This is topic A "Real-Life Scary Movie" in forum Ground Level at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.


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Posted by Charles Everett (Member # 889) on 10-26-2003, 12:22 PM:
 
That's the headline from today's Trentonian (Trenton NJ) newspaper. It describes a riot on opening night of Scary Movie 3 at the AMC Hamilton.

According to the Trentonian, people who couldn't get into Scary Movie 3 made their way into The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. After that movie let out they went on a wilding spree: 7 robberies, 3 assaults, 1 theft, 1 criminal mischief. This spree spread from the AMC parking lot to a Taco Bell and a bus stop nearby.

A 57-year-old woman leaving the theater had her car pelted with rocks and kicked at. Two teenage girls had to go to the hospital with facial cuts.

Three teenagers were taken to the Mercer County juvenile hall on riot and robbery charges. Four other teens were charged with riot, theft, assault and criminal mischief; they were released to parents' custody.

To make things worse, Hamilton Township police weren't aware of the wilding spree until police dispatchers got phone calls from witnesses! The cops had to call in backup from nearby Lawrence Township.

According to the Trenton Times, police have had their hands full dealing with crime at the AMC Hamilton. In 2002 they had to deal with 33 burglaries, 13 thefts, 7 assaults, 3 robberies and 2 auto thefts.
 

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Posted by Emma Tomiak (Member # 1862) on 10-26-2003, 09:52 PM:
 
Last night, as always happens, a group of kids who just hang out began to accumulate in the lobby. Usually we make them go outside when we close the concession stand and the box office, but we just had a cold front and weren't going to make them leave until the concession stand was completely clean, most movies out, etc.
Well, when Scary Movie 3 let out (from a sold out show of about 400 or so people), the kids from that movie just stood around in the lobby, and some began to climb up on some arcade game seats, yelling, and then began to rap and freestyle. Soon, people who had left were coming back in, and everyone was yelling, singing, screaming, and scaring the heck out of the staff.
Myself and 3 other female employees (we were the only ones who would do it) went into the lobby and yelled for everyone to get out. Some left, but most just stood there, laughed at us, and kept on yelling. We have one police officer on weekend nights, and he was nowhere to be found.
We were frightened because of the sheer number of people in the lobby and the unruliness of the crowd. Plus, they were climbing all over the games, most likely damaging them. We've had situations similar to this escalate into much worse, involving weapons and arrests, so you understand my anxiety.
After about 15 minutes of this, an usher finally found the cop, who had been sitting about halfway up the stadium seating theatre watching Radio.
Once he went into the lobby, the entire crowd RAN. They ran fast, too. Once they were gone, the cop went back into the back hallway. Kids were still outside, and some of my employees were yelled and cursed at when they left (after the cop had left for the night).
What a night. Whew.
 

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Posted by Pravin Ratnam (Member # 1417) on 10-26-2003, 10:58 PM:
 
Does the cop get paid for freelancing at your theater? If so, he must answer to why he is so negligent.
 

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Posted by Aldo Baez (Member # 790) on 10-27-2003, 12:01 AM:
 
I would have called the police the very second the crowd did not leave after you asked. That could have gotten ugly very fast.
 

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Posted by James Falloon (Member # 1933) on 10-27-2003, 04:04 AM:
 
Yeah safty first, no exceptions.

A couple of weeks ago, we had a violent drunk start throwing punches at me and the manger when he tried to kick him out. it was the first time I've ever had to make an emergency call to the Police, and by the time they arrived, he had left. And all that could be done was to give him a 3 month tresspass notice.
I was pritty shaken up for the rest of the night, but I definatly know that someone could have got hurt therefore I called the cops. No doubt that I'll have to again some day...

If the cops had come the first time we called them (non-emergency) the whole situation could have been avoided.

ah the joys of drunks and boring movies.
 

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Posted by Paul Goulet (Member # 297) on 10-27-2003, 10:47 AM:
 

quote:

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ah the joys of drunks and boring movies.

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