Xie Lian had picked his bait with consideration to both drawing Envy in and that it might take time to work. So there's a certain amount of (chaste) relationship development along with what could be called a gratuitous level of, questionably realistic, gore. He considers figuring out ratings to have been time usefully spent. Sex getting a higher rating than violence has also been useful.

He senses that Envy's behind him, but waits until the scene has cut from exploding body parts to conversation before he turns to offer him the usual smile. Xie Lian knows that Envy's not a ghost, and he'd be a strong one if he was, but the lapses in his usual form do remind him of scattered ghost lights.

"I've found a new series. It looks popular." It makes perfect sense to Xie Lian that if there's a play - movie - that people like, there would be a large number of sequels that cover basically the same ground.

'Formulaic' isn't a criticism Xie Lian would think to make. Despite his origins and spending centuries in the human realm, there are certain details that he's unsure of for reasons beyond just cultural differences, so he likes to have a framework to piece them together. It also sometimes helps with understanding which parts are probably just the normal inaccuracies of fiction.

"One door leads to a certain death trap, the other contains unknown horrors." That should catch Envy up on the plot. "They think they're being held by a ghost, but I think it's going to turn out to be a human."

"There's the promise that if they manage to figure out the death trap, they could leave." So somewhere in the middle, though it's obviously just trying to raise the characters' hopes.

"The killer was left to die in the house... for some reason? And so is enacting the same fate on those who dare to enter, thinking that it's just a legend." The backstory isn't exactly well sketched out. Xie Lian also finds the active refusal to have any theme, despite the set up making certain ones obvious, an amusing choice.