Tensions run high in the new Vertical Entertainment film "No Escape" as one group of influencers must fight for their lives inside a Russian torture chamber.
Image Courtesy of Vertical Entertainment
“No Escape” follows Cole (Keegan Allen) a vlogging sensation who flies around the world in his private plane, living it up for the cameras in his hit YouTube series "ERL (Escape Real Life)." He heads to Moscow with his crew (George Janko, Denzel Whitaker) and girlfriend (Holland Roden) at the invitation of a wealthy fan named Alexei (Ronen Rubinstein).
Image Courtesy of Vertical Entertainment
Alexei is said to be “next-level loaded” and he’s prepared an escape room unlike anything Cole and the ERL team have ever experienced. As he ushers everyone into an abandoned Bolshevik prison filled with torture devices, Alexei assures them “As real as everything might seem, you are safe.”
Image Courtesy of Vertical Entertainment
Well talk is cheap in Alexei’s case because almost immediately, Cole realizes that he and the ERL team are in some very real and immediate danger. Cole lives for his audience and will do just about anything for content but does that include putting his friends’ lives at risk?
Image Courtesy of Vertical Entertainment
Written and directed by Will Wernick, “No Escape” is extremely tense throughout, similar to the "Saw" franchise. It reminds us of the dangers social media can expose us to, that we often overlook. For my birthday last summer, my husband and I drove around Lake Tahoe, stopping to hike and take photos of the scenery. A few days prior, a woman had fallen to her death taking selfies at one of our stops (pictured below - Emerald Bay State Park)
“No Escape” explores the ways technology can change us, for better or for worse. It also asks us to consider our own relationship to the digital world, and how far we might go to impress our audience.
"No Escape" comes out September 18, 2020 on all major Video-On-Demand platforms.