What The Hell Is Movie Theatre Horror?

Popcorn” Image From IMDB

Setting The Scene

What better place is there to experience a horror movie than at the cinema surrounded by a large anticipating audience ready to be scared shitless by demons and haunted houses, or laugh at the dumb horny teens as they get themselves killed in various creative ways? But, what if you set the horror flick in the Movie Theatre itself?

We see the familiar rituals as the audience arrives: The crowd chatting in the street under the bright white light of the marquee as they wait for the doors to open to the cinematic temple. The ticket tellers handing out stubs. Buying tubs of popcorn from the confectionary counter, complete with an ungodly amount of butter if you’re in a movie, and an enormous drink that you’re likely to nearly spill at some point.

We watch as the excitement and anticipation gathers in the lobby. Friends and/or potential enemies form, who will no doubt have to work together later. They check out the film posters leading to the screen. Some we’ve never heard, only existing in the fictitious world created before us. Others are classics, or cult movies the setting is encouraging us to watch. Plenty of times i’ve seen a poster in a movie for another movie that I’ve ended up watching later. Movie Theatre Horror can be referred to as Meta-Cinema after all.

The lively crowd settles into the auditorium ready for the movie. It’s always noisy and boisterous, unlike most real world cinemas. Do the film makers know this? Or do they think this is how their movie would be received? A carnival like atmosphere has taken shape. They’re ready to watch some dumb horror movie they can laugh and scream at. If the mammoth drink is going to be spilt, or the huge tub of buttery popcorn is going to be accidentally dumped over someone’s head, now is the time.

Further expectations grow in the smoky theatre as the curtains are drawn back and the trailers begin. More room for fun as we witness future attractions that will most likely never be. The trailers often set the tone for what we’re about to witness: Give us insight into future scenes. Foreshadow a characters death. Or, they simply offer a repeatable line that can be used at an optimum moment… probably to undercut a murder.

Then… the movie begins. It takes a while for the crowd to settle down. The excitement is palpable. Everyone is game for having a great time. Sure, there’s plenty of eye rolling from partners dragged along to a dumb horror movie, or kids missing the on-screen action as they get action of their own in the back rows. But, mostly everyone is glued to the silver screen and the massive images projected in front of them. They remain this way into something inevitable goes wrong…

The Final Girls: Image From IMDB

What Could Go Wrong?

Maybe something begins to haunt the Movie Theatre. The lights flicker. The projected image starts to slide up and down the screen to the inevitable boos from the sugar-buzzed audience. Burn marks and black blotches are sporadically dotted across the onscreen heroes. Popcorn and milk duds fly. The sound winds down to an eerie slow motion. Maybe this is when the audience starts to notice something is up, something maybe supernatural. What just appeared on the screen?

Or, the auditorium itself could malfunction. Electricity sparks from the surround sound. A frightening bang plunges the audience into complete darkness. Fire engulfs the screen offering them an unwelcome light source. The doors are locked or blocked, because they always are! Panic erupts as the patrons trample over one-another while they scramble to get away from the building fire. The spilt drinks and snuck-in-alcohol only enrage the flames. The cinema has become a death trap. Any second floor seating could already be falling, or at bare minimum, people are tumbling over the rail. The red curtain alongside the screen has fully caught ablaze now, framing the onscreen violence while echoing what’s happening before it.

Something within the flick itself could cause the chaos in the Movie Theatre. Give power to a demonic mask perhaps. Turn the watching audience into a horde hell-bent on killing one another. Infect them with pure evil, oddly reminiscent of the exact thing they’ve been watching. Before you know it, the actions spilt from the screen to the cinema itself. Suddenly people are riding around on motorbikes while swinging swords at the undead. If you know you know.

Or, perhaps the danger has been lurking within the confines of the cinema all along. A killer amongst the crowd. Do they have some kind of connection with the movie being shown? Or, is the film simply their pre-game? Maybe they’re taking notes. Learning new brutal ways to kill that they’ll quickly try out on the watching audience. Echo what they’re cheering on screen. They won’t be cheering when it happens to them.

Could the impossible take place and the audience themselves are sucked into the very film they’re watching? Have they been paying attention and learnt the rules to survive? Or, are they going to make the same mistake as the retarded horny teens who already succumb to the demented Slasher or Psycho Hillbilly.

Worse still… could the crazy insane savage barbaric psycho killer walk straight off the screen and into the cinema. Wouldn’t that be a shock to the packed audience. I’m sure more than a couple of them would want their money back, but they’ll be dead long before the refund is completed.

Tingler: Image From IMDB

Legacy Off Movie Theatre Films

Movie Theatres have been the setting for some absolutely fantastic scenes and films in the last hundred years. While the beginnings of this genre didn’t start out as horror, although there’s still plenty of insane stuff that’s borderline horror in Keaton’s incredible Sherlock Jr, the setting itself really is ripe for the horror genre.

Without Movie Theatre horror we wouldn’t have gotten that everlasting image of the backlit demons stalking out of the smoky auditorium in Lamberto Bava’s Demons. Or the enduring brilliance of a picture house full of Gremlins singing along to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, complete with a few of the cutest bars ever from Gizmo.

Movie Theatre Horror might not be the widest recognised subgenre or trope, but we’ve all seen and loved something from it. When it comes right down to it, outside of the classical cabin in the woods or insane asylum, where better to stage a horror than in the cinema itself? It begs for creative. Allows narrative shortcuts. The doors are wide open for any kind of Meta-Cinema. The Movie Theatre really is a fucking great place to set a horror movie.