ALONE: An Existential Haunting

Only two stars because I had to buy a new pair of underwear afterwards. So I guess you could say it did its job my scaring the s**t out of me.

Acheland Review
Before the Experience: The Puzzles
Last year the puzzles that were planted before Absorption were a small challenge and if you did them correctly you had the opportunity to see something extra in the Absorption experience. The puzzles this time however were kinda abstract, requiring Alone to actually give hints on how to solve them. The final answer was a real reach and required me to actually verify my answer through Alone. In the end you get a soundtrack that didn’t seem to contain anything like a code/​key. To add in advance here: In Acheland facility I didn’t see anything that looked like a possible extra room/​easter egg. So the puzzles itself were disappointing because they didn’t connect with Acheland.
Alone Inc. Acheland: Cost
$ 90. That is a huge jump from Absorption. I still bought it because, well, I had this notion that the price would equate to an even more awesome experience, more on this later. Plus Absorption was pretty amazing!
Ticket purchase to the Experience: The Plot Development
Before you do the actual event there were things that did occur that built up a plot. I won’t give it away too much but I was friended by a **mysterious person** who gave me rather interesting information on how Alone Inc. evolved and how my involvement will breakup Alone Inc. rather nefarious practices. I really liked this as it was an extra element I wasn’t expecting and it created some cool buildup before my «test date». The downside however is that other people actually got physical MAIL with articles about Alone Inc. I don’t feel like I personally missed any important information but I kinda felt a bit left out. I’m a special triangle too damnit.
The Experience: Arrival & **Mysterious Friend**
I can’t really fault Alone Inc. for this one because I was told a day or so before hand by e-​mail to wait outside an address and I was 10 minutes early. I could see in advance what was going to happen. Not too much was given away but it did take away the suspense of who I was going to encounter. Oh well, not much Alone can do to control that and in their defense they did say in their e-​mail not to come a minute before or late of my allotted time. So when it came time the **mysterious friend** came out for me and we had a bit of a chat in a rather loud bar. Meeting her was kinda cool and it grounded some plot points about Alone Inc and my purpose in this story. Our meeting was brief and she had me wait outside again.
The Experience: Another mysterious person
So just as my **Mysterious Friend** leaves, another person arrives and directs me to meet some guy in a car located a few blocks down (which winded up 9^th and Los Angeles – not exactly the nicest place to walk at night). When I arrived there was sure enough a person in a car but he was interacting with another patron so I once again kinda got a spoiler on what will happen. I turned my back as not to be super awkward but I saw enough. Unfortunate timing, for sure.
The Experience: Car time and off to Cakeland!
So it’s my turn to go into the car to sign a waiver. Then the guy proceeded to explain that he works for Alone and their role in the world. Then it was blindfolding time. There I was escorted out of his car by another person who escorted me to the actual Alone Inc. «testing facility» (AKA: Think Tank Gallery where Cakeland is at the time of writing this review).
The Experience: Inside the «Testing Facility»
Once inside the facility it was like last time: mostly dark, loud and creepy music, and various obstacles/​people to encounter. In contrast to Index of Absorption, the folks that I did encounter at Acheland were not terribly aggressive (at Absorption there were moments where I was grabbed/​yanked) which is fine. In stark contrast of Absorption, Acheland was mostly slowly walking/​being slowly escorted into the next room. The intensity of Acheland was far less than Absorption simply because of the lighting/​interaction of people/​mood of the environment. I guess their artistic direction was different than what I expected, based on what I know about my role as a «test subject». There were far less rooms to experience and absolutely no room to explore or really interact much with items. With Absorption you ran into other patrons, danced with them, threw stuff at walls, explored various rooms in a hall. On the upshot, the guy in the fire room was f*cking amazing as always. Acheland was much more linear and seemed rather dull. And no unicorn! Once I was done I was told, «you made it!» and given directions for the exit. Direction is good I guess but it was ABRUPT. Cakeland part was maybe 30 minutes at best, far less than my experience with Absorption.
And I had the pleasure of getting laughed at by several homeless dudes that saw all the markings on my face while walking alone fairly late at night. An added kick in the pants after paying that much for what winded up being an underwhelming time.

