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.