Your most "visceral" experience at a movie theater.

[Blue]

Poltergeist.

As an impressionable tween (though that terms I don't think existed back then), it seriously scared the socks off of me. For years later I made sure my closet door was closed before going to sleep.

(And sorry, but at 43 years since first shown I'm not going avoid the minor spoiler that it involves a closet.)

 

[Deset Gled]

My spouse had a very strong reaction to Thirty Days of Night in the movie theater. The combination of high-speed vampires, darkness, and a soundtrack that featured lots of sub-sonic tones literally gave her some odd heart palpitations that she hasn't gotten from any other horror movies. At one point I was actually starting to worry she was might have been having some kind of medical episode, but she got through it like a trooper.

Also, I don't know if "visceral" is the right term, but there's a certain kind of movie experience that you only get in a theater that has a bunch of little kids. For example, I saw Up in the theater when it first came out. At the end of the opening tearjerker sequence there's a shot of Carl sitting in his chair, with his wife's empty chair next to him. The mood and music were somber. And in the theater, we heard a very sad, but also confused, little kid suddenly say loudly "Mommy, why is the man all alone?" Normally, interruptions in silent parts of movies kill the mood, but that one was so in tune it could have been scripted.

Or, on a slightly funnier note, we saw Jim Carrey's Grinch in a theater, and there's a jump scare when you see his face on camera for the first time, taking up the whole screen. We got to see a toddler near the front row totally freak out and be carried out by a parent (they eventually came back in later). IMNSHO, that movie is the worst adaptation of the Grinch made yet, but I laughed at that the way you only can after your kids are old enough to not be that kid anymore.

Oh, and we recently saw Minecraft on opening night with a bunch of middle schoolers in the theater. Personally, I don't get it. But from what I saw I imagine that movie is pretty close to their generation's version of Rocky Horror.

 

[Tonguez]

The original Schrek version of Nosferatu, screened at a late night film festival - the combination of being silent and its use of shadows was really evocative and the scene on the ship where Orlok rises from his grave was really startling - it is my favourite horror movie (I dont watch much horror).

Map of the Human Heart was stirring, the scene with them on top of the blimp is a beautiful image

oh and I saw the animated version of Disneys Little Mermaid 5 times over 2 days, but I dont know if that was a visceral experience or just me being an irresponsibledrunk student.

 

[billd91]

Also, I don't know if "visceral" is the right term, but there's a certain kind of movie experience that you only get in a theater that has a bunch of little kids. For example, I saw Up in the theater when it first came out. At the end of the opening tearjerker sequence there's a shot of Carl sitting in his chair, with his wife's empty chair next to him. The mood and music were somber. And in the theater, we heard a very sad, but also confused, little kid suddenly say loudly "Mommy, why is the man all alone?" Normally, interruptions in silent parts of movies kill the mood, but that one was so in tune it could have been scripted.

Along those lines, when we went to see Inside Out in the theater, there were a number of small kids in attendance (our kids, also with us, were considerably older). When Bing Bong disappears, we heard one small, clueless poppet cheerfully call out "Bye bye, Bing Bong!" while we heard another, somewhat more perceptive one sob from across the theater.

 

[Bedrockgames]

The original Schrek version of Nosferatu, screened at a film festival the combination of being silent and its use of shadows was really evocative and the scene on the ship where Orlok rises from his grave was really startling - it is my favourite horror movie (I dont watch much horror).

I saw this screened at a church as a kid and boy did it have an impact on me. I agree. My favorite horror movie (at least the one I rank as the scariest)

 

[Maggan]

On a more cheerful note, written or in film, the scene at the end of the Two Towers where the cock crows and the horns of Rohan can be heard in the distance always brings a tear to my eyes. (ok in the movie they leave out the cock crowing but keep the horn call).

Sometimes i reread that part of the book just for the gosse bumps!

 

[billd91]

OK, confession time. I don't cry at a lot of movies - a few scenes get me from time to time like Riley breaking down about her sadness to her parents in Inside Out (I mean, I'm a father to two daughters, how is that not going to hit me?), CS Lewis and his stepson Douglas sobbing together over Joy's death in Shadowlands.

But the big one was Dumbo. Oh, not the "Baby Mine" scene that gets so many other people. I was a senior in high school and Dumbo happened to be on the TV one night as I was making my dinner, the rest of the family being out. I sat down to eat and it was the scene near the end where Dumbo jumps from high in the big top but loses his grip on the magic feather. Timothy desperately tries to convince Dumbo that it was never the feather, it was always him. And, sure enough, that little bugger flies. Not only does he fly, he really lets his bullies and detractors have it. And the whole time, my heart is screaming, "YEAH! GO, DUMBO, GO! YOU GET THOSE SONSABITCHES!" And before I know it, tears are streaming down my face. It's not like I had never seen Dumbo before. I knew the story. But, WOW, did the triumphant emotions hit me in that moment.

 

[Dioltach]

A couple more for me.

Carlito's Way. That movie really sucked me in, so much that I'd forgotten how it started by the time it reached the end, and I was completely shocked. After the movie my mate went to the toilets and I waited for him in the lobby. Every man leaving the theatre was walking like he was Carlo Brigante.

The Fellowship of the Ring. A stunning movie in its own right, but I'd finally got round to watch the Ralph Bakshi version just the day before. After years of anticipation, my hopes were at their lowest ebb. Right up until the screen went black, and Cate Blanchett's voice-over began. By the first minute I was drooling in my seat.

 

[wicked cool]

Going with a different take

Something about Mary the zipper/fire department scene. Never seen a theater erupt in spontaneous keel over laughter like that. I literally couldn’t hear some of the lines

 

[Ulorian - Agent of Chaos]

When I was 5 years old, I went to the local public library on a Saturday, where they hosted a kids' afternoon. The movie they showed that day was Nosferatu.

That is hands down the most affected I've been by a movie, ever.