The first season of Escape the Night premiered on Youtube Red on June 22, 2016 and concluded on August 17, 2016, with a total of 10 episodes. The premiere season showcased a total of ten guests invited to The Savant's party and required them to act and dress as various personas from the Roaring Twenties.[1] Once there, isolated from the outside world and tasked with surviving the night and escaping the historical era.[2]
In October 2015, the subscription service formerly known as YouTube Red, revealed upcoming projects such as Fight of the Living Dead, A Trip to Unicorn Island (2016), Single by 30, and Scare PewDiePie. This also includes an untitled Joey Graceffa project that involves a murder mystery.[3] A year later, the subscription service teased clips of their upcoming murder mystery series.[4] Sam Gutelle, a writer from Tubefilter, described the potential series as "the board game Clue" which turns the party "into a whodunit, with each guest transformed into a suspect."[5] Joey Graceffa, the creator of the series, revealed in a Teen Vogue interview that "the idea for the project has been in the works for two years, and that he most looked forward to collaborating" with other YouTubers.[6]
Paul Chirico as Arthur. The butler helping the guests. However, when he is the strange masked figure in the flashbacks, he does other things
Katia Hayes as Sarah. The maid, who is one of the main antagonists of the season.
David Hutchison as Marvin. A minor antagonist and is the groundskeeper of The Estate.
Minor Characters
Lindsay Roetzel as Bellhop Girl. Seen in episode one, delivering the invitations to the guests.
Chris Nielsen as the Rolls Royce Driver. Seen in episode one, and drives the guests to the Estate. Later, killed when the car explodes.
Scott Thewes as Dennis Mann. Seen in episode two, and brings the Ungodly Monster to life.
Romika Annabell Osorio as The Ungodly Creature. The main lieutenant in episode two and is a creature that emerges from the Ungodly Machine.
Michael Zazarino as Male Test Subject. One of the test subjects for the Ungodly Machine College student.
Angelique Pereira as Female Test Subject. One of the test subjects for the Ungodly Machine College student.
Zac Titus as Michael. In episode three, helped conceal the second artifact.
Maddy Curley as Caroline Eastwick. In episode three, was sacrificed to The Claws ritual.
Jay Washington as Nervous Man. In episode three, helped conceal the second artifact.
Andrew Stroud as Calvin. In episode four, he was a serial killer who murdered his family and put their clothes on mannequins.
Omar Deckard as Sam, the Guardian. In episode five, was introduced as The Estate’s Guardian.
Kelcey Watson as The Ring Leader. In episode five, he was the main man at the circus.
Daniel Preda as Claudia The Ticket Master. In episode five, collected the guests' circus tickets.
Danny Pardo as David Sanots. In episode six, was known as the Former Owner of the Estate and led an exorcism.
Anastasia Zorin as Madison Jones. In episode seven, was a mermaid and a previous owner of the Estate.
Mark McClain Wilson as Frederick. In episode seven, was shown to be abusive and be the cause to Madison's transformation into a mermaid.
Sofia Naccarato as Verona. In episode seven, was Madison's daughter.
Zach Cramblit as Colin Wentworth. In episode eight, was a previous owner of the estate, as well as a former owner of the Estate.
David Rispoli as Vincent Wells. In episode nine, was a previous owner of the estate, and suffered hallucinations.
Kevin Foster as the Butler's Brother. In episode ten, was trapped by his brother in the basement and was freed and killed Sarah and Marvin. Later going on to kill his brother before disappearing.
Notes:
↑The death of GloZell was scripted due to a leg injury she sustained in the series.
↑The death of Shane was scripted due to filming schedule constraints.
Guest history
Voting history
Legend:
Escaped the first season of Escape the Night.
Guest was voted into a challenge and won.
Guest was selected as a partner for a challenge competitor and won, saving their partner.
Guest was selected as a partner for a challenge competitor and lost, causing their partner to die.
Guests were to complete tasks to save a poisoned guest, but failed to save them.
Guest was voted into a challenge and remained safe.
Guest was declared safe from the challenge.
Guest wasn't voted into a challenge but died.
Guest was not voted into a challenge but instead voted to die.
Guest wasn't voted into the challenge and was chosen to die by the guests voted in the challenge.
The guest was eliminated but was never voted for a challenge.
The guest was eliminated after their first time being voted for a challenge.
The guest was eliminated after their second time being voted for a challenge.
