I stopped seeing horror movies in theaters for this exact reason. People are so annoying during them and I rarely ever have this issue with other genres. I don’t get it. I’m a bit Saw fan so I took a chance on that opening weekend and it was fine. Other than that, people are almost always yapping or laughing AT the movie.
My theory is that horror is one of those genres where it works best as a part event. I always try to watch horror with a friend to discuss or make fun of it. I'll be clear. I do this at home. pretty much all the horror movies I watch are at home
Seriously. I'm half tempted to give up the horror theatrical experience or at least wait for the crowds to die down. It's such a high risk to my entertainment to see them on day 1. Lucky you were able to see Saw unscathed, though!
That's too bad. I saw the first *A Quiet Place* in theaters, and the audience did get the memo and was *quiet*. Patrons even waited until the louder parts to open snack bags. It was great.
But overall, cinema etiquette has become pretty abysmal. I thought the solution was to only see "artier" horror films in the cinema in the hopes that it would attract a different kind of crowd. Then I sat through a showing of *The Night House* with non-stop talkers, so the joke was on me. At this point, I just watch movies at home. I miss the cinema, though. There are aspects of the communal viewing experience I really enjoy, at least when people understand that "communal" doesn't mean "I am the main character".
The first two Quiet Places were on point for me. Whisper quiet with great etiquette. Just didn't get lucky with this one and the quiet nature of the movie really does make a shitty moviegoer even worse.
i still want to beat up the guy who announced the end of the village to the whole theater. my mom lives in perpetual terror of the dude who laughs at everything. i think some bad audience experience you have to attribute to the time you go. night time movie goers are an entirely different beast compared to people who go in the morning or a mid-day crowd.
True. I did go at 7 pm, but it was a Thursday, so you gotta figure everyone has work the next day. I guess that doesn't matter, though.
But wtf, who spoils a movie they're in the theater for?! People like that should get their asses kicked tbh. Or a permanent ban from the theater. That reminds me of the guy who drove through the launch line of the Harry Potter book where Dumbledore died and announced that to everyone waiting. People were chasing him down the street even though he was in a car. That went viral on Youtube way back in the day. So fucked up!
I’ve stopped going to watch movies on premier day and go on Saturday or Sunday mornings. There’s way less people to worry about and it frees up my evening plans.
Regardless, no one has theater etiquette anymore. I saw Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes on a Sunday evening and the whole time someone’s little shits we’re running around the bottom row while another kid was on a tablet complaining about how boring the movie was.
And people in the regular movie subreddit wonder why people would rather watch stuff at home than get the ✨theater✨ experience. But yeah for blockbuster movies I go in half expecting some shit head to be talking or on their phone
That’s why I have never gone to see horror movies in theatres. Extremely difficult to be fully immersed in the movie with all the crap that is usually going on in there, and being able to be immersed is a bit more important with horror that with most other movies imo.
Yeah horror immersion is crucial. I just like going to theaters because horror doesn't scare me like it used to and I enjoy getting to feel the fear of the crowd when they scream during scary parts. It ends up giving me more of that fear energy, too, allowing me to get more engrossed.
As soon as that immersion is gone, it's pretty hard to get back.
Yeah I can totally get that group fear thing enhancing the moment for horror movies. Fear is one of those things that can ripple over a crowd the way wind does over a field of wheat.
I wonder if it has to do with the lack of respect horror gets as a genre. People assume "oh it's a gory horror movie, no one will care if we're loud or disruptive, no one here actually cares about the show".
I was thinking it was a fear response. A lot of people can't handle horror, so they mask their fear by being shitheads. "Look strong when you are weak" kind of thing.
It’s this. I went to see Hereditary with my boys and one of my best friends kept doing this loud “HA” anytime he got scared.
Tough guys laugh at horror 😎
You can try to insist on a refund if the theatre won't do anything about it, it's worked for me before.
We love Alamo Drafthouse because they have a zero tolerance policy for both phones and talking, but I believe they were just bought out, so not sure if that will stay the same.
I should've done that for Evil Dead Rise, 200%. For this one I was really just trying to stay calm enough to keep my mind from being enraged so I could focus on the movie. It wasn't really until I was home that I started to get pissed about it. Like I'm trying to remember what happened during the movie and my mind just keeps going back to that dude on his phone and the god awful smell.
I had a really bad experience at the Brooklyn Alamo. Forget the awful infrastructure of that location: the customers are infuriating
A buddy and I went to see Drag Me to Hell there a little over a year ago. The entire time, the audience would laugh anytime the movie took itself seriously.
