Haunting* theater-viewings

[ella es toda]

Of the great movies you've seen, how of many them were truly unforgettable? Like, you could replay moments from the screening in your head years later and feel just like you did when you watched it for the first time. I didn't see many movies in a theater this year. The best I saw was Tarantino's Death Proof. I left the theater feeling like I was floating. What's disappointing is that I can't recapture that floating feeling just by thinking about that night. The only part of the night I can recapture is the way I felt when I saw the close-up of Rosario Dawson's face as she watched Zoe Bell riding on the hood of the speeding car.

The supposedly great [and terrifying] No Country for Old Men is playing in Miami. I expect to enjoy it, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to hold on to the experience long enough to justify paying $7 to see it.

[...]

With all that said, my experience with Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Cure isn't one that I want to revisit. When the film ended, I didn't move from the couch for maybe a minute. I felt tired, or drained. At the time I thought to myself: If I had seen this at the Regal South Beach Stadium 18, then I would have had a difficult time walking from the theater to the bus stop.

I don't know, maybe I do want Horror movies to affect me like this.

[Kurosawa Fan]

This won't be a popular answer, but in a theater my most haunting experience was with The Blair Witch Project. The theater was sold out and before the movie started there was a fist fight between about 10 people. They were tossed and the movie began about 20 minutes late. I love the film, despite the backlash it received, and I was very disturbed leaving the theater.

As for at-home viewing experiences, two films left me feeling like I couldn't move until I completely processed what I had just seen: Mulholland Dr. and Requiem for a Dream. Both films completely shook me up.

[Spinal]

This won't be a popular answer, but in a theater my most haunting experience was with The Blair Witch Project. The theater was sold out and before the movie started there was a fist fight between about 10 people. They were tossed and the movie began about 20 minutes late. I love the film, despite the backlash it received, and I was very disturbed leaving the theater.



Nice. I still love the film too for what it's worth. I drove two hours to see it and waited in a long, long line. Definitely one of the most memorable cinema experiences of my lifetime even if it is impossible to recreate the sensation at home alone with a DVD.

[Mal]

Well, I saw CAPOTE before any pr was done for the picture- in fact, when I saw it I didn't even know I was seeing it. It just sprang up on the audience- and in its conclusion, left me devistated. But thankfully, I was brought back to earth when Bennett Miller came out for Q&A and had to deal with a swarmy brit who didn't get that Capote actually spoke like "that."

[megladon8]

Seeing The Fountain in its entirety in the theatre for the first time was pretty amazing.

I haven't had a lot of incredible theatrical experiences, though.

I mean, Batman Begins was pretty memorable because it's the only movie I've ever been to where people dressed up as characters from the movie.

But that really is about it for me.

[lovejuice]

if you talk unforgetable theater experience, i had this notting hill date with a girl i really liked, and learned what movies were actually meant to be.

[MadMan]

Nice. I still love the film too for what it's worth. I drove two hours to see it and waited in a long, long line. Definitely one of the most memorable cinema experiences of my lifetime even if it is impossible to recreate the sensation at home alone with a DVD.I decided to watch the film during the day. It was a blustery cold day, and the leaves were already falling from the trees. In many ways the weather outside mirrored the weather in the film. So in a way that sensation was there. I do wish I had seen The Blair Witch Project in the theater though.

Right now my answer is The Fellowship of the Ring. My friend and I went to see it a week after it was released at 10 am in the morning. We went into the theater excited, and man did the film deliever. We spent the rest of the day gushing over the film, happy that Peter Jackson had managed to almost perfectly capture the world that Tolkien had described in his wonderous books. That feeling was recaptured on the night we went to see The Two Towers a year later. It was the day after opening night, and my friend, my dad, and my sister (all fans of the books) waited along with a ton of people for the usher to let us in. We joked that the poor guy was going to get trampled. Man that was a cool night. And finally the feeling I had when I saw Return of the King in a packed theater. When Anne Leniox's song played at the end credits I was crushed and almost driven to tears, knowing that the trilogy was over and that was it. For me the LOTRs series is my generation's Star Wars.

This year it was leaving the theater with friends after seeing Grindhouse, excited as hell and raving about what we had seen. We even went back later and saw it again, and had that same feeling-in fact after the viewing as we departed we liked both movies just as much as we did upon the first viewing. For me that those two films will be cult films years down the road.

