Black Market Escape Room’s “Murder Co.” – Jon Cooke on Designing Your Own Death

In the past four years, the escape room industry in Los Angeles has vastly expanded; new rooms and challenges are opening seemingly overnight, with no signs of slowing. As such, it’s becoming more difficult to find new frontiers in the popular genre. Enter Black Market Escape Rooms, a new escape room company that bills itself as “R-rated.” Haunting had the pleasure to speak with creator Jon Cooke (formerly a Knott’s Scary Farm maze designer) about the genesis of his first project, Murder Co, to hear what puts Black Market ahead of the pack.

Haunted Origins

Cooke, as one of the founders of Black Market, is uniquely qualified for this kind of work. “I had some buddies working Knott’s Scary Farm and I thought it would be a cool job for the month … I never left. I have since worked as a carpenter, set dresser, props fabricator, and for the last five years I was a full-time attraction designer for the park specializing in haunted attractions,” he says. “A few years back, I was tasked to create all of the key rooms, which were two-minute mini standalone attractions offered to front-of-the-line pass holders only, and that was my first real taste of designing interactive immersive experiences.” 

Now bitten by the immersive bug, Cooke began planning to use his skills to start this new venture. “I have a hard time sitting still in life. I’m always looking for what’s next, and I felt I had slammed pretty hard into the glass ceiling at Knott’s. It was time for the next step, which in my case would be to go out on my own as an attraction designer. So I formed Plague Productions, where I will be sub-contracting design work and consulting for events like Knott’s Scary Farm. Because I am a psychopath workaholic, I also decided to take on the venture of opening an escape room business. I feel the escape room business offers me the chance to create great attractions at a fraction of the startup costs of a full-blown haunt experience … That will come later.”

Murder for a Price

Located in Upland, CA, Murder Co promises to be just the first in a series of extreme escapes Cooke and his new team are putting together. Guests will sign up to “witness a live murder that will take place in front of them.” Additionally, according to Cooke, players will “customize the kill by selecting their ‘artist,’ or Murder Co-employed serial killer, of their choice. Guests will then have the ability to communicate with the artist to design how the murder is executed.”   Cooke continues: “Each Artist has their own distinct backstory that not only gives the killer their own personality but will actually change aspects of the experience.

As Murder Co intends to be a permanent installment, Cooke hopes to continuously expand “artist” choices for his guests. Cooke elaborates: “We are currently opening the show with “The Juggernaut:” a WW2 inspired scientist, “Oblivion:” a war torn masked murderer, “Sideshow:” a chainsaw wielding clown, and “The Maneater:” a Drag Queen from Hell. We will be not only introducing more characters as time goes on but we will also be hosting seasonal characters, which should be a lot of fun. Not only can you return and select a different artist for a new spin on the attraction but we will also be offering return guests the opportunity to join the other side of Murder Co and have a little fun with their unsuspecting friends.”  Rarely are escape experiences repeatable and adaptable in such a way; this only adds to the innovative and fresh perspective Black Mark Escape Rooms is bringing to the table.  Murder Co promises to be an ever-evolving experience, distinctly designed to appeal to the braver souls within the haunt/immersive community.

Serial killer choices aside, potential guests may wonder at what point their own “escape” begins. Cooke cryptically responds: “visitors will have to wait and see for themselves.” As far as the “R-Rated Escape Room” claim, he says “I feel the overall content, graphic language, and extreme violence all work together to push this beyond an average ‘horror’–themed escape room.” Thus, the mature rating appears to be firm and foremost in the minds of Black Market Escape Rooms; this is far from family-friendly entertainment.

While Cooke has received a bit of flak for these bold choices in his first outing, he is unfazed: “A lot of people in the escape room world have warned me about being ‘too scary’ because it reduces the potential audience. I’m here to create scary, dark, horrific experiences; that’s what I live for. So yes, I very much enjoy catering to the more adventurous, thrill-seeking audience. Stepping outside of the theme park world, my parameters of what’s acceptable have greatly expanded, and we are taking full advantage of it.”

Influences and Themes

Regarding influential predecessors, Cooke says: “I don’t think there is any one influence that inspired us more than another. Of course, movies like Saw, The Purge, Hostel, etc. will resonate throughout the attraction, but more so the theme is just something we felt we could pull off well with our self-funded, limited budget. The more we dove into writing the story, the more we knew we had an exciting attraction on our hands, and we were destined to bring this to life.” 

Though there may be some themes that are reminiscent of horror films past, Cooke emphasizes that the players themselves are responsible for the course of their own narrative. “This is 100% a narrative- and actor-driven experience. Guests will be asked to complete tasks and could potentially fail the experience, but we have created a world and a story that you will be immersed into. Although I do enjoy escape rooms, I’m not a big fan of when the critical thinking outweighs the fun and excitement, so our puzzles are more physical and task-based.” 

You, as a player, are truly a character in this universe; unlike so many other escape rooms, guests are “the only thing that can progress the story,” according to Cooke. Though guests will not be electrocuted, forced to eat anything, or overtly manhandled by performers, the pressure to move the narrative only adds to the tense nature of this experience and elevates Murder Co far, far beyond the simple “escape room” definition.

Hopes for a Deliberately Dark Future

Cooke hopes that Murder Co is just the first of many intense, thrilling horror experiences he’ll be able to provide with Black Market Escape Rooms, but just because his plans are so lofty doesn’t mean he doesn’t have simple, fundamental goals for his business. Cooke is as earnest and eager to produce as any immersive/escape room creator working today. More than anything, he wants to entertain his audience, to provide, for lack of a better work, an escape. He says, “I want people to have a good time with their friends and family. I think haunted attractions of all kinds offer an escape from life’s daily woes, and there is nothing more gratifying to me than to watch people laugh, scream, and enjoy our giant weird art projects.” We can confidently say that he’ll have plenty of screams ahead of him.

Black Market Escape Rooms’ Murder Co is booking now, for guests 18 and older.  You can buy tickets here. For more information you can visit Black Market on their website, on Facebook, or on Instagram.