What an experience going into this film blind. Truly awful, an actually bad movie. I normally am pretty forgiving to movies, as long as I have a good time I don't rate it this low.

This is a movie about vlogger Cole, who is celebrating 10 years of vlogging and 1 million followers. His friends take him on a trip to Moscow, Russia as a surprise to do an escape room like nothing he has experienced ever before(!).

My first point is the story, I thought it was a good idea but all of it felt really formulaic and nothing was really that revolutionary. There are sections of the story that remind me of "video game logic" - like when Cole throws a pipe to distract the enemy. I thought the traps were interesting and the first set of puzzles for Cole to solve to rescue his friends were really stressful and scary. I loved that a lot. I liked the unusual setting (who sets a movie in Russia!), and I liked the integration with modern culture - online streaming. HOWEVER, the streaming effects were not that great - the hearts and thumbs up are reflective of Facebook live streaming - and they do that thing where they pop text up on the screen for a second and play clips - but it's a live stream so IDK how they do that. It was all a bit cheesy.

The characters are pretty racially diverse but not very well developed. Even less developed for a horror movie than expected. Cole's friend is a massive douche and every moment on screen made me hate him more. Cole is a childish and extroverted streamer. His friend Thomas and girlfriend Erin have almost no development, and the black chick also has no development at all. This means none of the deaths are impactful or upsetting, they aren't really even that graphic because you only see them from afar. Cole takes it very hard and sits down to cry a few times. Felt like a waste when he could've been trying to rescue the other people instead.

The effects are all around pretty awful and so is the continuity. In one particular scene they spliced clips and the blood changes on the character's face between shots. It was not believable or real-looking. I guess this can play into the story more rather than just be chalked up to poor effects. I did like the twist ending. I think that was the only reason I gave this 3 stars. Not worth a watch. Sucked.