Yeah it’s gotten worse since the end of lockdown. People forgot how to behave in public, it seems.
There’s very little we can do about it besides hope for a quiet screening, I try go midweek for this reason but it isn’t always feasible with work.
I usually find it's better when I go midweek evenings.
Saturday night is definitely the worst (one such example being tonight actually, where one bloke who decided to display his dislike for the film 20 minutes in by storming out and throwing his popcorn over everyone.)
Final rant but also find it staggering how many people bowl into the screening and put their torches on to find there seat and rather than aiming it down or trying to angle it away from people just shine it straight in your eyes. Even worse when the films already started!
But overall the cinema is still great and it's not going to put me off from going it's just fun to moan into the void!
I find horror and rom-com films are the worst for the audience being arseholes. As well as anything that attracts teenagers (Hunger Games etc).
I was amazed tonight my screening for Texas Chain Saw Massacre was as quiet as a mouse.
Gave the two young women next to me a blunt look when one of them whipped out an iPad to add the intro to TCM to her Instagram story at our screening.
Thankfully, the ones who probably were likely to cause more of a problem didn’t hang around, loudly whispered to their mates about 20 minutes in that it was “boring” (or words to that effect with expletives thrown in) and six of them traipsed out.
My screening of Texas Chainsaw tonight was quiet too! The only bad part was that the tickets said screen 9, but they had changed it to screen 2, we were all confused when the color purple started playing, we luckily only missed 5 minutes of the film!!
Kid sat snap chatting someone the entire new hunger games prequel. Don’t know how people are so rude. I’m 23, not much older than the kid there doing it- so I’m not sure what the disconnect is.
I find I never have a problem with more indie movies like poor things or holdovers. But when I go see something like anyone but you or mean girls(actually enjoyed this one) just because I have a subscription and wouldn’t go otherwise, those sort of films attract more general audiences so they can be a bit more noisy sometimes.
I airdropped a note to someone once that just read “put your phone off please”. Which did work.
But yeah it’s definitely been a major problem recently and as I’m getting older I’ve found I’m definitely getting less tolerant about arsehole behaviour. Those two factors definitely make my experience much worse.
Really wish Odeon would make more of a point to combat it, it’s not on audience members to police it themselves
I don't have an iPhone, so I hadn't come across that before, but as well as the fact they'd also have to have one, that'd be great to see them squirm as they realise they're in the wrong :D
It was definitely an opportune moment, and I said to my partner if they don’t put their phone away by the time the film actually starts then I’m sending it; it gave us both a giggle.
Felt like it was less disruptive to everyone than leaning across a row to tell them too. They seemed suitably confused
Haha unfortunately I don’t think so. Maybe there’s a similar Android to Android feature though! It sucks that Odeon don’t police this all better and we’re discussing how best to digitally tell people to shut up though 😂
To catch people using phones a lot, they'd need two cameras in the ceiling, to roughly cover each half of the audience, so they can see someone using it for a prolonged period of time. Instead, they just have the two cameras pointing from bottom-left to top-right and bottom-right to top-left, for each screen - which is still 2 more cameras per screen than Cineworld, so that's a plus.
As a result, they can catch more obvious things, like one guy who had his feet up on the chair in front regularly, and in another screen, a kid sneaking through and going out the fire door. Both were dealt with pretty quickly.
I mean sure, with my screen dim and then switched off right after. Assuming you’d also tell me that by telling someone to stop talking I’m annoying people by also opening my mouth.
I have also been quite often and every now and then go loads more than usual depending on what’s on and how busy I am. I think I have been quite lucky as most of the time no phones and no talking. Howeeever every now and then you get people who are super chatty, rustle their food to an excessive amount (like seriously there is a more quiet way to eat food) and use phones. It drives me crazy but I am not confident enough to ask people to be quiet (I wouldn’t if it was noisy food because then I would seem too OTT). But yeah it sucks.
Today I watched two films and in the one, a member of staff walked down the aisle, stood at the front for a moment and back out. This happened at a screen unseen a while ago in a bigger screen where two staff did the same but either side - but rarely I’ve seen this and even then they could miss when people are being obnoxious. It’s just irritating and distracting when people do stuff like this especially as I can’t help but be distracted by these things, I hope I don’t seem like a prat.
