quote:

---

Graphic Images Of Dead Baby Birth Shown To Parents, Kids---'The Hills Have Eyes 2' Played In Wrong Theatre

(CBS/AP) HOLTSVILLE, N.Y. Moviegoers expecting to see the PG rated "Last Mimzy" instead watched in shock as a chained naked woman gave birth to a dead baby on screen.

It seems the folks at the Island 16 Multiplex in Holtsville mixed up the films last evening, and the R-Rated "The Hills Have Eyes 2" was played in the wrong theater.

Some 50 people -- including parents with young children -- began screaming and ran out. The manager at the theater got an earful from angry parents.

The staff stopped the movie, gave free ticket vouchers to upset patrons and started the "Last Mimzy" about a half-hour late.

---

quote: Eric Hooper

---

Stop making excuses. This should not happen regardless.

---

quote: Christopher Seo

---

Ah, the curse of programming the big house with the kids' show by day and the adults' show by night....

---

quote:

---

The Last Mimzy
12:30 3:00 7:50

The Hills Have Eyes 2
5:30 10:20 12:30

---

quote: Mike Blakesley

---

While I agree the projectionist was wrong not to double-check, I am sure you have made a mistake at least ONCE in your life.

---

quote: Brad Miller

---

Any auditorium that is sharing two prints a day only gets one brain.

---

quote:

---

You also seem to be a bit geography-challenged as Holtsville, NEW YORK is nowhere near Worcester, MASSACHUSETTS!

---

This is true...but Smithtown, NEW YORK, is pretty much right next to Holtsville, NEW YORK, which is where my parents live, as well as me, over the summer. I go to school in Worcester, MASSACHUSETTS .

That Blackstone Valley theater is a pretty nice one though.
 

---

Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 04-07-2007, 10:37 AM:
 
This certainly points out the utter stupidity of putting the blue rating band at the END of the movie (not that I would want it at the front end either).

And doesn't the TITLE come up before the woman chained to the bed and having a still birth? These yo-yos didn't recognize that they were watching the wrong movie from the get-go? So the little tykes got to see a naked women? I guess they will be scarred for life....lawsuit city, here we come!
 

---

Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 04-07-2007, 08:18 PM:
 
The title is after the birth.
 

---

Posted by Aaron Mehocic (Member # 15) on 04-07-2007, 10:59 PM:
 
I made this mistake on a midnight showing in which The Mask of Zorro was started in place of whatever was to run in that particular block. The woman who alerted us laughed hysterically while she explained what had happened. I sure she was high or drunk or both.
 

---

Posted by Michael Coate (Member # 757) on 04-08-2007, 12:13 AM:
 

quote:

---

You also seem to be a bit geography-challenged as Holtsville, NEW YORK is nowhere near Worcester, MASSACHUSETTS!

---

quote: Ian Woloschin

---

This is true...but Smithtown, NEW YORK, is pretty much right next to Holtsville, NEW YORK, which is where my parents live, as well as me, over the summer. I go to school in Worcester, MASSACHUSETTS

---

Now, how the hell am I supposed to know you are from New York when your profile indicates you're from Massachusetts???!!! Maybe instead of writing that you are "geography-challenged" I should've wrote that you were "effective communication-challenged"!

Next time, try: "Hey, that theatre's near where my parents live." BTW, my step-dad and his side of the family are from Worcester, and you can bet being from the west coast that I do not pronounce "Worcester" that same as the locals do!
 

---

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 04-08-2007, 12:41 AM:
 
Damn. Somebody had more beers than I did on a Saturday night! And it's not even near closing time as I right this. It does seem like that "angry drunk" thing coming on. I should know. I've fired off some posts with some alcohol inspiration behind them!

I'm kind of amazed that someone would go to the trouble of double-checking info in a poster's profile. Mike, maybe you need to be a private detective or something. Me, I wouldn't have given two shits.

 

---

Posted by Michael Coate (Member # 757) on 04-08-2007, 01:14 AM:
 
Angry drunk? Not at all. I used a smiley. Had the Angels lost their game tonight I might've been in angry drunk mode and popped in the middle finger!