The guest was eliminated after their third time being voted for a challenge.
Episode
Guest(s)
Challenge
Eliminated
Cause of Death
1
Everyone
Everyone had to complete a series of impossible tasks to gain the cure to the poison that Shane Dawson had ingested.
Shane Dawson
Poisoned by the Evil of the House.
2
Andrea Brooks
vs.
Lele Pons
Their chosen partners had to complete a series of tasks involving the wiring and piping with the first to finish causing their partner to escape, but the other's tank to be filled with poisonous gas.
Andrea Brooks
Inhaled noxious gas produced by the Ungodly Machine.
3
Everyone
The guests had to vote for one of their friends to be buried alive and then be the ones to bury them.
Justine Ezarik
Buried alive to reverse the Claws Ritual.
4
Joey Graceffa
vs.
Lele Pons
They had to do tasks involving mannequins to get keys to open a drawer which was revealed to contain a Murder Journal in which they had to write one name.
GloZell Green
Choked on her own blood after Joey wrote her name in the Murder Journal.
5
Oli White
vs.
Timothy DeLaGhetto
Need to perform in a circus show and receive points for whoever did better and whoever got the least points would supposedly die.
None
The Ring Master spared their lives.
6
Matt Haag
vs.
Sierra Furtado
Sierra had to hold down a possessed girl and recite a prayer whilst Matt needed to perform a ritual around them. Unbeknownst to either, a rosary involved in Matt's task would kill the person who wore it.
Sierra Furtado
Demonically possessed and convulsed to death.
7
Matt Haag
vs.
Timothy DeLaGhetto
Needed to organize a doll house correctly to get the vials. Winner got to choose which vial they drank, one was poisoned, the other was not.
Matt Haag
Ingested poison twice.
8
Eva Gutowski
vs.
Timothy DeLaGhetto
They had to take part in a game, which was a hybrid of Battleship and Russian Roulette.
Timothy DeLaGhetto
Shot himself in the head while playing Russian Roulette.
9
Lele Pons
vs.
Oli White
Their chosen partners had to throw rings. However, with every miss their partner would be electrocuted, and whoever's partner finished last would have their chair overloaded with electricity.
Lele Pons
Electrocuted by the Learning Chair.
Episodes
Season 1 (2016)
No. overall
No. in season
Title
Directed by
Written by
Original release date
1
1
"An Invitation"
Adam Lawson
Adam Lawson
June22,2016(2016-06-22)
Joey invites all his friends to his new estate, and he has some sleep paralysis from not being able to invite others. All the other people arrive, and Eva and Shane go and sneak off to look around. They see the maid dragging a body to a room, before being escorted back downstairs. The others ask where they were and they just said they used the bathroom. All the rest are skeptical, but they go on with their dinner. They all have a small drink, before Shane finds out he's been poisoned. Then the group starts to find clues to find the antidote. The antidote is then discovered to be dispersed between three bottles, and they have a total of fifteen minutes to unlock all of the antidotes to save Shane. There is three puzzles, and they all spread out. Joey, Eva, and GloZell find a key within a painting, and unlock the first. The other two groups with the other two puzzles fail the time, ending with Shane's final death. Joey starts looking through Shane's pockets, and finds a letter, handwritten by Shane. They find out there is a dark magic throughout the house, and the Society Against Evil put their symbol around the house for the clues. They find out one of them has to die in the end, but really multiple people have to die for each challenge, in order to have a couple people advance out of the house. They find out they have to gather artifacts, which the episode ends with them trying to escape, with the car they took beforehand, blowing up before they could get to it. So, they had no escape out of the certain timeframe. Now they consider trying to get the artifacts to escape the estate.