[Qrazy]

The first thing that springs to my mind was when my rep theater screened The Red Shoes. It was my first Powell/Pressburger and I was transported. Brilliant film.

[Morris Schæffer]

Amenabar's The Others was one of the last truly devastating theatrical experiences.

[Raiders]

if you talk unforgetable theater experience, i had this notting hill date with a girl i really liked, and learned what movies were actually meant to be.

Empty theatre, huh?

[rocus]

Seeing Raiders of the Lost Ark for the first time was unforgettable. However as far as the most memorable experience with the audience it would have to be The Crying Game. It wasn't long after the movie came out, and it was amazing that the secret had been ruined by now. The collective gasp when "it" was revealed was incredible. So many shocked people.

Another one was Se7en. I felt like I had just been punched in the gut. Everyone sat there stunned.

[ella es toda]

This won't be a popular answer, but in a theater my most haunting experience was with The Blair Witch Project. The theater was sold out and before the movie started there was a fist fight between about 10 people. They were tossed and the movie began about 20 minutes late. I love the film, despite the backlash it received, and I was very disturbed leaving the theater.

As for at-home viewing experiences, two films left me feeling like I couldn't move until I completely processed what I had just seen: Mulholland Dr. and Requiem for a Dream. Both films completely shook me up.

I saw three of those movies in a theater. I loved the last two films. But what's frustrating about my memory of seeing those movies in a theater (and at home) is that I can only recall that I enjoyed them. I can't physically feel how I felt at the time. There's no lingering emotion to the memories.

[ledfloyd]

that's ridiculous. of course you can't make yourself feel the way you felt by recalling it. thinking about having sex does not feel as good as having sex. i can't think of anything that you can feel the same way thinking about it that you do experiencing it. drug dealers would be out of business. that's why you watch movies multiple times. but many times you're correct, there's nothing like the first time you saw it. still, i don't really see what the problem is. almost everything in life is like that.

[Kurosawa Fan]

Of the great movies you've seen in the past, how many of them can you think about and actually physically feel how you felt when you saw them?

I'm starting to wonder if movies are worth watching.

Feelings are fleeting. Even in real life, I can't recall exactly how I felt the first time I scored a goal in soccer, or the first time I drove a car, or had sex. I remember each moment, but I can't conjure up the feeling I had.

As for a recent film that was powerful enough that I can remember what it felt like watching it, The Celebration is up there. This tense, physically ill feeling just kept creeping in and becoming more intense as the film progressed. It was rough.

[ella es toda]

Almost everything in life is like that.

I agree. But... Yeah.

[Bosco B Thug]

Amenabar's The Others was one of the last truly devastating theatrical experiences. I love your love of The Others. I remember the "rustling curtain" scene vividly as being a gleefully frightening reminder of that very primal fear of the classical ghost. And yes, that final reveal is masterful.

[amberlita]

The most magical experience I had was sort of a smaller theater viewing in a film class during college. First time I saw City Lights. First silent film I'd ever seen. I was giggling insanely the entire film, it totally charmed me and by the end my heart was aching. I just sat there stunned for nearly 5 minutes and cried my eyes out, not caring about these strangers around me who clearly weren't as moved as I was. I was in pieces. I walked back to my dorm in a daze and in recounting the viewing to friends the following few days I'd tear up just remembering what I felt.


Lots of other great viewings though. The Incredibles and the 6 year old kid next to me who actually started crying during the plane/missile scene cause it was so intense. Grindhouse and the whole theater just going apeshit with joy at its awesomeness. Seeing Saving Private Ryan with my family on opening weekend when we went to King's Island and just sitting in the van stunned for 10 minutes that I wouldn't even talk to my family. Million Dollar Baby and crying for literally 30-45 minutes straight at the end. Too many to count.

[Ezee E]

I've had many unforgettable experiences. Whether it be sitting in the rain in Telluride during Into the Wild and House of Flying Daggers, with not one person leaving, or the firsttime amazement at something like Children of Men, or finding a gem like Million Dollar Baby before everyone else, it's what makes the movie theater experience worthy of my money every single time.

