Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

'Scarred for life': Screaming children flee in terror as cinema accidentally shows Paranormal Activity horror film instead of cartoon comedy Madagascar 3

 

John Hall
Wednesday 24 October 2012 09:49 EDT
Comments
Viewers were expecting children's animation Madagascar 3, but were actually shown horror film Paranormal Activity 4
Viewers were expecting children's animation Madagascar 3, but were actually shown horror film Paranormal Activity 4

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Children attending a cinema in Nottingham fled in terror at the weekend after bungling staff accidentally played a horror movie instead of cartoon comedy Madagascar 3.

Parents told how their children were left ‘scarred for life’ when the 15-rated supernatural thriller Paranormal Activity 4 started playing to an audience expecting a PG, family-friendly animation.

The opening scenes of Paranormal Activity show a bloodied corpse being hurled at the camera, leaving children as young as five screaming and crying in terror.

The Daily Mail reported that around 25 families attended the showing at Cineworld cinema in Nottingham.

32-year-old Natasha Lewis told the newspaper how she had taken her eight-year-old son Dylan to see the film

She said: “They started playing the movie and I thought - this doesn't look right. And then I recognised the opening sequence as a flashback to the first movie, which I saw a couple of years ago.

“It opens on the most terrifying scene in the first film - where a body shoots full pelt towards the camera…It's enough to make grown men jump, so you can imagine the terror in these young faces.

“Everybody just scrambled for the exits, all you could hear were children crying and screaming.

“I've watched a few horror films in my time but the Paranormal Activity films are the scariest since the Exorcist…it was enough to scar them for life.

A spokeswoman for Cineworld said: 'We have investigated the incident and can confirm that this was a technical error with the projector and apologise sincerely to the families.

'All customers who were affected by the incident were offered refunds and complimentary tickets.

'We also invited customers to watch the screening of Madagascar 3 half an hour later.

'We take matters such as this very seriously and are currently working with technicians to ensure this does not happen again.'

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in