Readers of the Washington Post have found a way to watch Cats, the big-screen adaptation of the famous musical that’s reckoned to have lost more than $100m since it was released last month and which many critics have lambasted as virtually unwatchable.

Hundreds of people told the Post about seeing the Tom Hooper-directed movie tripped out on magic mushrooms, LSD, spiked marijuana and other mind-altering substances.

The paper offered a list of compelling, if not encouraging, responses:

“The most terrifying experience of my life. I swear to God my soul escaped me.”

“Cried both times. Planning on going two more times.”

“Vomited four times but ultimately understood the film on a deep level.”

“Had a panic attack in the middle of it …”

Raina, 25, from South Carolina, said she couldn’t handle the mismatched proportions of the furry animals. She lasted 10 minutes, “and then I went to the AMC bathroom and threw up”.

Annaliese Nielsen, terrified by the furry face of James Corden, called the film “a special kind of evil”.

Audience responses are in some ways more severe than the critics, who widely slammed the adaptation when it was released over Christmas.

The film, wrote Matt Golder at Collider, “feels like it’s two seconds away from turning into a furry orgy in a dumpster”.

Still, one Post reader described a “bonding experience” with other viewers at a New York theater.

“Just like, OK, we’re doing this together, this is a thing that is transpiring, and we are bearing witness.”