[Scar]

This won't be a popular answer, but in a theater my most haunting experience was with The Blair Witch Project. The theater was sold out and before the movie started there was a fist fight between about 10 people. They were tossed and the movie began about 20 minutes late. I love the film, despite the backlash it received, and I was very disturbed leaving the theater.

As for at-home viewing experiences, two films left me feeling like I couldn't move until I completely processed what I had just seen: Mulholland Dr. and Requiem for a Dream. Both films completely shook me up.

I watched Blair With when it came out on video. I was in college, living in the dorms. The whole building was damn near empty. I started the movie late in the afternoon, and when it got really creepy, it got dark out. After the movie was over, I went outside for a smoke. There were woods a coupl hundred yards away. I kept looking at them. Halfway through my smoke, I said 'Fuck it', threw it down, and went inside. I was creeped the fuck out.

[Mysterious Dude]

The Matrix and Children of Men are probably two of my best theater experiences.

[Sycophant]

With all that said, my experience with Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Cure isn't one that I want to revisit. When the film ended, I didn't move from the couch for maybe a minute. I felt tired, or drained. At the time I thought to myself: If I had seen this at the Regal South Beach Stadium 18, then I would have had a difficult time walking from the theater to the bus stop.

I don't know, maybe I do want Horror movies to affect me like this.:lol: I think that's a compliment that you're paying to Kurosawa's film.

The only theatrical viewing where I truly appreciated the crowd factor was actually Grindhouse. The whooping, the sneers, the cheers all worked for the experience. A recent viewing of City Lights on a grand, old-styled theater provided similar thrills.

Conversely, when I saw The Grudge opening weekend, it was full of teenagers. Full of fucking teenagers. They were so loud and terrible that I actually thought I liked the film for a little while in an attempt to compensate for how bad they were.

But perhaps the greatest moment I've had while sitting in darkened, pseudo-comfortable seats was the first opening day screening of The Matrix Reloaded, when one lone fan clapped and hollered for the green Warner Bros. logo. Then people laughed.

[Scar]

Audition left me curled up in the fetal position the first time I watched it.

[ella es toda]

:lol: I think that's a compliment that you're paying to Kurosawa's film.

It's definitely a compliment.

I saw Grindhouse in a theater maybe a week or two weeks after opening day. There were maybe 12-15 people in the theater. When Planet Terror ended, the majority of the audience got up to leave. When the first preview appeard many of the people paused, surprised. Some of them sat back down. I can remember the girl who jumped out of her seat when she saw the cheerleader scene in the Thanksgiving preview. When the preview ended, all but two of the audience members left, never to return. O WELL.

[Sven]

But perhaps the greatest moment I've had while sitting in darkened, pseudo-comfortable seats was the first opening day screening of The Matrix Reloaded, when one lone fan clapped and hollered for the green Warner Bros. logo. Then people laughed.

I've said it many times, but it deserves another:

Glorious moment, that.

[megladon8]

Well, I found The Mist quite haunting.

I still can't get it out of my head.

[monolith94]

Seeing The Fountain in its entirety in the theatre for the first time was pretty amazing.



Yeah, same here: I cried. Other memorable theater experiences:

Amelie on Valentine's day.

Vertigo on the big screen.

Watching Atanjuarat in a totally empty theater.

And there are many others, of course.

[ledfloyd]

grindhouse is probably the most memorable theater experience i've had. the screaming and laughing and raucousness was just a blast.

citizen kane on the big screen is another one that sticks out in my mind.

[MadMan]

I remember going to see Three Kings in the theater because it was the first R rated flick I saw in the theater. The horrors it depected and the insanely dark humor resonated with me, and I left thinking it was a great film. I bought it on DVD years later (it was my second DVD purchase actually) and have seen it 5 times since, and each viewing has been a rich experience. Its one of my favorite movies actually and one of the best war films I've ever seen as well.

Getting to see Raiders of the Lost Ark and Young Frankenstein at midnight shows at my local cheap theater was awesome because of the crowds. With ROTL people cheered, laughed and were excited by a film we all knew and loved, enjoying every single moment and greatful for a chance to see a classic on the big screen. AS for "Frankenstein" the theater laughed at every awesome joke, grinning when ever Mel Brooks and co. crafted a perfect moment of pure comedy. I really must try and go to more of those because midnight shows do rock in many ways. I'd love to see The Rocky Horror Picture Show at a midnight screening with all of its crazy fans someday.

