Film year typically starts on a low note

For the better part of a decade, the first Friday in January has become known as the dumping ground for what is often the worst film of the year.

They are often the third or fifth or 11th instalment in a tired horror franchise, and they are hardly ever screened in advance for critics.

It’s as though the studios decide to start each year with a resolution to take out the trash, as early as possible.

Last year, the fifth of January brought Insidious: The Last Key, a.k.a. Insidious 4, directed by Adam Robitel (remember that name!) and scoring an ignominious 32 per cent at rottentomatoes.com.

A year earlier, in 2017, saw the Jan. 6 release of Underworld: Blood Wars, a.k.a. Underworld 5, starring a grumpy Kate Beckinsale, who subsequently said she wouldn’t be back for part 6. It rates 20 per cent at Rotten Tomatoes.

Going back, there was 2016’s The Forest, an original horror set in Japan’s Suicide Forest, with a deadly 10 per cent score. And 2015 had The Woman in Black: Angel of Death (sequel), scoring 23 per cent.

Which brings us to Escape Room, directed by Adam Robitel — remember that name?

The plot involves six strangers who are invited to compete in a series of escape rooms, only to discover that failure means death. Originally called The Maze, it had a release date of Nov. 30, 2018, which was then moved to Feb. 1, 2019, and finally the dreaded graveyard date of Jan. 4.

The six-strangers concept calls to mind the Canadian cult sci-fi film Cube, while the trailer suggests something closer to Saw, albeit with a more corporate, less dungeon-y feel. But Escape Room wasn’t screened for film critics in Canada ahead of its release. (American reviewers did get to see it.)

That, combined with the release date, suggests that perhaps the only people clamouring to get out of a torturous situation will be the cinema-going public.