ESCAPE THE FIELD (2022)
A tense, morally minded thriller for discerning adults.
Should You Watch It?
Escape the Field makes a lot of tension out of a limited budget. Its pacing is relentless, its atmosphere is fearful, and its violence is not dwelled upon. The film also gives its frightened characters a moral center: they repeatedly help one another when someone is injured and soothe each other’s fears.
That strength does not erase the content concerns. This R-rated thriller contains strong violence, 19 obscenities, including 13 “f” words, and three strong Jesus profanities. The absence of sex and nudity is a genuine positive, but the language and violence still make this unsuitable for children and young teens.
If you are a mature adult who can handle those elements, Escape the Field is riveting escapist fare. The practical answer: watch it only as an adults-only thriller, with discernment.
The Story
NO SPOILERS — WE KEEP THE SURPRISESSix adults are kidnapped and wake up in an open clearing surrounded by a vast cornfield. Each has an object marked with a tree symbol, while booby traps, complex clues, and a violent unseen creature stand between them and escape.
Sam becomes the group’s nominal leader, working with Tyler to determine what steps they should take. Ryan is their strongest fighter, but after a poison dart strikes him, his increasingly dangerous behavior threatens the group from within.
Is It Any Good?
Three stars means this is a well-acted, highly engaging thriller with real craft behind its tension. Director and co-writer Emerson Moore wrings maximum suspense from an obviously limited budget, using enigmatic music and mysterious distant sirens to create a fearful atmosphere.
The film is relentlessly paced, with barely a wasted moment in its running time. Its violence is not exploited, and gore appears only momentarily. Those are commendable choices for a low-budget horror film. The result is entertaining and impressively tense, even as its strong language and violence limit its audience.
The Worldview
The film presents a strong moral worldview in which six kidnapped people must fight their way through booby traps and against a violent, unseen creature. Its clearest moral emphasis is mutual care: the main characters repeatedly help one another when injured and soothe one another’s fears.
That concern for other people aligns with a biblical emphasis on bearing one another’s burdens. At the same time, the film includes jealousy, paranoia, anger, strong foul language, and violence. Its moral elements are meaningful, but they exist within an R-rated horror and science-fiction thriller rather than a distinctly Christian framework.
The film’s central moral choice is whether fearful people will help each other or allow paranoia and jealousy to destroy them. Scripture gives that concern a clearer command: “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2).
The Content Guide
The specifics — spoilers included by nature — so you can judge for your own family.
Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements
String moral worldview about six kidnapped, stranded people fighting their way out of booby traps and against a violent but unseen creature, but the main characters all repeatedly go out of their way to help each other when injured and to soothe each other’s fears, though there is some immoral behavior, such as strong foul language
Foul Language
19 obscenities (including 13 “f” words) and three strong Jesus profanities
Violence
Strong violence includes woman accidentally stabs man, with quick glimpse of bloody wound, man is sliced twice by a big knife held by an unseen figure, man grabs a woman by the neck and nearly chokes her, man and woman fall separately into dangerous and deadly booby traps but no blood shown, two men punch, kick and slice each other in an extended fight scene that’s not very graphic, a quick distant shot of a man’s severed torso hanging on a stick
Sex
No sex
Nudity
No nudity
Alcohol Use
No alcohol use
Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse
No smoking or drug references;
Miscellaneous Immorality
Jealousy, paranoia, anger.
Talk About It
Questions for the drive home, the dinner table, or the youth group.
When fear rises, the characters repeatedly choose to help one another. What does it look like to bear someone else’s burden in a crisis?
Galatians 6:2 · Philippians 2:3–4How do jealousy, paranoia, and anger affect the group’s ability to make wise decisions? What helps you respond to fear without being ruled by it?
James 1:19–20 · 2 Timothy 1:7The characters must keep one another’s fears from taking over. How can Christians comfort people who are afraid?
2 Corinthians 1:3–4 · 1 Thessalonians 5:11The film uses strong profanity, including profanities directed at Jesus. How should believers think about speech that dishonors God?
Ephesians 4:29 · Exodus 20:7The Final Word
Escape the Field is tense, well acted, and morally focused in its portrayal of people helping one another. But strong violence and severe profanity make it unsuitable for children and young teens. For mature viewers who understand the content, our answer is WORTH THE TRIP — ADULTS ONLY. For everyone else, consider.
