Netflix’s Escape The Undertaker spooky fun for all ages

John Powell

3 years ago

Just in time for Halloween, the WWE and Netflix have teamed up for some tricks and treats in the form of the Escape from the Undertaker interactive movie.

Netflix has dabbled in cinematic versions of Choose Your Own Adventures before with Black Mirror: Bandersnatch being their most successful and noteworthy.

Although not as complex or sophisticated as that entry Escape from the Undertaker is goofy fun, which is what Halloween is all about.

You could fit the plot on the back of a matchbook cover. The New Day want “borrow” the Undertaker’s urn so they can combine it with the “power of positivity.” If they can do that, they believe they cannot be beat in the WWE.

The Undertaker is not so keen on just handing over the all-powerful urn though. He gets all Jigsaw Killer on the trio. As he sits in the dimly-lit control room of his mansion he explains to them that if they want the urn they will have to earn it by entering his house of horrors and claiming it. There’s just one catch. They have to solve some puzzles to free the urn before it claims the soul of Big E.

“There is nothing evil likes to do more than feed off the good,” bellows The Deadman about the mystical urn.

As The New Day make important decisions throughout their creepy adventure you must decide which fork in the road they follow. Every decision you make leads to a different outcome. Some are good and some are bad. You can always reverse your choice if you don’t like how things played out, although that is technically cheating in my book. Because there are multiple choices and multiple consequences there are multiple endings or conclusions to Escape from the Undertaker so you can replay the movie again and again.

The spooky adventure itself ends in a handicap match between The Undertaker and The New Day. Even though The Undertaker is outnumbered he can apparently throw lightning bolts like Darth Sidious so that evens the odds somewhat.

The Undertaker is his usual menacing brooding self and even though I am not a fan of their WWE personas as I believe they are really heels not faces as they are portrayed, The New Day as a whole are fun to watch. They have a unique chemistry together perhaps because they are all really the best of friends and not just tag team partners. Just as I wonder why The Undertaker hasn’t found mainstream success as a character in horror movies, I don’t get why Hollywood isn’t banging on the New Day’s door for a possible television series, animated series or even more. They are decent actors, have that mainstream appeal and the natural charm they have together is not something you can manufacture.

For wrestling fans the movie uses some footage from the WWE, it pays tribute to Paul Bearer and there is a Glenn Jacobs in-joke for those who pay attention.

At just 30 minutes in play time, Escape from the Undertaker is the perfect holiday diversion whether you are a wrestling fan or not. The only thing that remains a mystery to me is I understand why the film is tagged by Netflix as TV-PG and is cited as containing “fantasy violence” but….“fear”? What kind of warning is “fear”? What does that even mean? These modern, unnecessary trigger warnings to me are much more frightening than anything The Undertaker could ever dream up in his house of horrors.