Escape Room (2019) attempts to bring the excitement of the popular puzzle establishments to the big screen in what critics are calling nasty, high concept horror. Will our subject escape, keeping her vitals within normal range or will the new mystery/thriller trap her heart rate in a state of suspense?

What is FearScale? We’ve all heard the expression ‘Scared to Death’ or how something ‘Made My Heart Skip a Beat’, but what does that actually look like? Studies have shown that even when subjected to stimuli that can not present a true threat of danger, our bodies will still produce a physiological response. By analyzing real-time results we are able to give you the most accurate reviews for anything that makes your heart race.

Test Subject: Leah

Age : 35

Gender: Female

Fears: Cleithrophobia (Fear of being trapped)

Resting HR: 62-65 bpm

Walking HR: 75-80 bpm

ANALYSIS:

The film began with an intense opening scene that was able to kick our subjects heart rate out of her resting numbers and spike to 77bpm. After an exhilarating introduction, her pulse dipped as the film established the main characters. The game was on at 25:00 as her anxiety began to increase. Unfortunately, Escape Room didn’t break any records when she hit her peak 80bpm at 52:00 during a cold race for survival. A few more tense scenes woke our monitor to help sustain a mild walking heart rate during the finale.

Click here to watch our subject’s heart rate climb to it’s peak 80bpm (mild spoilers)

CONCLUSION:

We did not inform our subject of the film’s PG-13 rating. There is a certain anxiety that comes with believing a film has the potential to be brutal. We wanted to keep her nerves on edge as she expected a movie critics were comparing to Saw (2004). While Escape Room was an entertaining film with clever scenery, the puzzles were predictable and the terror flatlined. Only a few suspenseful moments were able to raise our subject’s pulse from her resting numbers (62-65bpm). Even though the film was unable to produce extreme heart racing numbers our subject still maintained an average 70bpm. So if you’re looking to escape to the beach this summer there’s enough excitement to burn off 157 calories and keep you feeling good.

How many Fear Calories did you burn watching Escape Room? Let us know in the comments below or on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook