Peter Canavese
2022-08-18 16:34:00 UTC
Feels longer than six seasons of <em>Lost</em> with only a sliver of that 'Mystery Box' show's cohesiveness. The actors gamely sally forth but they, like us, are getting nowhere.
Six Characters in Search of an Auteur... Sadly, the fact that this was my second Theo Rossi movie of the day was the most interesting thing about it. Rossi plays one of six characters—the others played by Jordan Claire Robbins (The Umbrella Academy), Shane West (A Walk to Remember, Once and Again), Tahirah Sharif (The Haunting of Bly Manor), and lesser-knowns Elena Juatco and Julian Feder—who have been mysteriously spirited into a vast cornfield by person or persons unknown. A scattered batch of objects (a compass, a flask, a lantern, a knife, a gun with one bullet...) serve nominally as clues to the puzzle(s), while something in the corn threatens the emergence of horror overtones. Director/producer/co-writer Emerson Moore's debut feature at least shows a basic competence in terms of wrangling actors and camera, Will Musser's score helps to conjure an illusion of suspense from time to time, and kudos to Kendra Clark for the nifty props. Still, in its lack of tension, urgency, and interesting characters (a sin in a film this narrowly focused), Escape the Field feels longer than six seasons of Lost with only a sliver of that "Mystery Box" show's cohesiveness. The actors gamely sally forth but they, like us, are getting nowhere.
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