2
2
"The Ungodly Machine"
Adam Lawson
Adam Lawson
June22,2016(2016-06-22)
After the car outside blows up, the group is presented a hand and they have to speak through the Spirit Board. Justine reads the invocation and they ask for the spirit to speak to them. The spirit spells out "B-O-O-K-S" through the Ouija board and they go find 8 different books all around the first floor. When they find the books, they also get a code and unlock a message in the hand that leads to a chest with chess pieces and they have to play on a chessboard, in a specific arrangement. Once completed, they have to go to The Ballroom and find the Fire, Water, Earth and Air symbols that associate with numbers necessary for a code. The code is 2358 and the cabinet is then unlocked. The group finds out that they have to go to The Basement to unleash an Ungodly Machine. Unable to figure out how to decide the people that go down, Arthur suggests a vote, the results being pulled out of a hat. The two voted to go down are Lele and Andrea. Having to choose a partner each, Lele chooses Eva and Andrea chooses Justine. Arthur leads them to the Basement, and they are faced against 3 puzzles, the objective being driving the machine into malfunction. The first puzzle is to decode a blueprint and place the 4 levers on the machine either up or down in a specific pattern. The second puzzle is trying to unscrew a screw in a tube of iced water. The third and final puzzle is that they have to re-wire the control panel. Justine faces certain difficulty while Eva moves on exceptionally quick. Though, Eva gets stuck on the final puzzle, giving Justine time to catch up. Before she can fully catch up, though, Eva gets the machine to malfunction and as a result, gets Lele out of her capsule; Andrea being asphyxiated by the gas in hers. An artifact comes out and they go back up. After Justine pleads her case and concludes that maybe Andrea should've died anyway, because she wasn't being of much use, the group accuses her of purposefully sabotaging Andrea. Once Lele places the first artifact on the shelf, Oli finds a note that says that one among them is in league with the evil of the house, most naturally being suspicious of Joey.
3
3
"Buried Alive"
Adam Lawson
Adam Lawson
June29,2016(2016-06-29)
After Oli finds the note that reads one among you in league with the evil, everyone starts blaming each other. Then they read the note that came with the artifact they found from The Ungodly Machine. It says they have to perform a seance, and they have to find Caroline's birthstone, clothing, and lock of hair so no other spirits come in. The note come with a picture of a girl with emerald earrings, blonde hair, and a scarf. They then have to find the items and put it in a basket to perform the seance. They rip the picture up, like the note said, and a drawer opens. The drawer has three keys, Arthur says to look upstairs. They split up, Joey, Justine, and Oli go to the Guest Room and find the scarf under the bed in a tissue box. Tim, Lele, and GloZell go to the Window Room and find the emerald earrings in the back of a jewelry box. Matt, Sierra, and Eva go to the Spare Room and find a blonde wig in a hidden bathroom's shower. They all put the items in the basket, and a drawer opens up. The drawer has a picture of how to do the seance. They perform it and Caroline Eastwick, the woman who they were talking to, who got buried alive, said the coffin was by a red stone, and it was locked so they had to take the low road to get the key. They split in to two groups. One gets the key, and the other finds the coffin. They come back together, and open the coffin. Nothing is inside. There is a note that says Caroline was buried alive to hide the artifact, and another must be buried alive to reverse it. They vote on who should be buried alive. Justine is drawn and she tries running, but Marvin catches her and they all put her in the coffin, she starts screaming as they bury her, and then she stops. They dig up the artifact, but a closed wood box comes out with it. They don't know what it is or does.
4
4
"Mannequins"
Adam Lawson
Adam Lawson
July6,2016(2016-07-06)
After Justine is dead, GloZell thinks Joey was faking about being sad. Oli takes the box they found with the artifact and smashes it, revealing a slip that says IDLE. They find a clock which has four hands, that they turn to the number the letters are in the alphabet, which it 9-4-12-5. It reveals a keyhole on the bookshelf in the library, and a photo of the staircase in the foyer. Tim sees a car outside, and asks Sierra to go see it with him. Joey feels around the staircase, and a piece of wood falls, which holds the key. They open a door, leading to the secret room, the room is full of mannequins, they notice Tim and Sierra are gone. Tim goes in a little window of the car and unlocks it, they check the glove compartment, and get a note that says 'Slow Down'. Tim finds a key by the brake, it opens the trunk that has a mannequin in it. The rest of the group find a not in the secret room, and says they need five mannequins, but there is only four. They find out the mannequins represent the family that Calvin murdered. Tim and Sierra come in with the mannequin, and complete the dinner for five. They receive a clue that says two must be voted to play 'perverse games' on the second floor for the artifact. The group votes and Joey and Lele are drawn. They go upstairs. They first have to play 'Spin the Bottle' with mannequins until they get a number from under the door. Then Lele has to have a 'Ménage à trois' with two mannequins. Joey has to do 'stuff' with a female mannequin. They get the code and enter it on a drawer, a book comes out, which is a murder journal. It says the next name you write, will die a horrible death. Lele wants Matt, but Joey wants GloZell. They write GloZell and she coughs up blood downstairs by the rest of the group, and dies. They get the artifact. Joey says not to tell them they killed GloZell. They go down stairs and Matt starts getting mad, and Lele says it was him or GloZell. Joey gets mad she told, then they hear roaring. Arthur says the house has released it's guardian.
