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     Kate (Kathleen) Username: Kathleen Registered: 09-2009 Posted From: 81.158.78.71 |
Our local quirkhouse cinema (the Cube Microplex, Bristol) was showing Ealing's DEAD OF NIGHT last night so we went along for the opportunity to catch it on the big screen (I'd never seen it). This is the place that runs such gems/oddities as PHASE IV, THEATRE OF BLOOD (the UK's last surviving print, apparently), LIZARD IN A WOMAN'S SKIN and ALUCARDA, among others. It's never very crowded but last night was probably the busiest we've ever seen it. Especially surprising considering we're usually the oldest people there. It's mostly students and last night was no exception. We had no idea what they'd make of the film and were really surprised by some of their reactions. They laughed at the bits that were meant to be funny (admittedly more than some of the humour warranted), but there was also quite a lot of uproarious laughter in places where we couldn't see the joke. It wasn't isolated; it was spread across the whole room. Sure, the film is dated and corny and has some cheesy dialogue but they just seemed amused by *everything*. And yet they weren't making fun of it. The couple behind us were clearly loving every minute and afterwards the girl pronounced it "awesome" and her bloke said in amazement that he couldn't believe it had been made in 1945. (They were also pretty startled by that final shot of the dummy advancing on Mervyn Johns. As I was - that was bloody scary!) There were other similar comments around us and on the way out I overheard some lads quoting the dialogue: "Jolly unpleasant when you come slap up against the supernatural!" It was loads of fun to see it with such a responsive and appreciative audience (and where the hell were they when we needed them in PIRANHA 3D???) but we were left feeling extremely puzzled by some of their reactions. They weren't rude or disruptive, just having a great time. Is that just the way "the kids" watch films these days? We couldn't figure it out. | ||
| Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey) Username: Ramsey Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 92.8.23.47 |
Difficult to know, Kate. When I first saw King Kong (at the National Film Theatre in the early sixties) the audience reacted much as yours did, but again, they applauded at the end. By contrast, when we saw Hitchcock's Psycho on a big screen with a youngish audience recently there wasn't a single laugh we might have thought misplaced, and the same was true of Night of the Demon. You can never predict these things, I think. | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 92.232.199.129 |
Oooo, Kate, I'm dead jealous that you've been able to see one of my top five favourite films on the big screen - I'd love to see it on the big screen myself. Don't know about the audience reaction though - seems strange that they were laughing in odd places yet seemed to enjoy/appreciate it. I guess an audience viewing the film now would see it in a completely different light to one viewing it in 1945? Audience expectations are much greater now (eg. with CGI, which the young 'uns seem to appreciate  ), yet scenes like the ending of the ventriloquist story in Dead of Night must still pack a punch, despite its simplicity in execution (or maybe BECAUSE of its simplicity in execution?). And I can't believe you've never seen Dead of Night before, Kate! | ||
| Kate (Kathleen) Username: Kathleen Registered: 09-2009 Posted From: 81.158.78.71 |
Hey, we just saw PSYCHO on the big screen too!  (Different arthouse cinema though - we're spoilt here!) Again it was a mostly youngish audience but they were dead quiet except for a couple of chuckles at the expected points. Caroline: Aww, I wish you could have come. It was a real treat. Yes, there are some shocking gaps in my horror film education but John's hard at work.  I show him the occasional one he's missed too. And yeah, it's funny how certain things still pack a punch. John showed me the Dan Curtis DEAD OF NIGHT recently and the climax of "Bobby" really made me jump! So simple and yet so freaky. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.156.210.82 |
John showed me the Dan Curtis DEAD OF NIGHT recently and the climax of "Bobby" really made me jump! So simple and yet so freaky. Brrr...that's one of the scariest film moments I've ever experienced. Really shook me up as a lad. I rewatched it recently, and you know what - it still works. Brrr... | ||
| Stephen Theaker (Stephen_theaker) Username: Stephen_theaker Registered: 12-2009 Posted From: 92.232.184.206 |
Sometimes it can go the other way - we watched Blair Witch 2 at a late night screening where the audience was utterly silent throughout, making it a much more terrifying experience than the film's poor reputation would have you expect. | ||
| Weber (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.66.23.11 |
I saw Richard kelly's The Box last eyar with an audience that was also silent throughout. It's a deeply flawed film but nowhere near as bad as it's reputation. I actually really enjoyed it. It keeps a very creepy atmosphere throughout - although Richard Kelly needs to get a grip on his ego before he does an M Night Shyamalalalalalan and vanishes up his own arse. If the top levels of explanation were removed from The Box to leave the ambiguity that made Donnie Darko so great, The Box would have been one of the best films of recent years. On the bright side, at least Kelly hasn't cast himself in any of his films as the most important writer the world will ever see... One of the best comments I've heard in a cinema as it finished - one of the girls sat behind said to her friend "That was really scary but I don't know why" | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 92.232.199.129 |