I attended two Index of Light experiences — Reflection, and Absorption.
I don’t want to give too much away, as it’s crucial to go in with a sense of apprehension and wonder.
REFLECTION — Five stars
This experience changed my life. Existential scavenger hunt meets Sleep No More meets interactive fiction. The experience begins when you crawl into a tunnel of darkness and ends when you crawl through a tunnel of light. In-​between, you are made to examine yourself (are you a risk-​taker? what’s the one thing you can tell a stranger that defines you? do you listen to the people you pass on the sidewalk, or do you cross the street to avoid them?), solve puzzles, and reflect on who you are. Certain parts of the experience can’t be accessed without a moment of self-​realization (unless you cheat). When you emerge at the end, it feels like being born.
Highlights:
— The way «reflection» was thematically relevant, both literally (being bounced to different locations, receiving an invitation that must be read backwards, trying to look at yourself in a dimly lit mirror) and metaphorically (being asked about your earliest memory, who you are, what you want).
— The soundtrack, which was perfectly — PERFECTLY — timed for each stage of the event, and aesthetically truly reflected the locations.
— The emotional arc, which took you from a state of turmoil, alarm, and confusion to a state of relief where you just want to embrace someone to a state of joy and wonder at the very end.
I have not stopped thinking about this for a month and a half, and I think it will continue to inform me as a person.
ABSORPTION — Four stars
This experience couldn’t possibly live up to the previous one, but it’s possible that if I hadn’t done Reflection I would have given it five stars.
Dreamy, slightly personalized, surreal, and a bit repetitive. Wandering through a maze of experiences. Afterward, seven of us (strangers) ended up spontaneously gathering to discuss our experiences, and it turned out we’d all had at least slightly different ones. To be honest, mine seemed to be the most generic: I’d been turned away from a room I wanted to enter because someone else was inside, and I didn’t have any startling «job interview» stories.
Reasons why it didn’t get five stars:
— No emotional arc. It pretty much ends the way it began, with the same confused feelings.
— Repetition. The first hug was really interesting. The second one was fine. By the third hug I got it. I’m being absorbed with an embrace. There were other elements that felt repetitive too.
— I kept running into other guests. This was *before* we had paint on our faces. So we’d have to stop and look at each other uncertainly…“Are you part of this?” That broke the mood.
— Unclear parameters. How much were we supposed to explore? For example, an actor came out of the bathroom and left the door open. Was the bathroom a «holding area» that I was supposed to ignore? Was it something I was supposed to explore? There were black curtains hanging down in various hallways. Was I supposed to poke through them and investigate? Would I find an actor, annoyed that I’d spoiled his pop-​out surprise? Immersive experiences require the audience to cooperate in sustaining the fiction. Only I didn’t know how best to cooperate, so I’m not sure if, by not investigating every curtain, or by not backtracking and exploring other areas, I was being a good guest… or missing large parts of the experience.
Overall, I have every intention of doing every Alone event ever. But I’m casting my vote for more Reflection-​like experiences.

Supposed to make you «feel». Definitely a thought provoking experience. I am a hugger… so I dug the hugs! I did get hit in the face with a pillow that had a stone on it and wanted to knock this kid out. He thought it was hilarious… I got over it… and moved on. You should go to Alone alone. I feel like I was forced to be out of my comfort zone because nobody was with me that I could latch on to. I also feel like it made me reflect on certain things I don’t particularly like, and realize how stoked I am that I don’t have to be a part of any of that shit. Happy pig. I dig ya.
Bottom line… do it.. It’s fun, and can be deep of you let it be… coming from a not artistic or creative person.

