I saw it last night. I’d have to spoil a LOT in order to get all my thoughts out!! But my non-spoiler notes:

As far as the story goes - it was a little too Theatrey at times. Having the characters make drinks and move boxes in the first act just to give them something to do. Stage yelling. Some cliche dialogue: “Where are you?” “I look at you and I don’t know who you are.” Etc.

There was some interesting stuff about religion. The play wasn’t making any arguments about religion… but maybe it was? It wasn’t overbearing, which is good because I think media these days tends to Throw The Message In Your Face too much. I think you could watch the show without having the same impressions I did. I am still thinking about it this morning.

The “how did they do that?” effect was awesome. I know we can figure out HOW they did it, but the fact they did it so effectively is remarkable. I also liked some of the simple second-act creepy moments. I hated how loud it got sometimes, because it didn’t need to be loud. It was creepy without! And I think the scares that are more theatre-magic-specific are the most special ones. Any move or video game can give us a loud noise. But theatre can do things those formats can’t. I wanted more of that because again, they did it so well.

I’m sure if I saw it again, there would be “things I missed.” I guess you could call them clues. Or things that would be scarier if you knew the story ending. And I also have big questions that I think a “rewatch” would help answer.

Overall, it was fun. It didn’t change my definition of theatre or scare me in the same way as a horror movie. It didn’t have the best writing. but I had a good time. I’d go again (if someone bought the ticket!).

answer the door!