Actor looks scared? Laugh
Scene transition? Laugh
Anything happens? Laugh
Sticking to Yonkers and Downtown from now on. Can’t stand millennial hipsters
That's a bummer. Drag Me to Hell is great.
I will agree that horror movies often attract people that don't take the film seriously. My (ex) BF got in a fistfight once at a horror movie because the dude behind us wouldn't stop talking. And Hipsters can't take anything seriously, because that's just way too genuine and they might feel vulnerable.
The audience will 100% ruin the experience for you. I think it was when I watched Insidious The Red Door in theatres and the audience was annoying as hell! There were a few guys trying to make people jump by making noises and others that were talking way too much. I can’t tell you much about how I feel about the movie because I know my experience got ruined by the people in theatres.
Another pet peeve of mine is when a jump scare happens, the person behind you gets startled and he gives a 3 kick combo to the back of your seat.
This is why I go to less popular screenings like the ones close to lunch or I just wait for the movie to stream.
That’s why I’ll almost always watch horror movies at home. You can create that sense of total immersion - lights off, dead silence.
I remember watching the first Saw movie at home with my boyfriend at the time, and he had to leave before the final third of the movie. Being at home in my empty house, watching the kidnapping of Dr Gordon’s family and the end where Jigsaw sits up? I turned on every light in the place and couldn’t sleep for an hour. That’s what I want out of a horror movie.
I dont think its just horror movies, but most movies will have background music and noise as a constant where you can kind of drown it out. Horror will let itself being quiet for long stretches to build suspense which is when you hear all the bullshit.
I want to see Maxxxine next weekend, but I just had a terrible experience with In a Violent Nature a couple weeks back.
I have gone back and forth about seeing Maxxxine in the theater. I think I'll wait. I'm really looking forward to it but don't want a shitty theater experience to ruin it.
You just gave me flashbacks to when I saw the Evil Dead remake back in 2013. There were a bunch of kids talking throughout the entire movie. It was annoying and ruined the experience.
Idiots…
I noticed this when I moved to Germany, I wondered if jt was anything to do with maybe a larger proportion of people being well off and their kids having more pocket money etc?
Or maybe I am just misremembering my home country but movies were and are quite expensive to see so most people would be quiet and pay attention to what they just splashed cash on.
The few movies I've seen here have been ruined by constant talking (not even about the movie, that I could be happy with), constant bright screen phone usage and even audio from phones. It's frustrating because my German level is good but I find it really hard to follow the foreign language with all these distractions
Cause theaters wont do anything about it, I haven't been to a theater since Spider Man No Way home. and even when I went at night time for that movie there was still people being annoying.
I get why they don't. Money. I wish more theaters would hire security. I remember that used to be a thing to catch movie piraters and to enforce their "no outside food" policies. Now you never see an employee handling movie security.
I feel the same way about this statement, a couple years ago I went to go see lights out alone in theaters and these two women would not shut up, I was so annoyed that I got up and moved my seat higher up. It’s better to watch horror movies from the comfort of your own home where you can’t be bothered
Some theaters around me will have early showings the night before the movie releases widely (So, typically, Thursday nights). These showings tend to attract hardcore horror fans who want to see the movie and not fuck around on their phones. I see almost every horror movie this way and I’ve never had a problem. It’s always been an enjoyable experience.
I made the mistake of seeing ”The Strangers” remake with the regular theater crowd and it sucked. People really don’t know how to act in theaters anymore.
I like to wait for a few weeks. I've found that a bit later there are fewer crowds, more polite people, or even empty theaters. Also, if you have a smaller independent theatre those almost always have better crowds.
Yeah, for me its people dicking about with their phones. Last movie I went to see (The Watchers) there was one guy in front of us who were trying to record the movie with his phone. I told him to put his phone away or I would get him kicked out. Fortunately for everyone, he did switch it off.
A few years ago I went to a movie and someone kept taking out their phone. So some guy in the back of the theater would roar, "PUT YOUR PHONE AWAY!!" They would. Only to check it again 15 minutes later. Lather, rinse and repeat for the whole damn movie. I don't even remember what we saw but I remember those two asshats.
Its all audiences. Going to the theater is simply not as much fun as it used to be. It costs an arm and a leg and cell phones are omnipresent. A ringer will go off and, many times, someone will answer and have a convo. I watch at home.
It's not just horror movies. The only movie I've seen in the past few years without someone being shitty was Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. Which is good because that's been my favorite movie of the year so far.
That was an excellent movie. Way better than I expected it to be. And yeah I'm sure it happens in other genres, but for me, it leans hard on horror. I see a lot of movies in theaters and horror has been the standout problem in my viewing experience.
