A group of shallow, slightly dim young people are trapped in a fun fair haunted house. There’s a lion on the loose outside – will they make it out alive? Frankie Regalia’s new satirical horror-comedy explores friendship and love in the TikTok era.
The characters are well-observed and very familiar if you’re a regular on social media. There’s the girl who’s obsessed with getting Instagram ‘clout’, to the point of recording her friend’s panic attack; Michael who fancies himself as an alpha male and womaniser, but goes to bits when the girls start playing ghoulish pranks on him: and Nate who steals the show as a ‘RADA’-trained thespian getting a bit too much into his fun house role as psychopathic murderer. There’s plenty of laughs throughout, and the action keeps moving nicely.
The revenge on Michael is done with relish, but there’s lighter moments, the blossoming gay romance between one girl and the socially awkward fun house manager being a favourite. By the end, the accidental prisoners have (mostly) learned to look beyond appearances and inappropriate livestreams.
Big Scary Cat is a fun, timely look at the chronically online Gen Z and toxic masculinity.
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Big Scary Cat is at theSpace Symposium Hall, 12-17, 19-24 Aug