The Tension Experience Rating
The Tension Experience Review : Ascension 2016
We have include a synopsis below. If you plan on going to the Tension Experience we strongly advice you DO NOT read the Synopsis.
A day later we received more emails stating that the father has gone missing. Then we received over 80 pages of Addison’s diary. Someone had painstakingly photographed each page. A lot of the pages are torn out and some are just scribbles.
The diary is about Addison coming to Los Angeles to become a famous actress. We learn about her struggles and how she eventually gets caught up in the OOA cult. That is all we are told before we show up at a sketchy parking lot in Boyle Heights.
We hung around waiting for others to arrive, making sure to leave all our valuables in the car. We also had worn our grandma underpants since the email said we would be getting undressed (they send an email out before hand that has all the rules).
As we waited a black Van screeched up in the alley beside us. We were herded into the Van and black hoods placed on our heads. One at a time we were pulled out of the Van. We had arrived at the OOA and it was time to join a cult.
The actual signing up for the cult was peaceful. Older cult members took our photos and we filled out an information sheet. We moved into a comfortable old room where we had punch and pretzels. This is the time to explore and look through the books around.
People began disappearing from our group and soon we moved further into the building. They had us strip out of our clothing and put on white semi-transparent jumpsuits (so get ready to strip to your underwear in front of people because there is no privacy!).
Then we moved into a fully white room for placement. They asked each participant different bizarre, personal questions. We continued moving from room to room like this. Moving deeper and deeper into the cult. It was difficult to know how much time we had spent in each room. Sometimes we were alone, and at other times we were with the entire group.
Finally, we learned that the OOA cult worships the god Anoch. To become one with him, a person must lose all their senses. They blindfolded us to take away sight. They forced us to drink vinegar to take away our taste. We had to inhale smelling salts to take away our smell. Our hands were dunked in hot wax to take away feeling. Finally, headphones were put in our ears to take away hearing.
It was a very surreal experience to have your senses taken away. Time became arbitrary and you have to completely let go. We were pushed blindly through some large space. Then the headphones and eye covering was removed. We were ready for the final initiation.
We watched as 2 members of our group were dragged onto the stage. The cult members strapped them down to chairs. Then in front of us, they started cutting out the eyes, ears, and tongue of one of the people from our group.
We panicked and rose to our feet, wondering what was happening. Had this all been real? There was chaos in the room and one of the security guards pulled a gun on us. We fled the room, leaving the two members of our group on the stage.
It was a very intense experience, one not easily forgotten. We found out that the girl who was killed had actually been an actress for the Tension experience. Our group never suspected and thing, and it really helped the experience.
The Tension Experience: The Good
The Acting
We can’t stress enough how amazing the acting is with this show. The cast is actually an older crowd. There are a few young beautiful girls mixed in. We have done quite a few immersive theater experiences and the Tension actors were some of the best.
The Vibe
We expected nothing less from the director of Saw. There isn’t a lot of blood in the Tension experience. There is a lot of legitimate fear and horror. We felt real psychological fear at some parts of the event. The world that they create is very real and very believable.
A Unique Experience
We are glad to see someone taking a different approach to horror. So many horror events focus on how gruesome and bloody they can make the event. Tension doesn’t need blood and gore to elicit true horror. They use legitimate cult-like experiences to give real scares.
The Mystery
We loved the backstory with Addison Barrow and the cult. We stayed up late the night before reading her journal. The Tension experience does a great job setting the stage. We arrived excited and already immersed.
The bad parts of the Tension Experience
The Audience.
Our biggest complaint doesn’t have anything to do with the experience itself. We were pretty upset with a few of the participants in our group. Around 10 people go through the experience at once, so you are put with strangers to fill the numbers.
We happened to be with some event goers who decided to mock and laugh at the actors. They felt a need to focus the attention on themselves instead of the experience around them. The actors did their best to carry on, but some points it ruined the ambiance. Why anyone would pay $120 for a ticket, only to be rude and obnoxious to the actors is beyond us.
We recommend Tension find a way to pull those people away or keep them quiet. It is a waste to make such a great experience, only to have it ruined by obnoxious event goers.
The Story.
This was our only other tiny complaint. There was a great build-up with the character Addison Barrow, but we felt like the narrative was lost as the night progressed. It didn’t stop us from having a great time, but the story didn’t seem to be important once we arrived.
The Tension experience review Summary
We loved the Tension Experience. They do a phenomenal job creating a mental labyrinth of fear and terror. Even better, their actors were some of the best we have ever experience. The Tension experience comes with a hefty price tag, but we think it was most definitely worth it.
I would recommend exploring the forums (like one of the initial emails suggested) to get a bit more insight in the story. It was actually part of an amazing ARG. Did you see the girl in red? That was “Addison Barrow”.