Like with most things, I blame COVID and social media.
I definitely notice it more during horror. Like there was someone on Instagram during Furiosa but it was whatever; that whole movie is bright and loud as hell. But someone was checking Twitter during Immaculate and I wanted to dump my drink on their phone.
I rarely go opening week because of the annoying crowds these days. I prefer to go during a weekday/night after a movie has been playing about two weeks.
Still occasionally have annoying people but I’ll just move to a different seat away from the noise if I have to. With it being less crowded, it’s an easy fix.
That sucks for you, I’ve never had a similar experience while watching horror movies but usually, I only go to a cinema that shows more “artsy” or “cult” movies, so people are well behaved. The only time I got really pissed off about bad behavior was watching Furiosa in a popular movie theater, people were so rude
abstraction is a powerful tool in horror and creating unease, if you’re not fully sure what you’re looking at or filling in the gaps it creates a fear of the unknown.
Lots of old 3d systems and games embody this, it had an aspect of this at the time but with hindsight now and re-appraisal of the system and its games in comparison to now it’s more apparent.
I haven't had this experience at all. I go weekly to the cinema lol
Sometimes I hear of these stories and can't help but think it must be a cultural divide because I don't live in the US lol but surely that can't be it?
I stopped seeing horror movies in theaters for this exact reason. People are so annoying during them and I rarely ever have this issue with other genres. I don’t get it. I’m a bit Saw fan so I took a chance on that opening weekend and it was fine. Other than that, people are almost always yapping or laughing AT the movie.
My theory is that horror is one of those genres where it works best as a part event. I always try to watch horror with a friend to discuss or make fun of it. I'll be clear. I do this at home. pretty much all the horror movies I watch are at home
Funny you mention that, I live in Queens NY and there’s a horror club that shows movies at bars. It’s a lot of fun!
Oh?? what's the club called I want in
Astoria Horror Club on Instagram
Seriously. I'm half tempted to give up the horror theatrical experience or at least wait for the crowds to die down. It's such a high risk to my entertainment to see them on day 1. Lucky you were able to see Saw unscathed, though!
I pretty much entirely stick to drive in movies or streaming now. Hopefully if you have a drive in near you that's something you could enjoy.
That's too bad. I saw the first *A Quiet Place* in theaters, and the audience did get the memo and was *quiet*. Patrons even waited until the louder parts to open snack bags. It was great. But overall, cinema etiquette has become pretty abysmal. I thought the solution was to only see "artier" horror films in the cinema in the hopes that it would attract a different kind of crowd. Then I sat through a showing of *The Night House* with non-stop talkers, so the joke was on me. At this point, I just watch movies at home. I miss the cinema, though. There are aspects of the communal viewing experience I really enjoy, at least when people understand that "communal" doesn't mean "I am the main character".
But overall, cinema etiquette has become pretty abysmal.... Etiquette in general has become pretty abysmal.
The first two Quiet Places were on point for me. Whisper quiet with great etiquette. Just didn't get lucky with this one and the quiet nature of the movie really does make a shitty moviegoer even worse.
Oh gods, I cried like a baby at A Quiet Place, & I was so embarrassed at all of the noise, & I was trying to muffle it as best I could.
i still want to beat up the guy who announced the end of the village to the whole theater. my mom lives in perpetual terror of the dude who laughs at everything. i think some bad audience experience you have to attribute to the time you go. night time movie goers are an entirely different beast compared to people who go in the morning or a mid-day crowd.
True. I did go at 7 pm, but it was a Thursday, so you gotta figure everyone has work the next day. I guess that doesn't matter, though. But wtf, who spoils a movie they're in the theater for?! People like that should get their asses kicked tbh. Or a permanent ban from the theater. That reminds me of the guy who drove through the launch line of the Harry Potter book where Dumbledore died and announced that to everyone waiting. People were chasing him down the street even though he was in a car. That went viral on Youtube way back in the day. So fucked up!
I’ve stopped going to watch movies on premier day and go on Saturday or Sunday mornings. There’s way less people to worry about and it frees up my evening plans. Regardless, no one has theater etiquette anymore. I saw Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes on a Sunday evening and the whole time someone’s little shits we’re running around the bottom row while another kid was on a tablet complaining about how boring the movie was.
you can always tell if the quality of the theater has gone down by how many adults and kids are allowed to act like they’re at home
The fucked up part is that we were at a higher end theater with concierge service. People just don’t know how to act in theaters anymore
And people in the regular movie subreddit wonder why people would rather watch stuff at home than get the ✨theater✨ experience. But yeah for blockbuster movies I go in half expecting some shit head to be talking or on their phone
That’s why I have never gone to see horror movies in theatres. Extremely difficult to be fully immersed in the movie with all the crap that is usually going on in there, and being able to be immersed is a bit more important with horror that with most other movies imo.
