WFG RATING: B

Saban Films and the Movie Partnership presents a Latitude Films production. Written, edited, and directed by Howard J. Ford. Produced by Howard J. Ford and Fred Hedman. Cinematography by Travellian Skipaldi.

Stars Sarah Alexandra Marks, Sophie Rankin, Sean Cronin, Louis James, Ksenia Ismalova, Glenn Salvage, Jon-Paul Gates, Angela Dixon, Anthony Ofoegbu, and Marc Danbury.

Two best friends find themselves fighting for their lives from traffickers in this slow burn thriller from filmmaker Howard J. Ford.

Karla and Tamsin are best friends who are on vacation as a way to let off some steam. During a day at the beach, they meet a young man, Jude, who invites them over to the local bar for a drink. At first, they are reluctant and decide to head back to their place. However, they soon find themselves kidnapped and forced into a remote area, where they find eight other women. 

The girls have fallen for the same trap by Jude, who works for a local trafficking organization run by Andras, who plans to sell the girls for his own personal gain. To ensure there are no tricks, he has a group of enforcers who are set to be unleashed if necessary. However, when the ten women learn they all have a connection to the scheme, they decide enough is enough and plot an escape, no matter what it takes. Along the way, the girls will be forced to not only confront their kidnappers, but their own demons as well. 

This thriller from director Howard J. Ford is somewhat of a slow burn that picks up in the final half-hour. And that’s not a bad thing. It may have a sense of predictability, but in the long run, it is worth the wait when the last half-hour comes and things amp up. What also helps is the performances of lead actress Sarah Alexandra Marks as Karla, one of the kidnappees who harbors a dark secret and has a sense of repressed anger, and Sean Cronin, who is one of those actors born to play villains after pulling off an impressive bad guy role in Rendel: Cycle of Revenge.

What helps the film as well is that we get some of the backstories of not only Karla and Ksenia Ismalova’s Tamsin, but some of the other victims as well. This adds to the fuel that will lead to the group doing what they have to do to escape the traffickers. In an interesting twist, we learn that one of the ladies may be in cahoots with police, who are looking to take down the traffickers and this is only the start of things in the film.

As for Cronin’s Andras, he is clearly the mastermind and has a group of enforcers as well as a pinpoint man, Louis James’ Jude, who is the one who sets the trap for the victims with his charm. The reason is that compared to the others, he’s the most well, good looking. The enforcers include Glenn Salvage’s Eyepatch and Jon-Paul Gates’ Canine, who are ruthless when unleashed to go after the girls when they attempt to escape. We get to see their brand of violent behavior and in the last half-hour, the retribution which is also as brutal as the enforcers. 

Escape is a pretty good slow-burn thriller full of pretty good performances from its main protagonist and antagonist, along with a third act full of brutality and retribution. If you’re into a film about empowerment and popcorn flicks, then you’ll want to see this.