5
5
"Freak Show"
Adam Lawson
Adam Lawson
July13,2016(2016-07-13)
Joey brings back a Circus ticket. They need to find the source of the orange smell, which Joey finds. There is a ticket box. They put the ticket in and get two clown masks. The Guardian arrives, and they must get to the safe zone in the backyard. They two people wearing the mask are invisible, and must trade every often. Eva and Sierra go first but don't find anything. Joey and Lele find a key in a birdbath, it is for the pool house. There is a chest with a chest inside of it, which is locked. The group solves the code, which involves mirrors. They get a music box and played it, The Ringmaster takes The Guardian to the Carnival. Inside is the artifact. They have to vote two in, which is Oli and Tim. The first challenge is hitter a sledgehammer on a bell ringer, Oli wins. The next is juggling, they both fail. Then it's tightrope walking, Tim wins. The Ring Leader says it's down to the audience's vote who dies. They are put in a dunk tank, The Ringmaster says it's full of piranhas. The Ring Leader puts them both down, but only to find out there are no piranhas. They get the artifact, and question what to do next, thus preparing us for the ritual next episode.
6
6
"Did Someone Call For An Exorcist?"
Adam Lawson
Adam Lawson
July20,2016(2016-07-20)
The guests have all four artifacts. Arthur gives them a sheet, and he says it's a ritual from Shane's jacket. They vote Sierra to do the center artifact; she has to wrap black coil around it seven times while Matt does the invocation, but the artifacts all fall. The ritual didn't work. Joey and Tim find a black box with a key plus a note. The note says the house is evil, and the note's author is trapped in the back basement. When they go to the basement, they find David Santos. He says the house gains its strength from its five former owners, and when they are freed the demon will be weak enough to banish. He says he lost his faith when he could not exorcise a girl, and they need to exorcise her to regain his faith and free him. The group needs a rosary and holy water for the exorcism. They go upstairs and split into two groups, in order to search the two different rooms. Eva, Joey, and Oli go into the guest room to get the rosary. Lele, Matt, Sierra, and Tim go to the window room to get the holy water. Joey and his group find a cabinet that says REVELATIONS on it. They find seven demon names around the room. They were RAUM, DANTALION, INCUBUS, FORNEUS, XAPHAN, BELIAL, and MOLOCH. On the cabinet are 13 Devils and 1 angel, which is a reference to the verse REVELATIONS 13:1 in the Bible. They turn to this verse, which gives them the code, and the cabinet opens. Now, they need to arrange the names in alphabetical order. They do this, and the rosary comes out. All this time, both groups are being scared by demons who know they're going to perform the exorcism. In the window room, they find normal water, and a note which says to look to Saint Peter and put the number of cups in the basin along with the dust of the tabernacle. They find the basin, and Lele sees Roman numerals on the painting of Saint Peter, along with plus and minus signs. They solve the equation, which gives them an answer of five. So, they put five cups of water in the basin, and find tabernacle dust in the envelope with the note and put it in the basin, and get the holy water. Both groups meet back downstairs. They find out they need to vote two people to exorcise the girl downstairs. Matt volunteers, as he feels knowledgeable in the subject of exorcisms. However, just before the group starts to vote, Matt says he made a mistake and doesn't want to volunteer, which angers the rest of the group, resulting in some of them voting for him. He ultimately gets drawn, along with Sierra. Sierra is scared as they go downstairs. Sierra has to say a prayer repeatedly while holding down the girl. If she lets go, she dies. Matt has to do three things, and then the last step will reveal itself to him. They go in and Sierra holds her down and starts praying. As Matt goes through the steps, which include placing candles into a star pattern on the floor, and drawing an alpha and omega symbol, things start falling down all around the room. He then is in a hurry and reads just the first few words from the last step, which says to pour the holy water over the girl, and then place the rosary onto Sierra. He does both these things, but when he places it on Sierra, she dies. He is confused and then reads it again. It says he could put it on Sierra, and she would die, or he could put it on himself, meaning he would die but Sierra would live. The girl gives him a cross. Matt goes back upstairs. The group is shocked that he killed Sierra, and go downstairs again. They give the cross to David, who is then freed, and start searching for the next owner.
