Cinema etiquette

i hate a quite theater...I'm the asshole that sits in the back of a slasher flick shouting "DON'T OPEN THE DOOR! THE KILLER IS ON THE OTHER SIDE!" OR "RUN BITCH HE GOT A -insert weapon-" I blame MST 3 K for it.

...

You're an asshole.

Which is why I don't go to the theater that much. And I try to go on a weeknight when there aren't slot of people there

edited 17th Oct '11 3:48:59 PM by vanthebaron

If I'm with a friend then we usually whisper-riff to each other

Maybe it's because I go to the wrong kinds of cinemas or the wrong kinds of films, but I've noticed it's become more of a thing lately for people - who generally think they're a lot funnier than they really are - to loudly commentate throughout a film as though it's something the audience around them will appreciate. Like someone above, I'd say they were trying to emulate MST 3 K or Rifftrax.

For example, like lots of Twilight haters boast on their blogs and forums and Facebooks about how they're going to go to Breaking Dawn and just laugh and snark through the entire thing. I will totally do that when it comes out on DVD. But I personally - although given the nature of the website this forum is attached to I'm guessing I'm in a distinct and dorky minority - think it's kind of obnoxious to want to sit in a cinema and do something that will spoil the experience for the people who are genuinely there to enjoy the film, even if it is something like fucking Twilight. Whispering snide comments about the shitfest unfolding on the big screen to your friends is one thing, but loudly declaiming as though you're a Rifftrax star and everyone should be fucking honoured and enraptured that you are contributing your pearls of wit to their movie-watching experience? Is kind of deluded and annoying.

Note this doesn't include stuff like special screenings of 'The Room' or whatever, where the audience participation/derision is the point.

edited 17th Oct '11 10:27:53 PM by raisingirl83

^ Seems to be par for the course, nowadays, and not just in movie theaters. "I'm so fucking goddamned outstandingly special that everything I do is gold, and you should feel privileged that I share my specialness with you."

How else do you explain Facebook, Twitter, and the like?

I only MST 3 K once the badness (or cheesiness) unfolds before my eyes.

I've been pretty fortunate so far, while there have been little kids at most of the R-rated films i've seen, they were usually quiet and well-behaved, and I haven't yet encountered any truly obnoxious moviegoers, yeah there's a few that text during the film, but I don't really pay attention to that sort of thing, so as long they keep quiet, I couldn't care less.

edited 18th Oct '11 3:25:16 PM by darkrage6

When I went to see HP 6, I was in a theatre comprised of 4 different parties (not counting me and my friends).

• Bottom Left of the cinema: Loud, annoying High school girls
• Bottom Right of the cinema: A large family with a bunch of little children (there was a baby there who cried so much that the mother had to be ejected from the theatre, we all cheered)
• Top Right of the cinema: Loud, Obnoxious teenage guys.
• Top Left of the cinema: Guys who kept trying to riff on the film

I actually had a lot of fun listening to the 4 groups interact with each other, especially when the usher came in to get rid of the baby. Good thing I'm not a fan of HP 6

edited 18th Oct '11 3:35:10 PM by gingerninja666

Completely agreed,that's another reason I don't like going to theaters (Along with ridiculous loudness,overpriced stuff that doesn't taste quite right,and unskippable ads that seemingly take up more time,and of course all the etiquette pet peeves I mentioned earlier).

And I'm so glad when I saw HP 6 I didn't have that crowd,I mean I hated that movie,but that would've made it worse.

edited 18th Oct '11 4:06:16 PM by terlwyth

This. Have you ever sat through Harry Potter with two stoner chuckleheads riffing the entire movie, from start to finish?

A friend of mine got high before we saw Black Swan. Turns out, completely sober me was freaked out by it more than her. She was just calm the whole time.

As seems to be the general consensus, appropriate reactions don't bother me. But if a kid is kicking the back of my seat, I'll slam my back up against the back of the seat and send shockwaves through his legs until he stops. If someone has a phone and I see it, I take it and tell them they'll get it back after the movie's over (no, I'm not a teacher, but sometimes teacher tactics work).

So far, I've been fortunate enough to not be sitting close enough to hear anyone attempting to MST 3 K a movie.

On a vaguely related note, I'm currently writing a script for a slasher movie called The Usher, in which the Villain Protagonist kills people for talking in theaters (among other things... some teenagers who pelt people with candy from the back row get tortured with a nail gun, a smoker gets doused in gasoline and lit on fire, etc. as well). How many people actually think that's a good idea for a movie?

I sometimes whisper-riff as someone said earlier. When I saw Lion King a couple weeks ago, some little kid seemed to feel that it was his duty to loudly point out every lion in the movie. Not even names or anything, just every three seconds "There's two lions there!" "There's six lions there!" His mom got so angry at him that she dragged him out and both of them stood outside the theatre for an hour listening to the movie from outside a closed door.

I am usually okay with appropriate reactions, but I hate people talking, or worse, making out behind me.

Do the Make-Out Kids get welded together?

Luckily a majority of the time I go to the movies. There is no one annoying there.

I remember one time when a guy behind me, my sister and my cousins was laughing continuously when nothing funny was going on. The movie we watched was Paul Blart Mall Cop.

Sometimes I like to riff a movie. Mostly if it's bad. (for example the Glee film. Don't ask how I ended up watching up)

No. Make-Out Kids don't bother me, unless they get too loud about it. And I personally hate movies that judge people who are sexually active... if anything, it's the virgins that are most likely to die in my horror movie ideas, especially if they're virgins because they're prudes.

MST wannabes aren't too bad just as long as they don't suck.

Cellphone lights don't bother me as long as they're kept as low and as away from my vantage point as possible.

Actually have to agree with you; just commented on it because that seemed to be one of the common complaints.

In my time of going to movie theatres (and I go A LOT), I've never seen any make-out kids. But it probably helps that I usually go to afternoon shows and the area I live in is basically a retirement community (though horror movies do excellent here).

Also, I was told by a friend that the make-out kids where I live usually go to the skating rink for that. She used to be one.

Not many make-out kids at the movie theater in my area, either. There's a neighborhood park nicknamed "Turtle Lake" (for the dining-room-table-sized snapping turtles that inhabit the lake there) on my street a few blocks west (can't see the water from my place), and that serves as the local lover's lane... most kids go there to make out. Even though the turtles have attacked people in the past, which always made me wary of the area.

one thing i don't do is sing along with the soundtrack

I've never seen anyone do that. I saw some little kids dancing to the "Move It" song at the end of Madagascar once, but no singing.

My dad does that. It's quite annoying.