MovieChat Forums > The Woman in Black (2012) Discussion > Is it really like this at movies?

Is it really like this at movies?

posted 10 years ago by aaronva
24 replies | jump to latest

So I read the main review that pops up for me for this movie and it talks about people reacting to the scary parts of movies by screaming together and making noises together and then clapping at the end of the movie together...and my question is: is this normal?

I am asking because outside of the couple of Lord of the Rings movies I have never experienced clapping at the end of a movie in a movie theatre or a "group-like" experience where everyone in the movie theatre was sort of...one entity watching the movie together and reacting to it together like is described.

Is this sort of like a city thing, where people in cities act differently in movie theatres than people in the suburbs or am I totally confused and off-base here?

Let me know.

(Joshua) To a homeless man: I'll give you 5 dollars if you let me throw a rock at you.

[–] Danny_Boy_yeah 9 years ago

I saw this the day it came out and there indeed was applause at the end. I'm in New Jersey, by the way. I hated the audience I was stuck with though. They were idiots

[–] jajceboy 9 years ago

I find the whole clapping thing stupid. It works for musicals and plays where you are close to the performers and the experience is more directly shared, but at a movie theatre it's pointless. Unless the cast and crew is sitting there with you and you honour them by clapping. Otherwise I don't see the point of applauding.

[–] view_and_review 9 years ago

I don't mind the whole clapping thing, it's a display of emotion.

19,000 of us watched the Warriors play the Cavs in game 6 at the Oracle Arena in Oakland though the game was in Cleveland. We were all watching the big screen-- we clapped, whistled, yelled and even chanted DE-FENSE although the team was 2000 miles away.

So, although I see your point that the cast isn't present (much like the team wasn't present), people like to express their joy/gratitude in any case.

[–] topkapi56 9 years ago

Perhaps it speaks more to the particular movies you have seen. I have witnessed enthusiastic clapping after:

Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet

Brokeback Mountain (Atlanta premiere)

Fried Green Tomatoes (Atlanta premiere--possibly because the nursing home scenes were filmed here and several of the nursing home employees were in the audience)

Star Wars (the original 1977)

The Exorcist

John Sayles' Limbo (Much applause at the clever ambiguous ending mixed with some stunned silence for the same reason)

Finding Nemo

The Princess Bride

[–] magicman205 9 years ago

Funny you should say this because it was actually in The Woman in Black that I had the worst audience experience of my entire life. I was really into the film (now it's one of my favorites) but the audience kept making Harry Potter jokes, laughing, screaming, and talking the entire time. It was so bad that the friends I went with (whom were all into the movie and were so mad by the audience) all asked for our money back and left halfway through the film. Audience members can be so incredibly rude without even realizing it. Talking, texting, laughing etc.. Nowadays, from 7-10 PM on weekends, I try to stay away from the theater when I think an audience could potentially be annoying. PG-13 horror movies are a big one. If a movie looks like it could pander to stupid people, I try to see it at a time when all of the little kiddies are still in school.

[–] walkerus 9 years ago

The opposite can be worse. My mate and I went to the movies in Washington DC to see "Shot in the Dark" with Peter Sellers as Clouseau. We were laughing so much that I slipped off my seat, and all around us the patrons were looking at us as though we were crazy. AS Clouseau bumbled we laughed more and more and I think we were the only ones laughing out loud in the whole theatre..... that's true. I think being two Northern Englishmen the comedy just suited us more.

[–] Exicidium 9 years ago

I have seen many movies in theater, including midnight realises of big movies. And I have never ever seen anyone clap, or whistle or do anything other then sit. Then again I live in the UK where claping isent really a thing unless live and publicly displaying emotion like clapping wisling or laughing loudly isn't like because its just annoying to everyone around them, so yer it is normal if you live hear anyway, not sure about america

Pointing me out on spelling is just one hell of a poor argument..

[–] ethanpatrick 8 years ago

The only movie I've ever seen in my life where the whole crowd all reacted in unison was The Dark Knight. As soon as Heath showed up on screen, the entire audience freakin ROARED. And the second the screen went to black, the entire audience was literally speechless. The only movie I've ever seen where, after the credits started rolling, no living thing in that theater was making any sound whatsoever.

[–] Skutter-2 8 years ago

Pretty rare in my experience - I've never been to a movie where the entire audience started clapping. A couple of occasions where somebody started a clap but it didn't catch on. Could be a cultural thing, I'm from Australia and we're generally pretty reserved audience members.

One of the few spontaneous mass audience reactions I remember and my favourite was watching Attack of the clones. There was a cut to a scene where Anakin and Padme are having a picnic but the shot was so ridiculously cheesy - rolling green hills, butterflies etc. - that the audience burst out laughing all as one. It was great because it was so clearly not what was intended and everyone was laughing at the movie and not with the movie.

[–] calmeilles 8 years ago

Time was that every film would receive applause.

But then we'd wait through the end credits and stand for the national anthem before leaving too. It was a very long time ago.

[–] arsenico71 8 years ago

It's got to be an american thing, it never happens here in Europe, and never could. The only loud reaction allowed here when sitting in a theater is laughing at funny scenes, any other loud utterance of any kind would be sharply hushed by other people in the audience and be considered stupid and rude. Clapping at the end is unheard of.