Escape the Night: The Lost Tapes is a three-episode miniseries created by Joey Graceffa and released exclusively on Tubi. A sequel to the YouTube Premium original series Escape the Night, it was presented as a "grand finale" to the franchise.

Picking up years after Graceffa's Savant vanished into Pandora's Box at the end of the fourth season, the miniseries finds him marooned inside the box, in a limbo resembling a 1980s video rental store. Five friends — four series veterans and newcomer Jojo Siwa — are pulled in after one of them receives a package containing a VHS tape, arriving in 1980s costume. There they discover a shelf of cursed VHS tapes, each of which, when played, unleashes the horror recorded on it. The miniseries ends with Graceffa's fate unresolved; Graceffa has said the ending was deliberately left open to interpretation.

Format Unlike the parent series' season-long artifact quests, The Lost Tapes is built around the cursed tapes themselves: each of the three episodes takes its title and its threat from one videotape — Silent Night, Red Mask, and Space Parasite — whose playback releases that tape's horror. The guests must survive each unleashed horror, working through its rules and puzzles to recover the next tape, while searching for a way out of Pandora's Box.

The competitive structure is correspondingly compressed. Only the second episode uses the series' traditional vote and death challenge, with guests voting by card; the first and third episodes instead stake lives on group survival challenges in which being captured twice, or falling behind the group, is fatal. The storyline was scripted, while the challenges were played live and unscripted. Graceffa has said that the miniseries was planned from the outset with no intended survivors.

Production On November 2, 2023, Graceffa launched an Indiegogo campaign seeking $250,000 to fund a film continuation of the series. The campaign fell short of the amount needed for a film. Graceffa later said that the production had hoped to raise a million dollars to make a movie, but that the campaign raised about $130,000, enough to fund a single episode; the footage captured was then expanded into three parts.

In September 2024, Graceffa said that the production had experienced setbacks, including the departure of the original director due to personal circumstances. He also said that the project faced a financial deadline, as funds raised through Indiegogo had to be used by the end of 2024 or a significant portion would be lost for tax reasons. Graceffa later said that Adam Lawson, the series' usual writer and director, left the project about five months before filming, and that the production was filmed unscripted, like the earlier seasons.

Production took place at Willow Studios in Los Angeles, California, using the facility's basement level, which includes several pre-built environments commonly used for horror and thriller productions, such as a jail area, mechanic room, hallways, and meat lockers. During development, Graceffa asked viewers whether the project should be released as a single film or divided into three parts. It was ultimately released on Tubi as a three-part miniseries under the title Escape the Night: The Lost Tapes.

Guests

+ Guests of Escape the Night: The Lost Tapes Guest Persona Status Cause of Death Joey Graceffa The Savant rowspan=3 Manny MUASeason 3 The Jock Nikita DragunSeason 3 The Glam Rocker Rosanna PansinoSeason 3 & Season 4 The Fitness Instructor Dead(Episode 3) Torn open by an alien creature bursting from her abdomen Jojo Siwa The Burnout Dead(Episode 2) Killed by the cult of the Cursed God Tana MongeauSeason 2 & Season 4 The Prom Queen Dead(Episode 1) Sliced in half by the Minotaur's chainsaw

Guest history Legend:

+ Episode 1 Episode 2 Episode 3 VotedPlayers (None) JojoManny (None) ChallengeWinner(s) Manny Eliminated Tana Jojo Rosanna (None) Joey Safe Jojo Safe Manny Safe Safe Nikita Safe Manny Safe Rosanna Safe Manny Dead Jojo Safe Nikita Tana Dead

Challenges + Episode Guest(s) Challenge Eliminated Cause of Death 1 Everyone The guests had to recover three gems stolen by goblins and unlock a chest by passing three tests while evading the Minotaur; any guest captured twice would be killed. Tana Mongeau Sliced in half by the Minotaur's chainsaw. 2 Jojo Siwa vs. Manny MUA To obtain the next tape, the two had to infiltrate a cult of the Cursed God by completing its three initiation tasks: performing a sacred chant to awaken the Cursed God, drinking from a chalice of blood, and enduring a trial of balance. Jojo Siwa Killed by the cult after failing the final task. 3 Everyone Infested with alien parasites, the guests had to mix and drink an antidote; drinking it removed their protection, and the guest left behind as the group fled was seized by an invisible force. Rosanna Pansino Pulled backward by an invisible force and torn open as an alien creature burst from her abdomen.

Episodes

Notes

See also Murder in Small Town X The Murder Game Whodunnit? The Quest

References