I think the worse comment I've heard in a cinema during a film screening was when I went to see "Shadow of the Vampire" (that's the one which takes a tongue-in-cheek look at the making of "Nosferatu"). During the bits where the vampire is doing his biting scenes, the guy behind me kept asking his girlfriend: "Would you like me to do that to you?" I really didn't want that insight into their lovelife!  But back to the issues about cinema audiences, there really is something special, I think, about seeing a film on the big screen. Whether it's just to do with seeing the film in all its glory, or whether it's to do with audience reaction I don't know - a bit of both, perhaps? Certainly I always enjoy my trips to the Fantastic Films Weekend because of seeing these films in the company of a like-minded audience. It's always interesting to hear people's reactions on the way out of the cinema! | ||
| Barbara Roden (Nebuly) Username: Nebuly Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 216.232.178.158 |
I saw DEAD OF NIGHT on the big screen in about 1985, when it aired as part of the Vancouver Film Festival (no idea why they screened that film, but hey, I wasn't going to complain). The theatre was packed, and while there was laughter throughout at the humorous bits, and some good-natured laughter at the beginning at some of the (rather dated) dialogue ('Anywhere bar the kitchen; Cook's in a state!'), by the time the Ventriloquist Dummy segment was in full flow you could've heard a pin drop, the tension in the theatre was so palpable. I think the communal response you mention, Kate, is partly the influence of crowds (if a few people react a certain way others are more inclined to join in), and partly because movie-going is seen as a more social experience (for better or worse) than it used to be; by which I mean that since movies came into our homes in a mass way via video, DVD, and now streaming video, people are less inclined to sit in rapt silence in a cinema, and will instead react more the way they would if they were in their own home. At its best, this means people are caught up in, and engaged by, the film (as seems to have been the case with you); at its worst you get the texters and talkers and the people who really do seem to think they're in their own living-room. | ||
| Kate (Kathleen) Username: Kathleen Registered: 09-2009 Posted From: 81.158.78.71 |
Good points, Barbara. I think you're on to something there. I wondered at first if some of the audience assumed it was meant to be a comedy (being from Ealing and all), and so reacted accordingly, laughing more than they would have if the film had been made by anyone else. When John and I first saw the trailer for THE SOCIAL NETWORK (another film I've still not seen), something about it struck us and we laughed throughout, thinking it was a spoof. Seeing the trailer again, I couldn't figure out why on earth we'd thought it was so funny the first time. And yeah, while the "communal living room" phenomenon can spoil a film, sometimes it really does enhance it. The Cube cinema is a tiny, slightly dodgy and volunteer-run place with a bar and chill-out room. The loo is like an art exhibit where people are encouraged to scribble on the walls and add their thoughts. So maybe all that casual hippie vibe just naturally carries over into the screening room. There's probably a study waiting to be done on how a cinema's layout/decor/vibe influences its audience! | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.253.174.81 |
I think the communal environment is probably very important as regards the reaction to a film. The Cube is very student-friendly and has quite an irreverant atmosphere, which works well in its favour. I think the only thing we've seen there where there was absolute silence was Valhalla Rising. Piranha 3D we saw on a Sunday night at a multiplex and at the time I couldn't help feeling it was 'date night' - most of the audience were in couples and there just wasn't the vibe you should get with one of these movies that require people to go in pretty much a pack. We probably got the night wrong on that occasion. The Watershed is a much more highbrow arthouse cinema and consequently we've recently enjoyed sober screenings of The Day The Earth Stood Still, Psycho, Carrie, and Cape Fear. And in a couple of weeks' time we get to see quite possibly my favourite film of all time, which I've never seen on the big screen - Kind Hearts & Coronets! (I've always wondered if I might be the reincarnation of Robert Hamer ) | ||
| Paul_finch (Paul_finch) Username: Paul_finch Registered: 11-2009 Posted From: 92.5.34.191 |
This reminds me of a trip to the theatre Cathy and I took back in the early 1990s to watch THE WOMAN IN BLACK. Even though we'd paid West End ticket prices, there were several coach-loads of A-level age students in there, who clearly would rather have been somewhere else. Before the curtain went up, there much monkeying about and non-stop laughter and chatter. When the show got underway, it was quite gratifying to see how quickly they all became scared. Admittedly some of the screaming that followed was more reminiscent of an amusement park, but at least the piss-taking had stopped. | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.184.137.136 |
KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS is wonderful - I saw it, along with other gems, on the 'big screen' at the NFT many years back when they had an Ealing season. | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.184.137.136 |
...watch out for Arthur Lowe! | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.158.78.71 |
Btw Zed - do you realise you and I must have seen that same BBC broadcast of Dan Curtis' Dead of Night all those years ago? | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.253.77 |
John - I know! How cool is that?  |