7
7
"Mermaid Tails"
Adam Lawson
Adam Lawson
July27,2016(2016-07-27)
After Sierra's death, the group opens the book to find the next owner, which is a mermaid named Madison. It says the key to her room can only be opened by opening the world, they break two globes, but none have a key. They finally find the key in a little gold world. They go up stairs and open her room, inside she is chained up. They find out she is a former owner. She says they need to get her daughter's doll to free her. She tells them to weigh her husband's name in coins. Then retrieve the three bodies of her victims from the pool, which is guarded by her mermaid sisters, and that they need to play a song to lure them away. They go downstairs again, and try finding the coins. They find a locked safe, they use the spirit board, which says FLOOR. Eva finds a vent on the floor that opens, and finds the coins, Tim finds out that you put the names of her victims by counting that many coins in how many letters are in their name on a scale, and the weight is the code. They get the song to lure the mermaids, the put a record player and put it in the pool house and start it. The mermaids come out of the pool and go to the pool house, the group locks them inside. They run to the pool, and Lele and Joey go into the pool and get the three bodies, there is also a chest that they pull up. They have to find something with the transformation of the moon's phases. They find turtle statues surrounding the pool with moon phases on them, the count them and get the code. Matt isn't helping since the exorcism, and everyone is mad at him for not helping. Inside the safe is a rock tablet that says two guest must be chosen to do a challenge on the third floor in the doll room, which will haunt them forever. The two guest chosen are Matt and Tim, they go into the room and there is a doll house on each side of the room, and tons of dolls around the room. They have to take a drink to know more, they each take a sip, and a note comes under the door. It says they've been poisoned and they will get three nursery rhymes they have to copy with the doll that fits the description, and they do it in their dollhouse. If they get it wrong, they will get more poison, if they get it right, they will get the antidote. They both get done, and a vial of liquid comes out of each of their drawers and Matt says he is 100 percent sure he's won, and he takes a sip of the vial he receives; the vial turns out to be poison, which ends Matt's life. Tim receives a note that neither of them had the antidote and that is was on the back of the drawer. Tim gets the doll, goes downstairs, and the others are happy Matt is finally dead. Madison is given the doll, set free, and the remaining 5 can now find the other owners. The episode ends with Tim asking who the next owner is.
8
8
"All Out War"
Adam Lawson
Adam Lawson
August3,2016(2016-08-03)
The episode starts with the group of five, they all find out about this soldier who's obsessed with his gold. They receive one bar of gold, and they head upstairs, running into Collin, the soldier they read about. They hesitantly give him the block of gold, and he remarks he'll help them. Both Eva and Lele are attracted to him, not expecting that he would be some old dude. Collin told them they had to go, because they were in a war zone. Collin had his gun and started aiming out into the backyard, while the other five huddle around the radio. They hear instructions and information, and slowly head out into the backyard. There was a building and Collin gives Eva a grenade, and tells her to throw it into the window. Once Eva knows what to do, he pulls the trigger, and she bolts, scared it'll blow up in her face, and throws it into the building, with it exploding and leaving the outside intact. All of them head over and get the briefcase they needed, and being the annoying person Collin is, he starts smoking. Joey starts to investigate the case, and tries to burn it with Collin's lighter. But they find the code on the box and unlock the box. They find the key for the box of gold, and they have to go into a challenge. Joey and Oli are forced to go into a room together whilst the others all grab guns to shoot attacking German Zombies. After completing the task they manage to get what they need and go outside to meet with the others. They discover that they need to vote two people into a challenge. All of them go into their little groups, and Lele joins Tim and Joey, while Oli strays to Eva. Oli tells Eva that Joey's planning on voting her in, both feeling suspicious of Joey agree to make an alliance. Once they all vote, Eva and Tim's name were called. They went into the East Side Guest House and they sat down across from each other. They hear the instructions from the radio once more about the challenge, and its a combination of Battleship and Russian Roulette. They set up their troops in their own strategic way, and every time either one of them hit, they'd have to risk shooting themselves in the head. They start up and Eva guesses correctly but the gun doesn't go off. They continue and Tim gets angry at Eva because he believes she is cheating, however he guesses correctly and Eva is forced to shoot herself. The gun doesn't go off, but Tim feels responsible and says he would rather kill himself then watch Eva do it. Eva guesses correctly once more and covers her eyes in sadness, Tim takes a deep breath and fires the gun. It goes off and instantly kills him. Eva screams before starting to cry and refuses to look at his body because she feels responsible, she grabs the case with all the gold, and runs outside, dropping it and the key on the ground. She tells Collin off, asking "Was it worth it???" and Collin replying "Yes" in a hypnotized tone. As Collin vanishes, Eva says she no longer even likes him because nothing is worth the death of her friends. Eva walks back to the estate, and they all meet up again. They all start discussing about the next and penultimate owner.
