to the building that houses the titular escape room, its architecture feels impossible — brutalist concrete with untold nightmares inside, from frozen lakes to upside-down pool halls. 2019's "The Platform" ratchets this unease sky-high. The feature film debut of Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia takes place in a mysterious, physics-defying tower. Unlike "Escape Room," those held within this vertical hellhole are prisoners, inmates who've submitted themselves to this architectural abomination in the hopes of reaching absolution. With each floor housing two cellmates, those located on the upper cells gorge themselves on a veritable feast, laid bare on the titular platform. As the food travels downward, viable meals grow scarce, with the those below starving as even bones are cracked upon and sucked dry. While the recurring randomization — prisoners are regularly moved to new floors without any knowledge of where they'll end up — promises a degree of fairness, our protagonist (Ivan Massagué) rejects the system when he discovers that the prison houses a child.