I can now cross off “attended and successfully assisted an exorcism” off my bucket list. Well, maybe it wasn’t a real one, but hey, who cares, right?

Team HorrorBuzz (with some friends from Nightmarish Conjurings) got to check out a preview of the brand-new The Exorcist themed escape room at Escape Hotel this past weekend. Based on the FOX television show of the same name (and not the classic film), the room was a 20-minute peek at what they promise to be a 90-minute experience when it opens in a few weeks.

While we have yet to see the show itself, the room was tons of fun.

The room was located in the basement of the venue, as our host, Scary Gary, led us down a winding staircase into the bowels of the building, and straight into a church. Standing in front of the pews was a priest, who encouraged us to watch a brief video introduction from the stars of the show before we all took a seat before him.

“We need to help this girl,” he pleaded to us. “You have 20 minutes to find the clues, and find her. This letter is your first clue,” he said as he handed me an envelope. And with that, the clock started, and we were off.

The room itself was pretty amazingly themed, much like the rest of what Escape Hotel has to offer. Lots of highly themed decorations, and nooks & crannies to explore. In addition, they made great use of video projection and special effects, with church windows breaking away as we got closer to our goal, and the room’s floor shaking as the power of the demon tried to through us off.

Also, I lied when I said “room.” There were actually six of them.

Let that sink in for a second; the entire experience played out across many different rooms; the church, the priest’s office, the attic, an artifact room, a strange hidden hallway, and a bedroom. ALL of them were incredible, and really help draw us into the world itself. Again, each was highly detailed and looked great. There was even an actress hidden in one of them, scaring the hell out of me, and adding more to the game.

We blew through the puzzles quickly, bringing us into the bedroom of a young possessed girl, and while we helped the priest with the exorcism ritual, the photos on the world began to move, the cross turned upside down, and the girl’s body began to rise from the bed. It was pretty damn cool.

Overall, we got through it all in about 10 minutes. While it wasn’t overly complicated, again, this was a small taste of what was to come. We were told that out of all of the puzzles we experienced, about 90% of them will change for the room’s final form.

In all, it was a fun experience for us, and we thoroughly enjoyed this sneak peek. Kudos to FOX for thinking outside the box with their marketing on this one, and trying something new. And kudos to Escape Hotel for designing such a fun room.

Be sure to watch The Exorcist Friday nights on FOX, and to visit Escape Hotel’s website for more information on when the room itself opens.

NOTE: We were encouraged to take photos during the experience, hence the photos of us in action.