January 18, 2013 (Sundance)
October 11, 2013 (United States)
Escape from Tomorrow is a 2013 American independent horror film written and directed by Randy Moore in his directorial debut. It tells the story of a unemployed father having increasingly bizarre experiences and disturbing visions on the last day of a family vacation at the Walt Disney World Resort. It premiered in January at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and was later a personal selection of Roger Ebert, shown at his 15th annual film festival in Champaign, Illinois. The film was a 2012 official selection of the PollyGrind Film Festival, but at the time filmmakers were still working on some legal issues and asked that it not be screened.
The film drew attention because Moore had shot most of it on location at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland without permission from The Walt Disney Company, owner and operator of both parks. Due to Disney's reputation of being protective of its intellectual property, the cast and crew used guerrilla filmmaking techniques to avoid attracting attention, such as keeping their scripts on their phones and shooting on handheld video cameras similar to those used by park visitors. After principal photography was complete, Moore was so determined to keep the project a secret from Disney that he edited it in South Korea. Sundance similarly declined to discuss the film in detail before it was shown. It has been called "the ultimate guerrilla film". Rather than suppressing the film as Moore claimed would happen, Disney chose to ignore it.
It has been compared to the work of Roman Polanski and David Lynch. Although many who saw it at the Sundance Film Festival expressed strong doubts that the film would be shown to a wider audience due to the legal issues involved and the negative depiction of the parks, The Walt Disney Company did not prevent the film from being released. At the time of its premiere, Disney stated that it was "aware" of the film; since then the online supplement to Disney A to Z: The Official Encyclopedia has included an entry for the film.
It was released simultaneously to theaters and video on-demand on October 11, 2013, through Producers Distribution Agency, a Cinetic Media company. It has received mixed-to-negative reviews, praising its visuals and ambitious production, but criticizing its execution.
Storyline
In a world of fake castles and anthropomorphic rodents, an epic battle begins when an unemployed father's sanity is challenged by a chance encounter with two underage girls on holiday.
Sound Effects Used
- Censor Bleep
- Sound Ideas, EXPLOSION - BOULDER EXPLOSION 01
- Sound Ideas, HUMAN, BABY - CHILD CRYING, 10 MONTHS OLD BABY, HUMAN, DIGIFFECTS