9
9
"Wicked Hallucinations"
Adam Lawson
Adam Lawson
August10,2016(2016-08-10)
In a sanatorium, a psychologist is using a Rorschach test to see how the mind of his patient is faring. As the patient talks about disturbing visions, he is shocked as a form of "learning". The testing continues on, with the patient getting shocked more and more as he describes his visions at length. His doctor does not believe in the hallucinations, and the patient, Vincent, slips the bonds of his chair, grabbing a scalpel and attacking the doctor where he sat, eventually making his way back to the Manor. After placing the memento of Collin, the gold bar, on the mantle, the Guests look in the Priest's notebook for the next owner, who was Vincent, with the clue being that he could be found in the attic, a floor that they have not explored yet. Hesitating slightly, the Guests entered his room, finding Vincent inside, bound in a straitjacket. He told the Guests that to free him from the house, they needed to face three of his hallucinations, and he gave them a map to the Manor grounds, the map showing them the three locations that they had to go through. The map led them to the Greenhouse, where they had to sift through the potted plants in order to recover body parts to create a "Plant Man", all the while a zombie was reaching through the holes in the greenhouse walls to scare them. Once the monster was created, it easily dispatched the zombie, and the Guests claimed the first key. They were then directed to a circle of stones, where a masked swords woman stood, with masks hanging from the rocks around her. The Guests had to find five masks that fit the riddle that was read on the inside of the mask, but if they got one wrong, they were forcibly removed from the hallucination and had to wait for the others to return to the real world. They missed on the first mask, but had a second chance in exchange for the burlap sack that hid Oli's face. They got the next three right before picking another wrong mask, and Oli was forcibly removed from the hallucination. The remaining members found the next to last mask before realizing that the final mask was on the swords woman. They removed her mask, and all that she had were eyes: her ears, nose, and mouth were gone, she then slices Lele in half and forcibly removed her from the hallucination. Having been unmasked, the swordsmen chased the group from her grotto and back to the house, where Oli rejoined them. They then found the last clue, which brought the party back down to the basement for Vincent's most deadly hallucination. Each party guest put their own name into the hat to discourage any hard feelings, with Lele and Oli being chosen; Joey teamed with Lele while Eva teamed with Oli. They were brought down to the doctor's electroshock chamber, where two "learning" chairs were set up. Lele and Oli sat in the chairs while Joey and Eva tried to toss metal rings into the posts in front of the chairs. Every miss shocked the occupants of the chairs, and if one team did not complete before the time limit of a half hour, both Lele and Oli would die due to the short circuiting of the chairs. It was a hard fought duel, but in the end, Eva and Oli won, Lele's chair overloading and killing her. The three remaining Guests brought the keys back to Vincent, unlocking the straightjacket and freeing him, not before Vincent called out Arthur, the chief of staff at the Manor. Vincent turned to Joey and said that he warned the group, which leads back to a flashback from Ungodly Machine, and Vincent's note. Arthur is in league with the evil, and as the episode closes, the Guests are running for their lives.
