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A review by degroovy
The Showers by Dylan Sindelar
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
The Showers is a bundling of the the parts of the creepypasta original "The Showers" by Dylan Sindelar. Parts I & II, which are the most famous and well known parts of the story, are a decently fun, atmospheric presentation taking place in the middle of nowhere. As a midwesterner myself, I have to say that the great, vast, nothingness that can be the midwest is an untapped well of terror. So it's a perfect setting for some strange cult, demon, god activity stuff that goes on in The Showers. It's fun to see the main character of Jack find such an identity in the concept campfire stories so that when he finds himself wrapped up in his own sort of horrific campfire story, it feels like a stinging, ironic outcome akin to the boy who cried wolf.
However, Parts III & IV completely let the story down and honestly taints the first part for me. It feels the need to explain things but also not explain anything at all. The characters are all extremely unlikeable and make random, rash decisions. Not only that but the writing is really all over the damn place with events that feel very poorly written and disjointed. That was a bit of an issue in the first two parts but it was a little easy to overlook because of an original setting that sort of lent itself to speculation. But if you're going to do sequel pieces there has to be something to add and expand and unfortunately this is not that.
So if you're going to read The Showers, stick to and enjoy the first two parts and let the second two parts disappear into the ether, you'll enjoy it more in the long run that way.
However, Parts III & IV completely let the story down and honestly taints the first part for me. It feels the need to explain things but also not explain anything at all. The characters are all extremely unlikeable and make random, rash decisions. Not only that but the writing is really all over the damn place with events that feel very poorly written and disjointed. That was a bit of an issue in the first two parts but it was a little easy to overlook because of an original setting that sort of lent itself to speculation. But if you're going to do sequel pieces there has to be something to add and expand and unfortunately this is not that.
So if you're going to read The Showers, stick to and enjoy the first two parts and let the second two parts disappear into the ether, you'll enjoy it more in the long run that way.