REVIEW — The Entities (audio drama)

Shhhh — can you hear that? When a group of experienced cavers decide to venture into an unexplored cave system in the Scottish Highlands, they find themselves in danger of a sinister presence lurking in the darkness. An immersive audio drama brought to you by Grim Pickingz, The Entities makes you listen intently… your life may depend on it.

Currently sitting at three episodes, The Entities starts with a brutal and bloody attack, a taste of what was to come in the dark, wet underground of Scotland. Shifting to friends readying themselves for an exciting trip to a new cave system, we catch glimpses of their dynamics with each other: budding romances, jokes, all of the qualities of a horror movie piped straight into your ears. The further they go down into the caves, the more trouble they get themselves into. They hear distant noises and one member gets hurt. Then, they find piles of batty blood and death — and what caused it.

As an audio drama, The Entities is unlike a normal podcast. Broken up into chapters, The Entities groups segments of the story into easily-digestible pieces with little bits of cliffhanger urging you into the next episode. With a narrator, we are told the meat of the story, as if read from a book. Punctuated with other characters voicing important lines as well as atmospheric sounds (bodies struggling in a fight, footsteps, bat screeches, etc.), The Entities feels like you’re right there in the mix with them. As a matter of fact, at one point I could have sworn the dripping cave walls were actually coming from my house in real life. Sound quality is massively important in radio, podcasting, and here in audio dramas; you’ll know when it’s done right. While there were moments the narrator or characters sound went slightly too loud or too soft, the majority was easy to hear and tuned to make your mind think you were there as well.

The Entities‘ story is highly reminiscent of portions of the film The Descent. And while some would think that is a problem, here, it isn’t because not only is this a different format, but there are plot points that bring the story in a whole new direction. I won’t spoil it, but the action and scare sequences are done well; I was listening intently, able to envision every step they took through the death and darkness, and I could almost feel the warm blood of fallen friends slip through my fingers.

At about 100 minutes — just about the length of a movie — The Entities serves frights in confined spaces. There was adventure, love (as told through LGBTQ+ characters), horror, and of course a world of spine-tingling sound that embeds itself into your ears. My suggestion is to listen with headphones and sit in a dark room for full immersion.

The Entities is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Speaker, and Amazon Music.