10
10
"Betrayal At The House On The Hill"
Adam Lawson
Adam Lawson
August17,2016(2016-08-17)
Arthur narrates his flashback with his wife, explaining that he is a confidence man, his current mark being his wealthy socialite wife. He is pouring tea, and he secretly poisons hers, serving her the deadly draught as he smiles and wishes her a happy anniversary with a toast. With one sip, she cries out in pain, succumbing to the laced tea as Arthur pulls off his wedding band, flipping it onto her corpse. He walked over to the window of their bedroom, contemplating his next job, when he receives a call from someone (presumably the Demon controlling the Mansion). He arrives at the mansion, intent on not only owning the cursed residence, but controlling the evil within. The surviving Guests were captured by the house staff, terrified as to what has befallen them in the past 9 hours, as Arthur finally unveils his grand scheme: he needed the artifacts, as well as the previous owners gone, in order to control the house. As he gloated, he dropped the diagram for the true ritual, the one that the guests performed during 'Did Someone Call For An Exorcist?' being the wrong one. The staff then proceeded to chloroform the guests, and place them in the Torture Room, which was hidden inside the Butler's Chambers. Joey was the first to wake up from his drugged condition, followed by Eva and Oli. Joey was the first to notice an ornate wood box next to him, as well as a 'V' shaped poker, but the key did not fit the lock on his box. Oli tried using Joey's key on his chest, then passed the poker to Eva, who was able to open her chest and start to free herself from her chains, all the while being shouted at by a man who has clearly gone insane shouted nonsense at them. Once they were all freed, they opened one last lockbox, which contained a note, presumed to be from Arthur, as well as his pocket watch. The note stated that by sunrise at 6:00, if they did not leave the house, the serum that was injected with would make them complacent and turn them into servants in the house. They escape into the Butler's Chambers, which contained not only the key to escape the room, but also Arthur's police file and the first clue to the last puzzle. Taking the clue to the first step of the puzzle, as well as the diagram to the ritual, Joey led the way out to the Manor grounds, their escape triggering an alarm that alerted Arthur and his accomplices. Arthur, Marvin, and Sarah split up to chase the guests: Sarah patrolled the house, Marvin guarded the sides of the house, while Arthur guarded the back. The guests had to remain out of sight to stay safe, because if they were caught, they were dead. They made their way to the pool to look for the next clue to their puzzle, but Oli remembered where another reflecting pool was: the fountain at the front of the house. The Guests evaded Arthur and Marvin to not only secure the chest hidden in the fountain, but also three diamonds, which fit in the chest. When they opened the chest, they received two rubies, and the clue told them to look for a winged guardian protecting the second floor of the house that overlooked the front yard. After discussing briefly, they knew they had to get up to the second floor and to the gargoyle, avoiding Sarah in the process. After a few miscommunication errors and several harrowing escapes, they got to the gargoyle and inserted the rubies into his "eyes", unlocking the box for their next clue, and the emerald for the offering. They were directed to walk up a "spiral of pain" in order to feed a demon who "bathed in a pool of blood". Deducing they had to get to the spiral staircase in the back of the house, the Guests once again evaded capture, though Eva was nearly caught, but they retrieved the key to the brother's cell, returning to the wine cellar to free him. Arthur's brother was hungry for revenge, as he was the final owner of the house to be freed, and went on a killing spree to free the Guests of the horrific game Arthur forced them to play. Sarah was the first to fall by his hook, followed by Marvin in gruesome fashion. Arthur was able to wound his brother, but ultimately fell as well. With revenge done, Arthur's brother scared the guests back into the house to perform the ritual and finally escape the nightmare. As Eva and Oli grabbed the artifacts and the sand, Joey spotted the deed to the Manor, pocketing it so the house would not fall into the wrong hands. They quickly drew the circle, Joey in the center to bind the fourth artifact, Oli reading the spell. The ritual was a success, banishing the evil, but the Guests had to move quickly, as they only had 5 minutes to bury the artifacts and leave. With their objectives finally complete, the surviving Guests departed the house. Eva and Oli reflect back on all their friends who died and narrate over the top of flashbacks to all of their deaths, they talk about how nobody will understand and how nothing will be the same for them. As they exited, Joey seemed to have some sort of crack within his face and his eyes becoming black, then his face and eyes going back to normal, before finally walking off.
Reception
Critical response
On review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, Escape the Night Season 1 has a Tomatometer of 71%, based on 1 critic review. In his review, Andy Dehnart of Reality Blurred described the show as “lighthearted” and “campy,” noting that while it’s still finding its footing, it shows a lot of promise and could be seen as a worthy successor to Whodunnit.[17]
On Common Sense Media, critic Emily Ashby gave a more mixed evaluation. She called the series a “mediocre pseudo-reality horror” that leans heavily on YouTube personalities, and argued that while the ensemble cast and 1920s mansion setup provide some suspense, the plot feels formulaic and overacted. She also noted that the violence is fairly mild (albeit cinematic), and that there is “very little” in the way of positive role models, though some teamwork and intrigue emerge as strengths.[18]
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