Worst Movie Theater Experiences...

[Gaigebacca]

I would like to hear about other people's worst movie theater experiences... I will of course start off with mine...

My fiance (now wife) and I went and saw Spider-Man 3 when it first came out in theaters... now we didnt go the first night, but the opening Sat. 8pm show, thinking that most of the smaller kids would not be at that showing... we were wrong... dead wrong...

We found our seats and as soon as the trailers began to roll, I knew my next 2 hours would be miserable... There was an older couple there with two small children (from the ages of the adults and children, it looked like grandparents/grandchildren... but the children kept referring them to mom/dad, so I dont know...) The two kids were a little boy, probably around 8-9 and a little girl, around 4-5 years of age. The BOY would not shut up for the ENTIRE movie... he had to provide comentary for the entire thing..

"Look Spider-Man jumped off that building... now he is on the street, now he jumped again... look at the bad guys! Look at them! They are shooting at Spider-Man, why are they shooting at Spider-Man? Why is Spider-Man taking a shower... why is Spider-Man sleeping...? Spider-Man just woke up... why did Spider-Man blink?..."

(I am not exagerrating that in any sense, it was honestly 2 hours of that, right behind my ear...)

The mom/grandma never said anything to him... but the icing was half way through the movie the kid belched... leaned forward, 6 inches from my ears and belched... and all the "mom" said to him was "now then... what do you say...?" Which of course the kid SCREAMED (not politely and quietly stated) "EXCUSE ME!!!"

I seriously almost got the point of blowing up at the "parents" and then, 75% of the way through the movie, the little girl, who for the most part had been perfectly acceptably behaviored, started to cry (maybe scared by something in the movie, I don't remember exactly,) but they start to get on to her, and the "dad" angrily picks her up and carries her out of the theater... seriously... you rush out a kid who has been crying for 2 minutes, but wont do ANYTHING about the obnoxious brat of a male child that hasn't been quiet for almost 2 FREAKIN HOURS!?!

Of course, there was some positive of this whole thing, that experience only helped solidify to my now wife, the importance of having decent home theater equipment... lol

Ok, well that is my story... so lets hear yours!

 

[ErinH]

I’m pretty passive, because most of the time the talkers shuttup once the movie starts (though they yap during the previews). But, if I were in your shoes I would’ve had to say something… or go talk to the manager.

When I was in a movie with my ex g/f a very long time ago, we were watching “The Others”, and there was a girl who would fake scream nearly every scene. I finally yelled out “SHUTTUP” and I literally had people clap for me. Then when she did it again someone else yelled shuttup, and a few others said some things, too. It was awesome. She didn’t say anything else. … or maybe that’s because the manager pulled her and her friends out?

 

[Halon451]

Unruly kids makes for a horrible movie-going experience no matter what. That's one of my biggest pet peeves actually, un-disciplined kids running amok in public places, or hollering during a movie, what have you. That's when I want to take the parents and literally shake them as hard as I can, because they're doing absolutely nothing to preserve peace and quiet in a place like that.

I had a similar experience in the movie theater a while back, except this kid was not only talking, laughing, carrying on, but kept kicking the back of my seat as hard as he could - no reason, just kick, kick, kick. Finally I stood up, turned around to the parents and told them if they didn't handle their child I would go straight to the manager and see about having them removed. Funny, how suddenly they were like "Oh..." as if it just occurred to them that what their kid was doing was totally and completely rude and inconsiderate. What is wrong with people??

 

[alexsound]

Went to see Lost in Space. A very, very large woman sitting about 3 rows in front of us was complaining to her male friend that she wasn't feeling too good because it was too hot in the theater. She was loudly complaining for about 30-45 seconds and then it happend. She blew major popcorn chunks all over the place. Me and my 2 boys sat down about 1-2 minutes before this lady and her male friend did, and saw her bring in the biggest tub of popcorn they offered at the movie theater. In the 9-10 minutes it took for the movie to start, she must have eaten at least 3/4 of the bowl. The worst part is that she stood up to puke and had both hands in front of her mouth causing the "flow" to go to the sides of her as well, showering her friend. Needless to say, the management gave us free passes to come back at another time. The smell was unbelievable for the few seconds we could smell it because we shot out of there like a bat out of hell, straight to an usher to let them know what happened. The REALLY bad experience must have been cleaning this stuff up.

 

[GZA]

Well i have never had a bad movie experience but im sure i have been one of the people that you would have hated to have in the movie theater. Me and some friends had a few drinks and wanted to go to a movie. when we got there nothing was playing but we wanted to see a movie really bad so we went to The Da Vinci Code. It was terrible and we started throwing out comments and just being rude and loud. we ended up walking out after about 40 minutes because it was such a bad movie. i dont think anyone would have told us to shut up, people dont normally start telling 6 foot tall 250 pound teenagers to **** up. I realize how annoying this must be for people so we watch movies at my house now so we can act like that without bothering people

 

[Halon451]

i dont think anyone would have told us to shut up, people dont normally start telling 6 foot tall 250 pound teenagers to **** up.