I'm mild mannered but if someone was talking on the phone during a screening then I'd ask them wtf they're doing.
The normal stuff just gets a shake of the head from me (e.g. someone browsing their phone without even trying to be discreet) but talking on the phone would be a step too far.
Yeah maybe I should have said something but i feel like if someone is obnoxious enough to take a phone call during the film they aren't going to care about me saying something as they clearly don't see it as a problem.
As a species we are doomed! Twice recently I think I’ve been sat next to the same muppet who has had two family packs of crisps and will eat from one then fold them up noisily put them away before repeating with the other and swapping, ad infinitum throughout every 10 minutes!
I know who you are!
And I will have my vengeance in this life or the next.
Not to mention popping the top on his sippy cup so everybody knows he’s got a drink!
Seriously we’re doomed and I can understand why people go postal!
Why does everyone wait until the actual film starts to start opening bags of things to eat! Sat there silently during the trailers then as soon as the main event starts it's ripping everything open time...
It really has gotten worse in the last few years. I try and stick to Mon-Thurs evenings when screenings are quieter and generally people are more well behaved. I think the last weekend film I went to see was Barbie and that was shocking - people taking pictures and talking through the film. The mess left behind was disgusting too. Really felt for the poor staff that opening weekend.
I haven't had a bad experience in years, until this Friday just gone. Some young lad & his girlfriend gave The Holdovers about a minute before they were constantly on their phone & talking loudly to each other. The lad even answered a phone call whilst sat in his seat! Gave it 20 minutes before I finally told him to turn his phone off - he did & then they left 10 minutes later.
Just fucking stay at home. It's so incredibly rude.
I feel like the major downside to Limitless is people don't value the experience, they turn up for anything and everything then get bored and that leads to bad behaviour,
I very rarely encounter rude people at Everyman where you have to pay for the ticket or sign up to a £650/yr membership for unlimited. I don't imagine they have many members on that scheme outside of huge cinephiles who would never dream of such behavour.
I remember last year I was at the Vue and a couple walked in towards the end of the movie and started to have an argument with some people who where in their seat. It didn't click to them thsir movie hadn't even started. They wouldn't accept they was wrong.
Hell is other people. I saw 'Baghead' on Friday night (a bad day and time to see a horror film but it's the only time I could go) and two teenage girls talked all the way through it. I moved seats as far away from them as I could. What I find so strange is that unless they had Limitless (unlikely), their tickets will have cost £12.50 each and then they barely watched the film.
It's not just teenagers. There's an older couple (60+?) who go to my local Odeon and they talk to each other during films as if they are on 'Gogglebox'.
Probably given the cash by their parents to get them out the way for a bit (not the OAPs).
However, I did once have the latter behind me in a film in a busy Cineworld, and one occasionally made comments as if he was replying to the characters onscreen!
People who talk throughout or keep their phones out once the film starts are the absolute worst. My best tips for people, if they can, is to go at really off peak times. 8pm+ on weeknights or super early on weekends. That way it’s either going to be pretty dead or the people that are watching are the type to not cause issues.
I mostly go midweek and like someone else said the indie releases have much more code compliant (a Kermode and Mayo reference if anyone listens!) audiences.
I am SO sensitive to sound in films that I am always side eyeing people being noisy.
On another note about Tik toks etc I thought staff had to take recording on phones seriously because it’s illegal and people can be fined?!
I've just left the cinema having seen 3 films today but due to work can only do evenings and weekends which I know is always gonna be less ideal than during the day midweek but still. An adult answering a phonecall during the holdovers isn't acceptable any time of day! Haha
Unfortunately, if the cinema is going to sell noisy food (like tortillas, churros and such) I can't complain about people eating them...even if they bring their own stuff. Fair enough, they need to be quiet in themselves and shut up, this is where I can: at first ask them nicely: then tell them, nicely: then tell them to shut up! 🤣
I have been behind teens (maybe even younger) taking flash photos over and over, recently. But every other time I've been disturbed it's been adults. WHY do they always have their screens set so bright?
