One viewer was watching a midnight screening of V/H/S last week when he ran from the cinema screen, collapsed and began to suffer seizures, according to the film’s co-writer Simon Barrett.
While he was being treated, his girlfriend also ran into the lobby and began to vomit. The night before, another woman reportedly left in tears because she could not stand the suspense.
Co-writer Simon Barrett admits that ‘while very funny in parts, the film is also quite intense and gory’
The lurid accounts of movie-goers passing out will no doubt lead some to suspect that this may have been an attempt to court publicity – but the film’s production team insist what happened was real.
Producer Roxanne Benjamin, posting on Twitter as the drama unfolded at the film festival in Park City, Utah, said they were forced to call ambulances and insisted it was a ‘scary’ experience. twitter: Roxanne Benjamin,
‘It was scary and not fun, and everyone is grateful the guy and his girlfriend are OK,’ she wrote. ‘And they wanted to go back in the theatre!
‘One of the managers for the theatre was sitting near the guy, and said he just got real real pale and stood up and bobbed and weaved his way out the door.
‘Once he was in the lobby, he kind of turned around and collapsed. He seemed to go into a seizure and so we called 911.’
Speaking from the festival, Mr Barrett told MSNBC that the man became ill while watching a particularly ‘intense series of scenes’ that include graphic injuries to a person.
He said it was not the first time that V/H/S had created such a reaction, adding that in a screening the night before during the same scene another young woman left the theatre in tears. Bradley Cooper and Zoe Saldana get cozy at Sundance Film Festival,
She spent the rest of the film in the lobby. The filmmakers spoke to her briefly and she told them ‘I just got scared’, but she didn’t return to the theatre, Mr Barrett said. The Swarm: Short Horror Film Made Entirely on Phones [VIDEO]