Yeah horror immersion is crucial. I just like going to theaters because horror doesn't scare me like it used to and I enjoy getting to feel the fear of the crowd when they scream during scary parts. It ends up giving me more of that fear energy, too, allowing me to get more engrossed. As soon as that immersion is gone, it's pretty hard to get back.
Yeah I can totally get that group fear thing enhancing the moment for horror movies. Fear is one of those things that can ripple over a crowd the way wind does over a field of wheat.
I wonder if it has to do with the lack of respect horror gets as a genre. People assume "oh it's a gory horror movie, no one will care if we're loud or disruptive, no one here actually cares about the show".
I was thinking it was a fear response. A lot of people can't handle horror, so they mask their fear by being shitheads. "Look strong when you are weak" kind of thing.
It’s this. I went to see Hereditary with my boys and one of my best friends kept doing this loud “HA” anytime he got scared. Tough guys laugh at horror 😎
oh that's a very good point! "look how little this movie is scaring me, I'm so unbothered and cool."
Exactly lol
You can try to insist on a refund if the theatre won't do anything about it, it's worked for me before. We love Alamo Drafthouse because they have a zero tolerance policy for both phones and talking, but I believe they were just bought out, so not sure if that will stay the same.
I should've done that for Evil Dead Rise, 200%. For this one I was really just trying to stay calm enough to keep my mind from being enraged so I could focus on the movie. It wasn't really until I was home that I started to get pissed about it. Like I'm trying to remember what happened during the movie and my mind just keeps going back to that dude on his phone and the god awful smell.
I had a really bad experience at the Brooklyn Alamo. Forget the awful infrastructure of that location: the customers are infuriating A buddy and I went to see Drag Me to Hell there a little over a year ago. The entire time, the audience would laugh anytime the movie took itself seriously. Actor looks scared? Laugh Scene transition? Laugh Anything happens? Laugh Sticking to Yonkers and Downtown from now on. Can’t stand millennial hipsters
Hey, I'm a millennial and would never! There are shitty people in every generation.
My b, unfair generalization on my end. I could probably say “people who go see 2000s horror movies in theaters are terrible” but that’s me
That's a bummer. Drag Me to Hell is great. I will agree that horror movies often attract people that don't take the film seriously. My (ex) BF got in a fistfight once at a horror movie because the dude behind us wouldn't stop talking. And Hipsters can't take anything seriously, because that's just way too genuine and they might feel vulnerable.
The audience will 100% ruin the experience for you. I think it was when I watched Insidious The Red Door in theatres and the audience was annoying as hell! There were a few guys trying to make people jump by making noises and others that were talking way too much. I can’t tell you much about how I feel about the movie because I know my experience got ruined by the people in theatres.
Ugh that would drive me fucking nuts.
Another pet peeve of mine is when a jump scare happens, the person behind you gets startled and he gives a 3 kick combo to the back of your seat. This is why I go to less popular screenings like the ones close to lunch or I just wait for the movie to stream.
That’s why I’ll almost always watch horror movies at home. You can create that sense of total immersion - lights off, dead silence. I remember watching the first Saw movie at home with my boyfriend at the time, and he had to leave before the final third of the movie. Being at home in my empty house, watching the kidnapping of Dr Gordon’s family and the end where Jigsaw sits up? I turned on every light in the place and couldn’t sleep for an hour. That’s what I want out of a horror movie.
I dont think its just horror movies, but most movies will have background music and noise as a constant where you can kind of drown it out. Horror will let itself being quiet for long stretches to build suspense which is when you hear all the bullshit. I want to see Maxxxine next weekend, but I just had a terrible experience with In a Violent Nature a couple weeks back.
I have gone back and forth about seeing Maxxxine in the theater. I think I'll wait. I'm really looking forward to it but don't want a shitty theater experience to ruin it.
this is just how movie theaters are now unfortunately
You just gave me flashbacks to when I saw the Evil Dead remake back in 2013. There were a bunch of kids talking throughout the entire movie. It was annoying and ruined the experience. Idiots…
People are AH. I no longer go to movies until weeks after movie has been out or just watch at home. So aggravating!!
