Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Please Stop Ruining Our Horror Movies

Going to the movie theater has always been a thrill for me. Seeing a newly released film on the big screen will always be truly amazing. I treat it as if it were an event, or some kind of special privilege, so much so that I keep all my movie stubs.

That being said...

I saw The Conjuring 2 recently, it was a great movie, but I had an awful theater experience. People talking, shouting, cell phones ringing, just making all kinds of noise in general during the movie. So much in fact that at certain points in the movie the suspense was ruined, or the dialogue could not be heard clearly.

After doing some thinking about this, I feel it’s no wonder that people pass on seeing movies in the theater and opt to wait for them to release on Blu-ray/DVD, Video On Demand (VOD) or some other internet streaming service.

A part of me says, why don’t I just skip the theater from now on and simply watch them when they become available for me to get at home? That way I can watch them in peace and quiet. I mean, I do have a nice size television and an awesome surround sound system. There isn’t anything really stopping me.

However, aside from the fact that my television will most likely never match the big screen experience the movie theaters offer, my love and passion for the genre IS what stops me from skipping the theatrical run. I want to support Horror in every way I can, and I feel the best way to do that is to see them when they are released theatrically.

"waiting for the film" by BMiz is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

Talking (or just being disruptive) in the theater during the movie isn’t anything new. It has happened to me in the past (and sadly will probably happen again), but this time it really got to me. It also made me realize something: It is usually Horror movies that are the most susceptible to this kind of inconsiderate behavior.

Whenever I go see an Action movie or Comedy, people seem a little more behaved. There aren’t many distractions or disruptions. I saw Captain America: Civil War (also a great movie) a few weeks back and did not have any issues. I feel like no one made a peep. I really don’t know why this is, but I feel it has a lot to do with sound.

Horror movies revolve a lot around sound (or the lack thereof) to build tension and suspense. When a scene gets eerily quiet to build up a frightening moment and someone in the theater is talking, or their phone starts ringing, or (my favorite) they yell “Ahh!” in hopes to scare a nearby friend; it ruins the scene and takes you out of the movie.

With something like Civil War for example, the action scenes are filled with loud fights and explosions. Things that can mask the audiences talking or rude distractions. Someone would have to be pretty loud for you to hear them over scenes like that.

In the end, it saddens me how many people can be disrespectful to others when inside a movie theater. We all paid our hard earned money to watch the same film, why don’t we all just sit back and enjoy it? You don’t need to entertain your friends the whole time, that is what the movie is for. We don’t need your commentary, and I think you will survive going two hours without your phone.

It seems the true horror of seeing a horror movie in the theater is the people who ruin it.

On behalf of the horror movie fan base... I ask simply, please stop ruining our horror movies.

On the bright side… The Conjuring 2 came in at #1 at the Box Office in it's opening weekend, beating out an action Summer blockbuster. Not too many Horror movies can say that.