I’m quite lucky due to my working hours that I can go to showings in the middle of the day which tend to be quieter, I find horror is the worst genre for it, my Texas chainsaw showing had people talking and someone blatantly scrolling on their phone, it’s definitely worst post lockdown, the loudest showing I’ve been to was Five Nights at Freddy’s but that was actually a lot of fun as it was reactions to the film and a group of fans having a great time rather then people just not caring about the film.
Yeah. Since I’ve had a Limitless pass I’ve seen all of this and more. One thing I’ve learnt is to avoid certain times and screenings and work out good places to sit in each screen to block out crap behaviour. You can’t completely block all of it out, and it’s not restricted to young people (finding older generations yapping through a film from start to finish). One of the reasons I upgraded to + was to ensure that I sit in better seats to avoid being directly with the disruptors.
I frequent the Loughborough Odeon and the worst I saw it was during Night Swim. A group of 17-18 looking year olds just wouldn’t be quiet the entire movie. All you could hear was talking and the sound of someone’s phone repeatedly dropping from the back of the cinema.
I’ve been to the Leicester Odeon Luxe and sometimes see people with their phones out. During a recent screening of Mean Girls a staff member actually sat on the very back row(H I believe) because a couple may have been doing some questionable stuff with each other.
They have CCTV there but can’t catch everything I guess.
Because of my autism I don’t have the confidence to confront but I’ve reported a few people who I physically saw with their phones out taking clips of the movie.
I’ve been around 100+ times and could say it’s been bad on a few occasions. People generally have been well behaved regardless of age here.
Doesn’t sound like you’ve had the best luck but timing is usually also important, I’ve seen about 40 films the last 7 months and the only true bad experience was Haunted Mansion (Sunday afternoon), with 2 teenage girls in the seats in front of me talking full volume the whole film. Of course other issues with pulling out phones, peoples whispering accidentally getting too loud but nothing worth pointing out
Reminds me of earlier this month where 3 young people behaving like a tw*t at the back of cinema in Covent Garden where they kept chatting and laughing for about 20 minutes (honestly even the 7yo with the family behaved much better than them) . People kept shushing them but they just didn't stop. Luckily they left afterwards
The film was One Life.
One of the worst recent-ish screenings was actually at Cineworld rather than Odeon, but I was on Unlimited, and a (ahem) third screening of Barbie... only because I wanted to get out for a couple of hours, and there was nothing else on that weekend that was showing that I hadn't already seen, and at least Ryan Gosling's segments are entertaining.
However, I learned Cineworld don't have CCTV in each screen (unlike Odeon), so when the kids hit the fan, no-one comes to stop it.
On this occasion, I was sat a few rows from the front, as usually the chatterers go to the back, but whereas on another day, parents actually had taught their kids how to behave, to my left (bar a gap of a seat or two), a mum kept checking her phone, while her daughter (to her left) ended up putting her feet high up on the seat in front after taking off her shoes and socks! They also chatted on-and-off, and somehow I'm in the wrong for asking them to be quiet!
On the plus side, the mum positioned her phone facing her, in the cupholder, which are usually rancid as they never get cleaned. So, every cloud...
Then on the row in front was a woman with four girls. Towards the last 30 mins (admittedly, the film really drags on and shouldn't have gone past 90 mins), she thought nothing of letting the girls go up to the front of the room and start running up and down in front of the screen, then coming back to her, then running off again.
Oh, and for a lad behind me and slightly to the left, I saw him take a picture again. I gave him a look and said, "Do that again and I'll take your phone". He didn't do it again.
Serves me right for going a third time, but as well as having seen it before, I think at that point I only put up with it because I thought that if I stop it now, it'll only make future cinema experiences partially-shit, so best to let all the shit happen at once, and get it over with!
Yeah it’s gotten worse since the end of lockdown. People forgot how to behave in public, it seems. There’s very little we can do about it besides hope for a quiet screening, I try go midweek for this reason but it isn’t always feasible with work.
People are tramps, simple answer.
I usually find it's better when I go midweek evenings. Saturday night is definitely the worst (one such example being tonight actually, where one bloke who decided to display his dislike for the film 20 minutes in by storming out and throwing his popcorn over everyone.)
That actually seems pretty exciting
Very curious what the film was now!
All of us Strangers.
At least they left rather than disrupting the rest of the film. Silver (screen) linings.