This was my first «Alone» experience. Went Sunday night, had about a 30 minute wait before being led in.
I have to agree with a few other reviewers on here — exciting moments, but nothing overwhelmingly freakish. The Basement escape room and The Purge horror maze (the one downtown a few years ago, not the really bad Uni HHN one) were more intense and «scary». And yes, some of the guys get so close after throwing you up against the wall you wonder if it’s going to end up a rough makeout session… and as exciting as it sounded, that’s not necessarily the experience you’re looking for if you come here specifically for mindful disorientation.
It was more experimental theater, towards the end felt very cinematic, and the last few «sections» were very beautiful and eerie all at the same time. If the entire maze had been like the last few scenes, I might have a different opinion. I always enjoy playing into the action with maze characters, and never felt myself getting into it here.
Prepare to get handled, A LOT, crawl, climb, and spin, but I was honestly expecting it to be rougher. There were moments that throw off your vertical /​horizontal plane (I won’t say which), and I was loving that.
So many times I thought «I would’ve been really disturbed if _​_​_​_​had happened, but didn’t…». The friend I went with felt the same way. Missed opportunities to really mess with your sense of reality. Perhaps the way it was sold gave me expectations of sensory deprivation, being consumed by another dimension, and setting my sense of reality on edge. I walked away feeling just like my same old self afterwards. Perhaps I was hoping for too much of a «Clockwork Orange» or «Shining» kind of experience.
Also, make sure you read the guidelines you receive when you buy your ticket before you attend.
On a scale of 1 – 10 how intense I like my scares, I’d say I’m an 8 or 9 (no McKamey Manor for me.). If you’re around a 5, and are new to haunted houses or don’t frequent horror /​suspense mazes, movies, etc. much, then I’d say you’d be genuinely unnerved. Don’t go expecting it to be a haunted house, but don’t go expecting it to be just a waltz through pretty lights either. I’d give this a solid B, especially for this troupe trying something different when so many haunted houses these days have become formulaic.

Actually ALONE is more like performance act then a hunted house. The reality is the marketing was scarier then the performance.
My opinion is the organizers could use the whole building to create a much scarier atmosphere with more «surprises». The dark space was used very poorly. Me and my friend were really scared only a few times.
It was not worth the $ 75 (VIP ticket).

Did a date night here and it was a really great experience. It was somewhere between a performance art and a waking dream. You have to allow yourself to be open and ready to embrace anything that comes your way. I did get a pretty bad and I believe accidental cut on the head and shoulder from a nasty bump during the experience. Ouch.
Other than that we both really loved it and can’t wait for next year.

I don’t want to spoil it for any of you so I will not reveal much, other than I went to the opening night, and I’ve decided to go again in October, simply because there’s so much to see and experience. My very favorite was last year, the event was BEYOND amazing, but this year «Absorption» was definitely almost as good! Extremely creative, really immersed into some sort of weird dream but not exactly a nightmare either, these guys master the art of the Bizarre in an incredible way! The second time around I actually enjoyed it even more, being more aware of pretty much everything around, taking the time, more rooms and different things I didn’t get to see the 1^st time, and towards the ending things get quite intense, in a disturbing way!!! Alone is the real Halloween event that is really worth experiencing, because in my opinion it does not just disappear once the event is over. If you are willing to let go and let them guide you through their maze, this is definitely a weird place, there are absolutely no risks whatsoever, but you are in for a treat! This was a lot of fun! I am already looking forward to next year! Simply Brilliant! And for some reason, most of my friends are very curious about it, and I have tried to convince some of them, especially creative people to come with me because this is really inspiring, but every single one of them chickened out about going, so, this is a great idea to be finally able to go through a Halloween event Alone!

I have to disagree with the people that were disappointed by this year’s Alone after last year’s «high water mark». I was disappointed by last year’s alone. This year is a return to form for alone in my opinion. The theme. The darkness. The complete sense of disorientation. This is My favorite alone and I’ve done them all.

So different! Not the normal haunted house and you shouldn’t go in expecting that either. Go with an open mind and be open to each experience and you will have an amazing adventure. I have truly never seen anything like it.

I rainbow alone. Seriously, my favorite this Halloween season and I’ve been to six other events. I get genuinely excited to go through. I’ve been to Alone’s refraction, reflection, and absorption. I can’t stop thinking and talking about them after. Thanks for the warm hugs. I’m forever a triangle.

Alone is something very special.
I want people I know to experience it so we can talk about all of the various scenes and situations. There are so many of them.
It’s hard to explain but so rarely in life do you get to experience something so imaginative that your constantly wondering «what happens next?» It evokes childlike emotions of being in awe of life itself. They call it an «existential haunt» for a reason.
Absorption (October 2015) in particular has been my favorite of the 5 Alone events I’ve gone through. Don’t set your expectations too high though because Alone is definitely not for everyone and I didn’t particularly get Diffusion (June 2015) but I love that they are continuously evolving and trying new things.
I can’t wait to see what’s in store!

