Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Escape The Undertaker’ on Netflix, An Interactive Halloween Movie Featuring The WWE’s Creepiest Legend

Halloween is coming, and who doesn’t love a haunted house this time of year? Well, if you’re not ready to venture out to a real haunted house, Netflix has you covered with Escape The Undertaker, a short interactive movie special featuring the black-clad WWE legend protecting his mythical urn as fellow wrestling stars The New Day attempt to steal it. You’ll decide what twists and turns they take, and your choices could lead to success… or soul-stealing failure.

ESCAPE THE UNDERTAKER: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: The premise of this special, a rare collaboration between Netflix and the WWE, is simple—if a bit ludicrous. The Undertaker, master of the macabre, derives much of his power from an urn that’s kept under lock and key in his haunted mansion. The New Day, a three-man tag team that represents a new generation in the sport, wants that power, so they’re venturing into the Taker’s lair in order to gain it for themselves. Using Netflix’s interactive technology, you guide the trio as they try to escape with the urn and their souls.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Netflix has had a few forays into user-guided choose-your-own-adventure experiences before, from Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs. The Reverend to Black Mirror:Bandersnatch, but more than anything, this’ll remind you of a WWE promo, because that’s really all it is.

Performance Worth Watching: The titular star of the show is the Undertaker, who mostly looms as an off-screen presence, but what charm this special does offer comes from the enthusiastic-if-wooden performances of the New Day trio of Big E, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods.

Memorable Dialogue: “What? Who has a morgue in his house??” “Well, it is the Undertaker…”

Sex and Skin: None; despite the supposedly-scary imagery, this is distinctly family-friendly programming.

Our Take: For more than 30 years before his retirement from the ring last year, Mark William Calaway—better known to generations of wrestling fans as The Undertaker, loomed large as one of professional wrestling’s biggest personalities, both from his massive, 6’-10” stature, and his well-honed persona as a master of the supernatural. He won multiple WWE titles, held a 21-year undefeated streak at WrestleMania, and outlasted many of the biggest personalities of multiple eras in the sport. Rarely, though, has he appeared in a program like this—a strange mix between wrestling and family-friendly Halloween content that’s about as scary as an intro segment on The Bachelor.

The Undertaker’s foil for this special is the trio of Kofi Kingston, Big E and Xavier Woods, better known to fans as The New Day, a tag team that’s been a mainstay in WWE programming since their debut in 2014. They’re sunny, enthusiastic, boisterous and brash—a sharp contrast to the sullen, brooding and growling presence of the Undertaker character. They’ve decided to up their game, you’re told, by taking the urn that’s said to be the source of the big man’s power. As the viewer, you’re led through a series of binary choices—”search the basement” vs. “search upstairs”, or “split up” vs. “stay together”—and only one series of choices will see you successfully escaping the madman’s house with your soul intact.

Netflix’s interactive programming has seen some successes—the Kimmy Schmidt special last year was a delight, and Bandersnatch made for an interesting spin on the Black Mirror formula. But it’s hard to see who exactly this special is geared at, save for perhaps a small window of children young enough to find the mild, not-at-all-gory-or-intense theatrics scary, but somehow also old enough to appreciate a special framed around a megastar well past his heyday. The cinematography makes it feel like an episode of a reality show, and the acting isn’t terribly convincing. A single linear run through the special only lasts about 30 minutes, and though it can take several hours if you keep having to back up and try different choices, if you beat it on the first try—as I happened to do—there’s not much incentive as a viewer to back up and see anything more. Frankly, I was just glad to be through it.

Hardcore wrestling fans won’t find anything here that they haven’t seen in countless promos before, and non-wrestling fans are unlikely to find any reason to change their stance. If you’re looking for horror, this is about as scary as the previews for Muppets Haunted Mansion look to be.

Our Call: SKIP IT. If you’ve got a wrestling-obsessed tween in the house, they might find the very-gentle horror on display here to be compelling Halloween-season entertainment. For pretty much anyone else, though, it’s a forgettable experience and not worth venturing through the mansion’s doors.

Scott Hines is an architect, blogger and internet user who lives in Louisville, Kentucky with his wife, two young children, and a small, loud dog.