[Scar]

Jurassic Park in the theatre was abso-freakin-lutely amazing. Talk about wide-eyed wonder.

[Yxklyx]

Blair Witch Project as well. My knees were actually trembling after I left the theater - never had that happen any other time.

[megladon8]

Jurassic Park in the theatre was abso-freakin-lutely amazing. Talk about wide-eyed wonder.


Oh hell yes.

This is one of the earliest theatre experiences I can remember in my life, and still one of the best.

I can remember what side of the theatre I was on, and even what the weather was like that day.

[D_Davis]

The first time I saw Saving Private Ryan in the theatre, I sat across the aisle from a WWII vet. About 40 minutes into the film the dude broke down and started balling, and didn't stop for the next two hours. I was an incredibly emotional experience.

[jenniferofthejungle]

One of my most vivid movie viewings happened at home. It was the night I saw Alien for the first time.

I was about 11 or 12, and home alone on a hot, summer night. It was on broadcast TV, fullscreen, no surround sound, no frills, no popcorn and still, it was one of the best movie experiences of my entire life.

I still remember the dread, the panic, the desire to flee, and how I tried to mentally save the characters by urging them to move when the alien was coming at them. If I sit and think about it I can almost smell the same summer air, and remember how wonderful it was to feel the slight breeze that would occasionally drift in through the open windows.

I love that memory.

[MadMan]

Jurassic Park in the theatre was abso-freakin-lutely amazing. Talk about wide-eyed wonder.I envy everyone who got to see it in theaters. For the first time especially.

I actually am sort of glad I didn't go see Saving Private Ryan in theaters, if only because the film's emotional power probably would have overwhelmed me in the vastness of the movie theater. I don't know if I could have handled it.

As for The Blair Witch Project I'm sure it would have been far scarier to me had I seen it in the theater. The ending was goddamn frightening and freaky despite seeing it at home though...

[jenniferofthejungle]

The first time I saw Saving Private Ryan in the theatre, I sat across the aisle from a WWII vet. About 40 minutes into the film the dude broke down and started balling, and didn't stop for the next two hours. I was an incredibly emotional experience.


Nothing like that happened during my viewing, but when the first battle scene was done I was surprised to find out that I'd been silently crying for most of it, and had been sitting there open-mouthed and silent.

[ella es toda]

I had such high hopes for The Blair Witch Project that if the movie had actually been as good or better than I expected, then I would probably be having BWP-related nightmares to this day. Here are some examples of how excited I was to see the film: I taped the first clip I saw of the film on MTV (of Heather running away from the Unseen); I taped a documentary that aired on the Sci-Fi channel; I bought a copy of Time magazine with the filmmakers on the cover (and I would have bought a Newsweek copy if I had enough money); and I bought a book about the mysterious disappearance of the BWP actors.... Yep. My interest in the film developed after I read in the Miami Herald that the film was "supposedly so scary that it would give adults nightmares." And there was a small still from the movie next to the quote of Heather's terrified face (not the infamous Nose one)....

I saw the film in the afternoon at the aforementioned Regal South Beach cinema weeks before it was shown in pretty much every theater in America. Here are two things I can remember from the screening: (1) my mom saying, "they might find their way out if they stopped cursing" whenever the actors were dropping f-bombs and (2) a man with his wife and child laughing through half of the movie. The theater wasn't packed at all.

I was let down unfortunately. And I doubt that anyone in the audience was particularly bothered by it either.

Fast forward weeks later when the film is showing in pretty much every theater in America. I'm at the Miami Lakes multiplex. Around this time I was a heavy movie-hopper. I would be at the theater from 12 pm to maybe 8 pm (I don't do this anymore, but my parents do). Whenever I finished watching a film I would walk into the screening room showing BWP to see the reactions of the people. To this day I can clearly remember the reaction of a young Hispanic guy who was with his girlfriend. They were leaving the screening room. His eyes were Open. Quietly he said to her, "That was some scary shit".

I envied him. I didn't fully enjoy the film until I watched it on VHS the day of its release. The last shot of one of the guys facing the wall chilled me.