Last year’s was fantastic – exuberantly designed, imaginative costumes, many actors, the spectrum of emotions inspired. This year’s is about 33% of last year’s – bare rooms, few actors in costume, much fewer rooms, simplistic sound design, and gimmicky acts that inspired little emotional response from me.
This time also featured a new skit: waiting for long periods of time in film projection rooms watching the same short films of abstract forms and Enola manifesto voiceovers DURING THE EXPERIENCE ITSELF. Minus this wait time, the experience was about ½ hour.
Same price.
Is this capitalism at work? Profits over quality?
This time was actually boring.
At least it was not cliché. It doesn’t deliver all the goods but at least someone is actually trying to do something different. I’m willing to give it a little lip-​service.

Such a unique, thrilling and fun experience. If you are afraid to go just do it! It’s not like a haunted house. It’s psychedelic and psychological!
I am easily spooked and I got through it and loved it so much!

I would give this zero stars. SO disappointed. I will never go again. The «acting» was terrible. I was really looking forward to something fun even a little scary but it didnt come close and there was little to do with color. The space was all wrong. I wanted there to be some faith in acting in the city, but again a terrible show, terrible actors, waste of money and my time. They just drew on our arms and put Strobe lights in our faces poorly done. Do not go.

I heard great things about 2014’s show, so my friend convinced us to try out 2015’s first leg «Diffusion».
I was expecting an immersive interactive experience. Instead, after witnessing a truly awful play, we were shuffled around a tiny theater from dressing room to dressing room (not even staged — there were boxes in these rooms that were clearly labeled as storage for the actual theater) while strobe lights were blasted in our faces and loud discordant music played. All the acting I witnessed was subpar at best and the only time I felt engaged at all was when I was covered in a sheet and laid down in a room where I only saw colors and heard some industrial drones.
There was no discernable story, no seeming purpose behind anything, no emotional engagement, and nothing that made me want to consider going back. My friend who took us apologized saying «it was 10 times better last year.»
I love good immersive theater, but this was an amateurish painful mess.

This is my review of my experience during Alone’s Index of Diffusion.
I found this experience to be much more simplistic and smaller scale than the one they had to offer last year, however, this is only part one and not the final October haunt. I saw it more as a warm up, but was still extremely pleased. Without giving any major spoilers away, I loved how Diffusion used both sections of isolation and group focused rooms to create mixed emotions and confusion.
I found myself really having to let go and give into what was happening at times, but when I did, I had a blast. I really felt like I had become part of the experience and was not just being guided around it once I was able to let go.
Also, I noticed it seemed very long. They said the expected runtime was 30 minutes, but my group (the 8:30 group) went in at 8:30 and I came out at almost 9:45!
My friend who also went through the event had a completely different experience from mine, but still traveled the same basic path. Sections felt much more random and disorganized than Alone’s past event. (It sounded like I had a better experience than she did)
Overall I had a great time with this first index and can’t wait for the next. I can see this event not being an enjoyable time for some as it requires a lot of group participation and is small as well as not incredibly elaborate. But as I said before, I thought this was a great intro for the season to come and it left me wanting so much more. I felt my 20 $ was well spent.

Wow. So this was a great experience…
I was really on the fence because I wasn’t sure I could deal with the going through alone element. However I had done Blackout (in a group) and have only heard amazing things about this so I decided to just jump in and just do it. So glad I did!
I always anticipate things to be way worse than they actually are! In the beginning I was really nervous, hands shaking and all. Then as the journey continued I really got into the flow and became totally comfortable with each event. It was not as scary as I imagined, but there were some scary parts. It was definitely more creepy and eerie, yet also whimsical, surreal and almost magical. The whole thing is very artistic and strange and I just loved it! It’s so hard to describe, it’s something you really do have to experience. Almost a ‘Alice in Wonderland’/‘Through the Looking Glass’ kind of adventure — with a horror twist!
I can’t imagine someone coming out of this and not overall enjoying. All the cast was fantastic and I really felt like I had a connection with each character I interacted with. You have to be willing to completely relinquish and just let yourself go. All the control is in their hands and if you let them, they’ll take you on one unique journey! I can’t wait until next year!