I sure as hell would have...

 

[GZA]

people dont normally start telling 6 foot tall 250 pound teenagers to **** up.

wow i didnt realize i said something to be censored i thought i wrote shut up but it must have been something else.


"I sure as hell would have..."

lol if you ever get the chance try that and let me know what happens.

 

[Halon451]

wow i didnt realize i said something to be censored i thought i wrote shut up but it must have been something else.


"I sure as hell would have..."

lol if you ever get the chance try that and let me know what happens.

Probably hit the 'i' instead of the 'u' and it blanked it out.

But since you mentioned it, I agree many people would be intimidated by a six foot 250 pound teenager who is acting unruly in a public place, therefore may not be inclined to speak up. I, however am a different breed - at 6'1", 200+ pounds myself and fully tattooed, many such 18-20 year olds would not be so inclined as to think I can't deliver if it got to that point. I don't have to wait until I get the chance bud - it's happened already, and I'm not afraid to say what needs to be said again if I ever encounter a similar situation. See, I don't necessarily like confrontation - and have long since grown out of my fighting compulsion - the problem is, to voice your opinion to a hot-headed, half-drunk 19 year old these days is an automatic challenge to fight (in their minds) when it clearly is not. It is simply a means of expressing the fact that they're acting like a friggin' idiot and need to cool it. The older you get you'll see where I'm coming from - you start to pay attention to the fact that there are children around (for example), that in all actuality you're impressing nobody but yourselves when you act that way, etc. In other words, maturity - but I digress. You have years ahead of ya, grasshoppa... I was the same way when I was young, and ready to throw down at the drop of a hat. Your statement implies a level of intimidation, even on this forum, but ya picked the wrong guy, kid.

 

[GZA]

Probably hit the 'i' instead of the 'u' and it blanked it out.

But since you mentioned it, I agree many people would be intimidated by a six foot 250 pound teenager who is acting unruly in a public place, therefore may not be inclined to speak up. I, however am a different breed - at 6'1", 200+ pounds myself and fully tattooed, many such 18-20 year olds would not be so inclined as to think I can't deliver if it got to that point. I don't have to wait until I get the chance bud - it's happened already, and I'm not afraid to say what needs to be said again if I ever encounter a similar situation. See, I don't necessarily like confrontation - and have long since grown out of my fighting compulsion - the problem is, to voice your opinion to a hot-headed, half-drunk 19 year old these days is an automatic challenge to fight (in their minds) when it clearly is not. It is simply a means of expressing the fact that they're acting like a friggin' idiot and need to cool it. The older you get you'll see where I'm coming from - you start to pay attention to the fact that there are children around (for example), that in all actuality you're impressing nobody but yourselves when you act that way, etc. In other words, maturity - but I digress. You have years ahead of ya, grasshoppa... I was the same way when I was young, and ready to throw down at the drop of a hat. Your statement implies a level of intimidation, even on this forum, but ya picked the wrong guy, kid.

oh dont worry its already happening. im not looking for fights anymore like i used to. more chilled out now but i do have a problem with people tryin to tell me stuff when im out like to be quiet or pick something up. lol if you lived in my town maybe there could be a nice friendly fight in the movie theater

 

[Halon451]

oh dont worry its already happening. im not looking for fights anymore like i used to. more chilled out now but i do have a problem with people tryin to tell me stuff when im out like to be quiet or pick something up. lol if you lived in my town maybe there could be a nice friendly fight in the movie theater

Ha... how about we just arm wrestle and call it good. It's just about common courtesy and decency, and a little bit of consideration for others - at least that's the way I try to live these days; if you think of how your actions may make others feel you're probably less likely to get told things like you say. Nobody likes being told they're out of line by a stranger, trust me - but sometimes, IMHO it's perfectly warranted, at other times it's not, just depends on the situation.

At any rate, apologies to the OP for taking this slightly off-topic.

 

[Gaigebacca]

... how about a 6'2" 285 lbs 23 yo (and yes, more muscle than fat...) ... I just thought since this thread had been hijacked by ego's... I might as well throw my numbers in there too...

Haha, just givin you guys a good ribbin... hope all is well and everyone have a Merry Christmas, and keep on with your horror stories.

 

[MatthewB.]

