Terrible Theater Experiences

[Olivia Bauer]

What's the worst experience you've had watching a movie? Annoying crowds? Uncomfortable chairs? That kind of thing. I think I just had my worst.

I went to see Uncut Gems at the theater my sister Angie works at. We sit down, the movie starts, but then some bald dude in a blue hoodie sits across from us.
I paid him no mind until my sister nudged me and said "That guy has been stalking me." Turns out she used to work with this psycho at a different job and he has
a habit of stalking his co-workers even after they quit. I asked Angie if I should get someone and she said she'd do it since I've been looking forward to this movie.

I couldn't even focus on the movie, I was just watching this nutbag out of fear that he might pull out a gun or some s**t. After what felt like an eternity an usher came
and talked to the guy. I couldn't hear the full conversation but the usher read his ticket. What I could hear was the usher telling him he's in the wrong seat and he
needs to move to the one listed on his ticket. He fought with him a bit but gave up and walked passed me. Turns out his seat was on the same row but beyond a large crowd of people.

As he walked by he looked at me and muttered something. I think I heard the word f**k and he sounded angry. I'm guessing he either noticed me staring or was under the impression
that I was her boyfriend or some s**t and insulted me. I couldn't hear him that well. At one point it looked like he was going back to the seat because the usher left and I was prepared to
report him again, but he actually forgot his keys. On his way back he said something to me that sounded an awful lot like a homophobic slur that starts with an "F".

Angie returned but I was too nervous to be in the theater anymore since he was still there so we went outside. We talked to my sister's boss about it. When I mentioned that he
probably called me a homophobic slur, the manager looked absolutely enraged. The guy was forced out of the theater, he got into a fight with an usher, and then, defeated, he
finally left the building. I wanted to go home at this point because I missed a big chunk of the movie but the manager wouldn't have been happy with me if I left after all that.
Besides, I didn't want to risk encountering this loony in the parking lot.

We finished the movie but it was kind of a chore given how much context was missing. I was able to fill in the blanks but the experience was still ruined.
My sister is still shaken about what happened and I was absolutely fuming. I'm still p**sed off right now.

So, anyone else here have a theater horror story to tell?

[Allhallowsday]

Wow.  That is terrible.  The world is sadly full of dirt-bags.  I am sorry you experienced that.  Frankly, I would have left. 

[bob]

When I saw Saw 7 in the theater years ago I was but a few people who saw it.

It was bad enough that I was hating what I was watching, but 2 women who were sitting a few seats from my left kept screaming loudly when someone got killed/injured.

It's like they didn't know what to expect.

Them along with the horrendous quality of the film made me consider leaving before what I paid to watch was done for the only time.

[Gabriel Knight]

To be honest my bad experiences comes just from watching movies like THE FORCE AWAKENS or TOLKIEN, and leaving the place enraged at myself for wasting good cash and paying the coke habits of the producers.

[sprite75]

Nothing too bad.  Mainly crappy seats.

I do remember one time growing up where a movie was delayed about 1/2 hour because of a power failure. This was before cell phones went mainstream so we couldn’t call mom to say we’d be late getting out and she was running errands so we couldn’t reach her in any case. She was grumbling about having to wait on us.

Another time we went to see a movie and the power failed right towards the end due to a storm. It was one we had seen already so we didn’t bother waiting around.

[Alex]

When I went to see Gangs of New York (which was a bad enough experience just by itself), people in the cinema were on their phones throughout. The people sitting right behind us were constantly on the phone until I got fed up, stood up and shouted something. From behind us I heard a whispered "I think I better hang up now."

[claws]

Basically anytime I go to the theater it is more or less a terrible experience: movie ticket is expensive, movie food is expensive, 30 minutes of commercials with only three trailers, almost everyone playing with their phones before, during and after the movie, obnoxious people talking during the movie, people constantly walking back and forth during the movie for whatever reason.

One time we had a bomb threat. The movie was stopped for 45 minutes, police and "bomb" dogs went searching for a possible bomb. They found nothing but it was kind of scary going back and watching the rest of the film. One time we were actually locked in the theater. We had to wait 20 minutes until somebody unlocked the doors.

[The Burgomaster]

A few years ago, before most theaters widened the aisles and installed reclining chairs, the kid sitting behind me (probably about 6 years old) kept kicking the back of my chair. I turned around and looked at him and his father told him to stop. Within a few minutes he was kicking again. I turned my head and his father told him to stop again. Seemed like the father was oblivious to the constant kicking unless I turned around and looked.

[The Burgomaster]

One time we had a bomb threat.

A theater I went to a lot back in the 1970s had several bomb threats while I was there watching movies. At that time, no one was really thinking about terrorism and I don't think anyone was really scared. We were all just annoyed that we had to wait in the parking lot until the fire department searched the building.

[Trevor]

In April 1988, the Sterland [Star Land] cinema complex in Pretoria was the setting for an attempted bombing which resulted in the person / idiot / terrorist setting the bomb - a limpet mine - having a premature detonation and blowing himself to bits. 

Screenings of the film Cry Freedom were also targeted by bomb threats.

[chefzombie]

discovering that the night blindness had gotten bad enough to cause claustrophobic panic when i was 35. haven't been to a movie theater since.

[retrorussell]

A couple really annoying experiences:

Some folks brought their kid with major cerebral palsy or something similar to Superman Returns and he would HOWL LOUDLY whenever the soundtrack kicked in.  Really, really awful experience.

Another time I went to a Halloween special showing of Evil Dead 2 and some mentally off (maybe high) dude in front of me fell asleep and somehow HICCUPPED NON-STOP.  LOUDLY.  Every few seconds, like clockwork, HYUK!  HYUK!  HYUK!  I bumped his chair multiple times and snapped my fingers in his face to get him to stop but he kept doing it.  Finally I got in his ear and told him to stop.  He finally woke up.  I half expected him to go psycho on me but even though he didn't apologize he finally shut up.  That one was particularly rough.

[ER]

When we were underage for an R-rated movie my friend and I sneaked into Pulp Fiction and got chucked out of not just the theater but the whole multiplex. Snooty usher even turned down a ten-dollar bribe. 

[ER]

Another bad time was when some kid in the next row blew chunks (by the smell I think he'd been eating brined roadkill) when I took my little cousin Tyler to see one of the Harry Potter movies.

Not as bad but still annoying, another time I took Tyler to see Shark Tale, and some black guy behind us kept yelling, "Will Smith my BOY! Will Smith my BOY!" 

Blah. I'm glad God miracled us DVDs and streaming services.

[Alex]

For his 18th birthday I took my little brother and two of his school friends to see The Blair Witch Project. The row in front of us had a bunch of drunks from a works night out and they proceeded to be noisy all the way through the movie. One of the passed out and started to snore loudly. I decided to amuse myself by flicking peanut M&M's at his to see if he had any allergies. I don't think he had any allergies as it turned out, but I did make him choke when I got three to land in his mouth at the same time.