I’d venture that most movies are easily ruined by them, but there’s a certain type of film that is actually improved by the presence and participation of a rowdy, participatory audience, some to point where they are otherwise unwatchable. I’m looking for this type of movie.
I just watched a near-perfect example of this type of movie, unfortunately I watched it by myself on cable, but I could easily see how much better it would have been to see in a rowdy movie theater: Piranha 3D. It was spectacularly bad, like 8-Legged Freaks but with endless gratuitous nudity.
When I was growing up in South Florida, I’d go see horror movies at an older theatre in unincorporated Broward County. For lack of a better term, it was a “black theatre”. I had many good times there, because of all the yelling.
I’ll never forget watching Nightmare on Elm Street 3 and in a dead silence while Patricia Arquette’s character is walking down a hall, a guy stood up and screamed at the top of his lungs “DAMN BITCH DON’T GO IN THERE! DON’T YOU KNOW FREDDIE’S GONNA KILL YOU?!!”
Many ‘stupid’ comedies are like this. The Hangover for instance. Big anticipated movies may fir as well. It really added something to the experience when I saw Revenge of the Sith with a knowledgable audience…especially the first intake of breath by Darth Vader.
Well, according to Harry Knowles, watching the 1998 Godzilla with an enthusiastic crowd is quite a different experience from a calmer, more critical viewing at a later time.
When I was in high school it was great fun to join in with a gang of rowdies at “serious movie” screenings and yell various nonsense at the screen under the cover of darkness. Things like:
Never mind the mules, just load the wagon.
Take me out coach, I’m bleeding.
Rodan is in heat.
Don’t pay no 'tention to kangaroos.
That phase passed for me and as movie prices began to approach the price of a decent shirt, my tolerance for such behavior waned.
It’s to the point now that I rarely go to a theater for my movie fixes, mainly because of noisy and inconsiderate audiences.
I’ve been going to a sci-fi film festival at Case Western these past few years. I never was really in to sci-fi before but it is completely awesome - especially the bad films - with a rowdy audience.
yeah, horror movies are enjoyable with the right crowd. we had a fun audience with the latest paranormal activity movie. lots of shrieking, relieved laughter, and “TURN THE LIGHTS ON, YO!”. good times.
openings of big summer films like spiderman* and batman tend to have lots of cheering and clapping, which i don’t mind. then you have stuff like harry potter and lord of the rings, which is usually ok because everyone else there is a fan and they know when to cheer and when to stfu.
*there was one chick behind me during spiderman 3 that i wanted to strangle. whenever someone got their feelings hurt onscreen, she was all “aww…”. and let me be clear, it was a long, drawn out, “AWWWwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww” til her squeaky little voice gave out. she did this at least a dozen times.
on preview: do they even have dollar theaters anymore?
I was at one just the other day, saw In Time.
Not quite worth the two buck admission, but the tickets for me and girlfriend, popcorn, Reese’s Pieces and hot dog ran me about ten bucks total, less than the price of a single admission had I seen the movie in initial release.
Aye, we have a great one here in Vegas on East Trop. Clean, good sound, and owners/managers that really care about providing a good movie-going experience.
Well, not with a rowdy audience, but seeing Casablanca on the big screen, with an appreciative audience, was a much better, and different, experience from just seeing it on a TV.
The most fun I’ve ever had at the movies was seeing Full Metal Jacket in the base theater at 29 Palms with a few hundred other Marines. It’s probably the only time I’ll ever see a jelly doughnut bring the house down.
I’ve never seen old Three Stooges shorts in a theater, but I imagine that would be a blast.
One from over 20 years ago:* Fatal Attraction*. Audiences (even melanin-challenged ones) would get all riled up and shout things like “Kill her!”, referring to the Glenn Close character.
Soon, there was a feminist critique of this reaction (and the film’s attitude which prompted it) – “hey, what about the rights of the lover?” – and some starting feeling a little bad that they had gotten so riled up during the film.
2012 was great. People were just saying things of utter disbelief at the actions of the characters, the multiple ludicrous events, etc. When the ark hit the mountain near the end, one guy shouted “What, there gonna be an AVALANCHE now?!”