I took the GF to watch the rerelease of "The Exorcist" in the theater a couple years ago and these two 12 year old girls sit down about five rows down from us and just start talking and talking and talking and then the beeping of their phones started. That was it, for me. I found the manager and told him that there were two young children in a movie that shouldnt be watched by anyone under 17, they were overheard to say that they were gonna sneak into another movie after this one and that they had snuck into the Exorcist after watching another movie previously. I told him how the audience was at that point where another exorcism was about to occur with two young girls if he didn;t do something about it. So the manager gave me and the GF four free movie passes and a gift card for 25.00 at the concession stand and promptly removed the girls. By the time the movie was over, the parents had shown up and the manager was giving them an earful.

Another time I was in high school and the movie "Silverado" had just been released and these two teenagers (maybe two years younger than me and my friend) sat in front of us (in a nearly empty theater) and they sat directly in front of us. Anyway they thought it would be funny to make stupid comments about the movie and how stupid westerns werereally really loud. So my friend who is a pretty big guy told them either to shut their pieholes or he would be knocking some skulls together. Well they said some stupid arsed remark and sat silent for about five minutes, then one of them started to say something and that was it for my friend. He stood up put his hands on both sides of their heads and just banged their heads together as hard as he could. I remember wincing as I heard the knock of their two heads smash together. I mean it was really frigging hard. Anyway they both got up and left and we sat and enjoyed the rest of the movie with no further incident.

 

[jazzisnumberone]

This is why we have HT's. I prefer my cozy setup to a movie Theater any day of the week.

 

[CaliHwyPatrol]

I usually don't have too many issues I can't handle. I always reserve an extra piece of gum for anyone's hair who has been talking on their cell phone.

The only time I regret doing anything was when my friends and I went to see the third Matrix movie. We always went to the movies in larger groups since it was more fun that way, so we always take up a row or two.

Anyway, I'm a pretty tall guy, so my knees go a little further out. This guy sitting in front of me kept rocking his chair and it was banging my knees. So I tap him on the shoulder and ask him politely not to rock so far. What does this prick say? "Shut the f*ck up." I hit the back of his chair so hard with both hands that he fell out of it. The instant that he and his friend got up to face me, my whole row stood up. Words were exchanged and they decided to move a row up.

I could have been more diplomatic about it, and looking back I should have, but I bet he'll think twice before doing that again.

 

[Exit]

My worst theater experience was at the first Star Wars movie. We got there a little late and three of us got the last three seats in the theater in the front row. We had to sit there getting stiff necks for 2 1/2 hours. That is not the worst. Lucky me I got the chair where someone had spilled a drink, so not knowing I sat down on it. Once my but was wet with sticy soda, there wasn't much I could do without spoiling the movie for my othe two friends, so I sat through it. It really sucked.

 

[rnatalli]

Unruly kids usually ruin a movie for me. In particular, teenagers. But sometimes there's relief. One time, there was a state trooper in the theater. Not sure why he was there, perhaps just to watch the movie. But he told a teenager to turn his phone off. The second time he confiscated the phone.

 

[darien87]

I have a couple:

A few years back, there was this fad going around with those stupid laser pointers. It seemed like you couldn't go anywhere without seeing a red dot somewhere. It happened EVERY time we went to the movies. It seemed like there was always some punk kid that thought it was hilarious to wiggle that dumb *** red dot all over the screen. So one night after having this happen about 5 times in a row, here it goes again, so I yell, "Can I go to the movies once without seeing a ****in red dot!?!?!?" The laser pointer was promptly turned off.

A few years ago, during a movie, there was an Asian guy that got a phone call during a movie, and he answered it!!! I can understand someone forgetting to turn off their phone and getting a call. But a normal person would turn the off. This shmuck proceeds to have a conversation! So I turned and looked at him and told him to, "Shut the **** up!"

 

[corey]

For me, the problem is not the patrons, but the theater management. The wine list is non-existent, and they won't pause the movie when I feel like a re-fill, snack or bathroom break.

 

[allargon]

Loud kids bother me more than talking patrons (I'm usually one of the people talking!). My fiance hates that I talk during movies at home. I don't even like dealing with loud kids at restaurants or children's birthday parties. Sorry. As for dealing with the talkers, the Alamo Drafthouse management is pretty good about dealing with talkers and crying babies (only allowed on Tuesdays). Their AQ and PQ suck, but one can drown that out with a bucket of beer, chips and queso.

All my bad in theater experiences usually involved crowded stadiums, poorly tweaked audio, scratched/blurry prints and/or crappy projectors made tolerable by the presence of good friends and/or family to the right or left of me.

 

[allargon]

Ouch... one dude in Philly decided to took matters into his own hands and fire a round or so at an offending talkative patron. I will watch myself, if I attend the movies up there!

http://www.dlisted.com/node/29926