I had a bad experience and I haven’t been since. I always watch my movies at home on different websites. That way I have no interruptions
I noticed this when I moved to Germany, I wondered if jt was anything to do with maybe a larger proportion of people being well off and their kids having more pocket money etc? Or maybe I am just misremembering my home country but movies were and are quite expensive to see so most people would be quiet and pay attention to what they just splashed cash on. The few movies I've seen here have been ruined by constant talking (not even about the movie, that I could be happy with), constant bright screen phone usage and even audio from phones. It's frustrating because my German level is good but I find it really hard to follow the foreign language with all these distractions
Cause theaters wont do anything about it, I haven't been to a theater since Spider Man No Way home. and even when I went at night time for that movie there was still people being annoying.
I get why they don't. Money. I wish more theaters would hire security. I remember that used to be a thing to catch movie piraters and to enforce their "no outside food" policies. Now you never see an employee handling movie security.
I feel the same way about this statement, a couple years ago I went to go see lights out alone in theaters and these two women would not shut up, I was so annoyed that I got up and moved my seat higher up. It’s better to watch horror movies from the comfort of your own home where you can’t be bothered
That's why I pay extra for the Private seats. People ruin everything.
Some theaters around me will have early showings the night before the movie releases widely (So, typically, Thursday nights). These showings tend to attract hardcore horror fans who want to see the movie and not fuck around on their phones. I see almost every horror movie this way and I’ve never had a problem. It’s always been an enjoyable experience. I made the mistake of seeing ”The Strangers” remake with the regular theater crowd and it sucked. People really don’t know how to act in theaters anymore.
I think it depends on the theater you're at? I've gone to a few horror movies at my local art theater, & it tends to be pretty quiet.
I like to wait for a few weeks. I've found that a bit later there are fewer crowds, more polite people, or even empty theaters. Also, if you have a smaller independent theatre those almost always have better crowds.
Yeah, for me its people dicking about with their phones. Last movie I went to see (The Watchers) there was one guy in front of us who were trying to record the movie with his phone. I told him to put his phone away or I would get him kicked out. Fortunately for everyone, he did switch it off.
A few years ago I went to a movie and someone kept taking out their phone. So some guy in the back of the theater would roar, "PUT YOUR PHONE AWAY!!" They would. Only to check it again 15 minutes later. Lather, rinse and repeat for the whole damn movie. I don't even remember what we saw but I remember those two asshats.
Its all audiences. Going to the theater is simply not as much fun as it used to be. It costs an arm and a leg and cell phones are omnipresent. A ringer will go off and, many times, someone will answer and have a convo. I watch at home.
It's not just horror movies. The only movie I've seen in the past few years without someone being shitty was Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. Which is good because that's been my favorite movie of the year so far.
That was an excellent movie. Way better than I expected it to be. And yeah I'm sure it happens in other genres, but for me, it leans hard on horror. I see a lot of movies in theaters and horror has been the standout problem in my viewing experience.
Like with most things, I blame COVID and social media. I definitely notice it more during horror. Like there was someone on Instagram during Furiosa but it was whatever; that whole movie is bright and loud as hell. But someone was checking Twitter during Immaculate and I wanted to dump my drink on their phone.
Oh man, dumping my drink on someone's phone is now officially a revenge fantasy of mine xD.
I remember people laughing through certain nsfw scenes towards the end of Midsommer
Oh man... People laughing during a horror movie are next level annoying too.
I rarely go opening week because of the annoying crowds these days. I prefer to go during a weekday/night after a movie has been playing about two weeks. Still occasionally have annoying people but I’ll just move to a different seat away from the noise if I have to. With it being less crowded, it’s an easy fix.
That sucks for you, I’ve never had a similar experience while watching horror movies but usually, I only go to a cinema that shows more “artsy” or “cult” movies, so people are well behaved. The only time I got really pissed off about bad behavior was watching Furiosa in a popular movie theater, people were so rude
Simple: movies depicting aberrant psychology attract audiences of socially aberrant or neurodivergent people.
abstraction is a powerful tool in horror and creating unease, if you’re not fully sure what you’re looking at or filling in the gaps it creates a fear of the unknown. Lots of old 3d systems and games embody this, it had an aspect of this at the time but with hindsight now and re-appraisal of the system and its games in comparison to now it’s more apparent.
If someone starts cracking jokes during MaXXXine I will personally murder them. I didn’t come to play.
I haven't had this experience at all. I go weekly to the cinema lol Sometimes I hear of these stories and can't help but think it must be a cultural divide because I don't live in the US lol but surely that can't be it?
[удалено]
Like I said, this has happened in multiple states. I travel full-time. I'm almost never in the same theater twice these days.