When you buy a ticket to a movie, what you’re
really purchasing is an admission into someone
else’s mind.
And things don’t always go the way you think
they might.
Wether it’s because of fear, sickness, or
outrage, these are Screen Rant’s 10 Shocking
Movies That Made People Leave The Theatre.
The Lion King
Lots of kids worldwide have been traumatized
by at least one Disney movie.
They follow a familiar formula, and someone
always dies.
Usually within the first five minutes, the
protagonist loses a parent in some traumatic
fashion.
And even though there’s always a happy ending,
it’s never happy enough to take the sting
out of what you saw earlier.
One of the most tragic events happens in 1994’s
The Lion King.
Apparently the stampede scene was so harrowing,
that groups of youngsters had to be removed
from the theatre and calmed down in the lobby.
We don’t blame them.
In fact, just thinking about it is enough
to bring tears to our eyes.
127 Hours
Based on the true story of an adventure gone
wrong, 127 Hours gets its name from the amount
of time Aron Ralston spent with his arm pinned
under a boulder.
While exploring solo, Ralston, played by James
Franco, gets trapped in a remote part of the
canyon he was exploring.
Not an easy place to be seen.
The film has a lot of unsettling moments,
and it’s not easy to watch as Ralston begins
to slowly waste away in front of your eyes.
But the big shock comes when he realizes that
the only thing between him and freedom, is
the lower half of his arm.
The escape is brutal to both see and hear.
Thankfully, Aron Ralston survived, and his
story serves as an ode to human determination.
The Exorcist
It’s hard to say if more people left showings
of 1973’s The Exorcist because they were
scared, or because they were offended.
Upon it’s initial release, there were reports
of theatre patrons fainting, and going into
shock.
Nobody had ever seen anything quite like it
at the time, and some argue that we haven’t
seen anything like it since.
Audiences were horrified at the thought of
demonic possession, but the fact that it was
happening to a child was unbelievable.
Some religious groups didn’t approve of
the way the subject matter was handled on
screen, and launched protests against it.
The filming itself was very forward-thinking,
and Hollywood learned some valuable techniques
in the process.
Including how to scare the ever-living crap
out of moviegoers.
The Blair Witch Project
Everyone knows The Blair Witch Project was
filmed on a shoestring budget.
Having minimal cast and crew was a great way
to cut costs, but at what price?
The movie has made almost $250 million worldwide,
even though a good portion of the audience
can’t watch it without getting motion sickness.
During it’s theatrical run, the film made
headlines for a few reasons, but the constant
bouts of nausea that plagued some viewers
was chief among them.
Despite every indication that The Blair Witch
was clearly going to be a found-footage movie,
some tender-tummied folks tried to brave it
anyway.
But were disappointed when the filming style
proved to be a little too much.
Avatar
Audiences have come to expect a lot from James
Cameron.
And every movie he makes takes us somewhere
new.
Wether fighting The Terminator, escaping from
a sinking Titanic, or exploring The Abyss,
the director has a style all his own.
And in 2009, his film Avatar exploded at the
box office.
But not everyone watching enjoyed the journey
to Pandora.
After one man suffered a heart attack around
the same time he saw the movie, some people
began to speculate that the stunning CGI visuals
of Avatar were to blame.
We’re not cardiologists, so we’re not
entirely sure of the science, but we do agree
that the environments were pretty spectacular.
Tree Of Life
Most of the time, if you go to see a movie
and end up not liking it, you’ll probably
forget about it and move on.
And the beauty of film lies in its diversity;
there’s something for everyone.
When 2011’s Tree of Life brought two radically
different groups of people together, and forced
them all to sit in the same room, things got
ugly.
Writer and director Terrence Malick merged
science and religion in exploring one man’s
relationship with the idea of faith, and turned
both into one big conversation.
Some audience members were so upset, that
they wanted their money back after seeing
it.
This happened so frequently that theaters
across North America started to post disclaimers
about their refund policy, making sure the
patrons fully understood what they were getting
themselves into.
Hostel
Say what you will about it’s content (or
lack thereof), 2005’s Hostel has some very
convincing special-effects makeup.
The movie is the twisted brainchild of Hollywood
gore-fan Eli Roth.
A man who loves horror so much, that he even
ran a Goretoreum in Las Vegas.
One of the scariest haunted houses of all
time… until it closed down.
Roth doesn’t hold back when it comes to
his big screen work either, and hired legendary
special effects makeup designer Greg Nicotero
to take the visuals to the next level.
Audiences had hard time sitting through the
film, and paramedics had to be called on more
than once to help people who were vomiting,
fainting, or having heart attacks because
of it.
Fantastic Four
Marvel’s characters have found major success
on the big screen, and had some of the craziest
opening weekends of all time.
But it seems that they’re having a hard
time convincing audiences to care about one
group: the Fantastic Four.
The 2015 adaptation was ill-fated from the
get go, so a box office flop seems like a
fitting end.
Reshoots after the fact and changes made in
post-production are most commonly cited as
being the reason for it’s overall failure.
Even the actors are embarrassed of their involvement.
Audiences seemingly went in expecting the
movie to be bad, and were still shocked by
it.
The studio got the hint, and canceled the
sequel it was planning.
Reservoir Dogs
Okay, so we’ve determined that it’s hard
to watch a fellow human being lose an appendage.
But for the most part, we assume that people
behind the camera develop a thick skin and
become desensitized to the blood and guts
of it.
Otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to work.
But for horror icon Wes Craven, one scene
in Reservoir Dogs was apparently so disturbing,
he had to leave a screening of it.
Fans of the movie will remember a sequence
where Michael Madsen’s character, Mr. Blonde,
slices off a police officer’s ear to the
tune of “Stuck In The Middle With You.”
You’d think that the man behind some of
the sickest cinema of all time would be able
to handle a little ear amputation.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
If you’ve opened your eyes in the last 6
months, you probably know that Batman v Superman:
Dawn of Justice is a movie that exists.
Everyone agrees that it’s made millions
of dollars worldwide, but that’s where the
consensus ends.
While some fans really enjoyed watching Batfleck
flail around in his fancy iron lung, the others
were outraged -arguing that director Zack
Snyder missed the mark entirely.
It’s nothing new to hear that fans are divided
over an adaptation of a comic book character.
But what is surprising, is how many people
were offended enough to actually leave their
seats.
Feeling like both Batman and Superman were
being portrayed in ways that fundamentally
contradict their characters, ticket-holders
left in droves.
So what do you think of our list?
Did we miss any shocking movies that made
you leave the theatre?
Tell us about them in the comments below,
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