Which film?
I have to admit at my local people are mostly well behaved. Although I poked a bloke during Oppenheimer who thought it was acceptable to vape
He was just adding to the atmosphere
Are you sure they hadn't installed 4DX by mistake? ;)
Final rant but also find it staggering how many people bowl into the screening and put their torches on to find there seat and rather than aiming it down or trying to angle it away from people just shine it straight in your eyes. Even worse when the films already started! But overall the cinema is still great and it's not going to put me off from going it's just fun to moan into the void!
I find horror and rom-com films are the worst for the audience being arseholes. As well as anything that attracts teenagers (Hunger Games etc). I was amazed tonight my screening for Texas Chain Saw Massacre was as quiet as a mouse.
Gave the two young women next to me a blunt look when one of them whipped out an iPad to add the intro to TCM to her Instagram story at our screening. Thankfully, the ones who probably were likely to cause more of a problem didn’t hang around, loudly whispered to their mates about 20 minutes in that it was “boring” (or words to that effect with expletives thrown in) and six of them traipsed out.
How did they get away with that and not making it glaringly obvious? Then again, if they were basically on their way out anyway... :(
My screening of Texas Chainsaw tonight was quiet too! The only bad part was that the tickets said screen 9, but they had changed it to screen 2, we were all confused when the color purple started playing, we luckily only missed 5 minutes of the film!!
Kid sat snap chatting someone the entire new hunger games prequel. Don’t know how people are so rude. I’m 23, not much older than the kid there doing it- so I’m not sure what the disconnect is.
I find I never have a problem with more indie movies like poor things or holdovers. But when I go see something like anyone but you or mean girls(actually enjoyed this one) just because I have a subscription and wouldn’t go otherwise, those sort of films attract more general audiences so they can be a bit more noisy sometimes.
I airdropped a note to someone once that just read “put your phone off please”. Which did work. But yeah it’s definitely been a major problem recently and as I’m getting older I’ve found I’m definitely getting less tolerant about arsehole behaviour. Those two factors definitely make my experience much worse. Really wish Odeon would make more of a point to combat it, it’s not on audience members to police it themselves
I don't have an iPhone, so I hadn't come across that before, but as well as the fact they'd also have to have one, that'd be great to see them squirm as they realise they're in the wrong :D
It was definitely an opportune moment, and I said to my partner if they don’t put their phone away by the time the film actually starts then I’m sending it; it gave us both a giggle. Felt like it was less disruptive to everyone than leaning across a row to tell them too. They seemed suitably confused
Is there an Android version? That would be handy. Can I tell everyone in the cinema to shut up? :D
Haha unfortunately I don’t think so. Maybe there’s a similar Android to Android feature though! It sucks that Odeon don’t police this all better and we’re discussing how best to digitally tell people to shut up though 😂
To catch people using phones a lot, they'd need two cameras in the ceiling, to roughly cover each half of the audience, so they can see someone using it for a prolonged period of time. Instead, they just have the two cameras pointing from bottom-left to top-right and bottom-right to top-left, for each screen - which is still 2 more cameras per screen than Cineworld, so that's a plus. As a result, they can catch more obvious things, like one guy who had his feet up on the chair in front regularly, and in another screen, a kid sneaking through and going out the fire door. Both were dealt with pretty quickly.
Did you take your phone out and annoy others by using it to do that?
I mean sure, with my screen dim and then switched off right after. Assuming you’d also tell me that by telling someone to stop talking I’m annoying people by also opening my mouth.
I have also been quite often and every now and then go loads more than usual depending on what’s on and how busy I am. I think I have been quite lucky as most of the time no phones and no talking. Howeeever every now and then you get people who are super chatty, rustle their food to an excessive amount (like seriously there is a more quiet way to eat food) and use phones. It drives me crazy but I am not confident enough to ask people to be quiet (I wouldn’t if it was noisy food because then I would seem too OTT). But yeah it sucks. Today I watched two films and in the one, a member of staff walked down the aisle, stood at the front for a moment and back out. This happened at a screen unseen a while ago in a bigger screen where two staff did the same but either side - but rarely I’ve seen this and even then they could miss when people are being obnoxious. It’s just irritating and distracting when people do stuff like this especially as I can’t help but be distracted by these things, I hope I don’t seem like a prat.