Let me start by informing you that I also went to Blackout, Delusion, and Trapped this year. Alone: An Existential Haunting was my favorite experience hands down. Normally, I would have given this event a ⁵⁄₅ star rating, but I had major issues with finding the venue prior to my reservation on Saturday ¹⁰⁄₂₅.
To be quite frank, these logistical issues almost ruined my entire night. It is a testament to how good the event was that I did not give it 1 star.
Let me elaborate (skip down if you want to read the actual review)…
When I purchased tickets for Alone, I was informed that I would receive an email with the address to the event. Low and behold, I was sent an email the prior Monday with the following text:
S E E K N O W:
3902 Sunset Blvd
A S K :
About the Enola foundation
C O N T I N U E :
Toward enlightenment
We will see you at you rite. Breathe.
I figured, «Cool, this must be the address for the event!»
«Right?!»
Boy, was I wrong. After driving for over two hours in a rat’s nest called LA traffic to get to this location and not finding the venue, I checked my inbox again to find yet another email from Alone…
Embedded in the middle of a wall of text consisting of reminders and guidelines was an entirely different address, 321 E. Olympic Blvd! The worst part? It was halfway across town in the middle of downtown!
Upon (finally) arriving at the venue, I informed the staff that I had been driving in circles because of this. The lady was unapologetic and informed me that it was VERY clear in the email where I needed to go. I reminded her that it was far from clear. She then said she would inform management because it had happened to other people before me. Yeah, no shit it had happened to other people!!!
Organizers: Whoever thought it was a good idea to send two different addresses (one via a cryptic email) is an idiot.
To compound matters, the venue did not have a bathroom at the entrance. There was only a bathroom available in the after-​party lounge upon completion. At first, this was frustrating because I had to pee like a race horse after driving in circles for 2.5 hours. But, after going through the entire event (I held it in!), I realized why they don’t let you access the lounge beforehand — So, I’ll let it pass.
But, organizers, please rent a port-​o-​potty for your alleyway entrance next year!
One note: They let my friend into the lounge to wait for me even though she didn’t have a ticket. That was pretty cool…
Anyways, onto the actual review.
The event itself was amazing! So amazing, in fact, I’d probably change my review from a ⁴⁄₅ to a ⁵⁄₅ if someone from the venue would just give me a sincere apology for the address fiasco described above!
Although it was advertised to be only 30 minutes, I felt like it was closer to 45 minutes to an hour. The many rooms were well designed and each and every one of them was unique and surreal. The experience felt more like a fever dream than a haunted house, which is a major compliment. At times, I felt transported to another plane of existence and even forgot I had to pee. Kudos to the organizers for keeping an ominous, albeit hypnagogic mood throughout. I lost track, but there must have been at least 10 – 15 «rooms,» which is quite substantial when compared to similar experiences in town.
Slight spoilers ahead: There were a couple of great jump scares involving bagged-​abductions, but for the most part, the event relied more on creepy ambiance than anything else. I especially liked the creative passageways that required you to crawl, climb, and side-​step in complete darkness. There were moments where I thought the experience was over, but I was still in the middle of it.
The actors were all phenomenal and perfectly eerie. I especially enjoyed the rooms involving a creepy yoga master, twin girls straight out of The Grudge, a rambunctious dancer in a chamber full of loose feathers, a diner date with the girl from The Ring, an encounter with a homeless guy, a Q&A with an inquisitive researcher, and a VERY scary moment involving having to run full-​speed in complete darkness with a neck brace and a bag over my head.
The theme (a questionable research institute) permeated throughout the experience, even in the fantastically decorated lounge with sexy music where I was offered a free beer while a pretty girl in a gown painted my masquerade mask (yes, there’s a masquerade mask) before I finally peed in a bathroom showered in red light.

Incredible! Go. You won’t regret it (well, maybe you will…). I don’t want to give anything away, so I won’t go in to any particulars. The loose «theme» really brings it together in my opinion (something that Blackout lacks). They use the space they have really well too, and play on your psyche in some really creative ways. All of the actors were very good, and the entire team deserves the highest praise.
If you’re trying to decide between this and Blackout this year, absolutely choose this. If you’re trying to decide between this and Delusion, do both.
If you’ve never done an «extreme» haunted house and standard mazes are starting to not do it for you anymore, you really should try Alone. It gives a whole new perspective on what a haunt experience can be.