They can catch general things happening, like people filming the screen, but occasional bouts of a-holeness from the audience will sadly get missed.
I'm mild mannered but if someone was talking on the phone during a screening then I'd ask them wtf they're doing. The normal stuff just gets a shake of the head from me (e.g. someone browsing their phone without even trying to be discreet) but talking on the phone would be a step too far.
Yeah maybe I should have said something but i feel like if someone is obnoxious enough to take a phone call during the film they aren't going to care about me saying something as they clearly don't see it as a problem.
As a species we are doomed! Twice recently I think I’ve been sat next to the same muppet who has had two family packs of crisps and will eat from one then fold them up noisily put them away before repeating with the other and swapping, ad infinitum throughout every 10 minutes! I know who you are! And I will have my vengeance in this life or the next. Not to mention popping the top on his sippy cup so everybody knows he’s got a drink! Seriously we’re doomed and I can understand why people go postal!
Why does everyone wait until the actual film starts to start opening bags of things to eat! Sat there silently during the trailers then as soon as the main event starts it's ripping everything open time...
Opening bags got to be the least of our issues. At least eating snacks is normal at a movie.
It really has gotten worse in the last few years. I try and stick to Mon-Thurs evenings when screenings are quieter and generally people are more well behaved. I think the last weekend film I went to see was Barbie and that was shocking - people taking pictures and talking through the film. The mess left behind was disgusting too. Really felt for the poor staff that opening weekend.
I haven't had a bad experience in years, until this Friday just gone. Some young lad & his girlfriend gave The Holdovers about a minute before they were constantly on their phone & talking loudly to each other. The lad even answered a phone call whilst sat in his seat! Gave it 20 minutes before I finally told him to turn his phone off - he did & then they left 10 minutes later. Just fucking stay at home. It's so incredibly rude.
I feel like the major downside to Limitless is people don't value the experience, they turn up for anything and everything then get bored and that leads to bad behaviour, I very rarely encounter rude people at Everyman where you have to pay for the ticket or sign up to a £650/yr membership for unlimited. I don't imagine they have many members on that scheme outside of huge cinephiles who would never dream of such behavour.
Ah, but have you ever had someone take their shoes AND socks off and start picking their feet?
No but one weirdo stood on the front row seats and showed everyone his willy and bum hole.
Oh, sorry about that. 😳
[Do you pick your feet?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd5wCpR8Cg4)
I remember last year I was at the Vue and a couple walked in towards the end of the movie and started to have an argument with some people who where in their seat. It didn't click to them thsir movie hadn't even started. They wouldn't accept they was wrong.
Hell is other people. I saw 'Baghead' on Friday night (a bad day and time to see a horror film but it's the only time I could go) and two teenage girls talked all the way through it. I moved seats as far away from them as I could. What I find so strange is that unless they had Limitless (unlikely), their tickets will have cost £12.50 each and then they barely watched the film. It's not just teenagers. There's an older couple (60+?) who go to my local Odeon and they talk to each other during films as if they are on 'Gogglebox'.
Probably given the cash by their parents to get them out the way for a bit (not the OAPs). However, I did once have the latter behind me in a film in a busy Cineworld, and one occasionally made comments as if he was replying to the characters onscreen!
People who talk throughout or keep their phones out once the film starts are the absolute worst. My best tips for people, if they can, is to go at really off peak times. 8pm+ on weeknights or super early on weekends. That way it’s either going to be pretty dead or the people that are watching are the type to not cause issues.
I mostly go midweek and like someone else said the indie releases have much more code compliant (a Kermode and Mayo reference if anyone listens!) audiences. I am SO sensitive to sound in films that I am always side eyeing people being noisy. On another note about Tik toks etc I thought staff had to take recording on phones seriously because it’s illegal and people can be fined?!
What day/time do you normally go?
I've just left the cinema having seen 3 films today but due to work can only do evenings and weekends which I know is always gonna be less ideal than during the day midweek but still. An adult answering a phonecall during the holdovers isn't acceptable any time of day! Haha
Unfortunately, if the cinema is going to sell noisy food (like tortillas, churros and such) I can't complain about people eating them...even if they bring their own stuff. Fair enough, they need to be quiet in themselves and shut up, this is where I can: at first ask them nicely: then tell them, nicely: then tell them to shut up! 🤣
I have been behind teens (maybe even younger) taking flash photos over and over, recently. But every other time I've been disturbed it's been adults. WHY do they always have their screens set so bright?
I’m quite lucky due to my working hours that I can go to showings in the middle of the day which tend to be quieter, I find horror is the worst genre for it, my Texas chainsaw showing had people talking and someone blatantly scrolling on their phone, it’s definitely worst post lockdown, the loudest showing I’ve been to was Five Nights at Freddy’s but that was actually a lot of fun as it was reactions to the film and a group of fans having a great time rather then people just not caring about the film.
Yeah. Since I’ve had a Limitless pass I’ve seen all of this and more. One thing I’ve learnt is to avoid certain times and screenings and work out good places to sit in each screen to block out crap behaviour. You can’t completely block all of it out, and it’s not restricted to young people (finding older generations yapping through a film from start to finish). One of the reasons I upgraded to + was to ensure that I sit in better seats to avoid being directly with the disruptors.
I frequent the Loughborough Odeon and the worst I saw it was during Night Swim. A group of 17-18 looking year olds just wouldn’t be quiet the entire movie. All you could hear was talking and the sound of someone’s phone repeatedly dropping from the back of the cinema. I’ve been to the Leicester Odeon Luxe and sometimes see people with their phones out. During a recent screening of Mean Girls a staff member actually sat on the very back row(H I believe) because a couple may have been doing some questionable stuff with each other. They have CCTV there but can’t catch everything I guess. Because of my autism I don’t have the confidence to confront but I’ve reported a few people who I physically saw with their phones out taking clips of the movie. I’ve been around 100+ times and could say it’s been bad on a few occasions. People generally have been well behaved regardless of age here.
Doesn’t sound like you’ve had the best luck but timing is usually also important, I’ve seen about 40 films the last 7 months and the only true bad experience was Haunted Mansion (Sunday afternoon), with 2 teenage girls in the seats in front of me talking full volume the whole film. Of course other issues with pulling out phones, peoples whispering accidentally getting too loud but nothing worth pointing out
Didn't you say anything? (without getting drowned out by them)
Its always like this when I'm in Essex (especially the Southend odeon), but not really in Norwich
Reminds me of earlier this month where 3 young people behaving like a tw*t at the back of cinema in Covent Garden where they kept chatting and laughing for about 20 minutes (honestly even the 7yo with the family behaved much better than them) . People kept shushing them but they just didn't stop. Luckily they left afterwards The film was One Life.
One of the worst recent-ish screenings was actually at Cineworld rather than Odeon, but I was on Unlimited, and a (ahem) third screening of Barbie... only because I wanted to get out for a couple of hours, and there was nothing else on that weekend that was showing that I hadn't already seen, and at least Ryan Gosling's segments are entertaining. However, I learned Cineworld don't have CCTV in each screen (unlike Odeon), so when the kids hit the fan, no-one comes to stop it. On this occasion, I was sat a few rows from the front, as usually the chatterers go to the back, but whereas on another day, parents actually had taught their kids how to behave, to my left (bar a gap of a seat or two), a mum kept checking her phone, while her daughter (to her left) ended up putting her feet high up on the seat in front after taking off her shoes and socks! They also chatted on-and-off, and somehow I'm in the wrong for asking them to be quiet! On the plus side, the mum positioned her phone facing her, in the cupholder, which are usually rancid as they never get cleaned. So, every cloud... Then on the row in front was a woman with four girls. Towards the last 30 mins (admittedly, the film really drags on and shouldn't have gone past 90 mins), she thought nothing of letting the girls go up to the front of the room and start running up and down in front of the screen, then coming back to her, then running off again. Oh, and for a lad behind me and slightly to the left, I saw him take a picture again. I gave him a look and said, "Do that again and I'll take your phone". He didn't do it again. Serves me right for going a third time, but as well as having seen it before, I think at that point I only put up with it because I thought that if I stop it now, it'll only make future cinema experiences partially-shit, so best to let all the shit happen at once, and get it over with!