And, for the record, the "profile" I was referring to was the location ID underneath the guy's photo to the left of the text box. You know, the area where you can find out who's from Cootville or who lives West of Dallas or South of Heaven or wherever.

quote:

---

Somebody had more beers than I did on a Saturday night! And it's not even near closing time as I right this.

---

A few less beers and your "righting" skills might have been more polished!
 

---

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 04-08-2007, 01:47 AM:
 
Hey! You caught that! I thought that "righting" that might be a tad bit too clever. Pretty sharp.

 

---

Posted by Edwin Sheldon (Member # 4001) on 04-08-2007, 02:03 AM:
 
I used to color-code my projector boards and my masking tape print labels on any projector on which we had to double-up...Fat lot of good it did. Mistakes still happened. Once, it was my fault. And yes, your average audience is thick enough not to realize something is amiss until the actual movie starts, even when you're playing trailers for Saw II before Chicken Little.
 

---

Posted by Paul Konen (Member # 41) on 04-08-2007, 03:05 AM:
 
Why on earth didn't some parent get out and comment about the trailers that were playing and were they really appropriate for "Mimzy"? Someone probably figured someone else would say something.
 

---

Posted by Sam King (Member # 4029) on 04-08-2007, 04:08 AM:
 

quote:

---

I guess they will be scarred for life....lawsuit city, here we come!

---

quote: Brad Miller

---

..."HEY BUDDY, SOMETHING IS WRONG...CHECK THE SCHEDULE" comes into their minds.

---

quote: Paul Konen

---

Why on earth didn't some parent get out and comment about the trailers that were playing

---

The main problem is that 9 out of 10 of todays child projectionists don't have any brains at all... Give em one or two platter brains and they have to try to stop and think... that in itself is VERY dangerous. These kids parents are even scarier than the kids! Also, most chains prerequisite to being hired is that you can't think, only the management can do that.

Mark
 

---

Posted by James Westbrook (Member # 3690) on 04-08-2007, 02:59 PM:
 
Paul,
One of my seasoned ub's did that in early 93, and it was the first trailer that caught his attention, and he stopped the show before I suffered a fate worse than death.( Irate parents.)
The show he intended to run was Aladdin. He threads and starts the program. The first trailer shows Demi Moore in her underwear rolling around in some cash on top of her bed. The ub wonders "Who put the Indecent Proposal trailer in front of Aladdin?" He looked at the title tape on the end of the print and realized he threaded "Leprechaun" by mistake.
Had he not caught it, some kids would be asking "Why does the leprechaun like shoes so much, mommy?"
 

---

Posted by Matt Barth (Member # 3429) on 04-08-2007, 10:23 PM:
 
The "one brain" rule always worked for us. The only time I ran into a misthread was when a projectionist was fired one night and the genius manager allowed them to go to the booth alone. It took us more than 20 minutes the next morning to swap the tails back to the correct prints.

---Matt
 

---

Posted by Dennis Benjamin (Member # 1137) on 04-10-2007, 07:02 AM:
 
I worked for National Amusments back in '95. With the press that this story is getting - I am sure a manager at that location is now out of a job. By manager - I mean the person who threaded the wrong movie.

The fact is: this happens quite often. These stories don't usually get this kind of press. No one to blame except the person who made the mistake.

Everyone does make mistakes. However - when you mis-threaded last time - did it go up on the AP - or national newswire?


 

---

Posted by Jarryd Beard (Member # 2543) on 04-10-2007, 10:02 AM:
 
We had these two films doubled-up in an auditorium last week. This definitely could be an easy (and disastrous) mistake to make when running both movies in digital. We are in the habit of always checking the screen monitor on the Doremi to make sure the correct show is loaded, even when only one movie is playing on a particular screen.
 

---

Posted by Alex Grueneberg (Member # 2652) on 04-10-2007, 12:11 PM:
 
I agree with Paul here. As Hills is R their would have been at least a couple of R rated green-bands with some pretty risky content definition tags. Wasn't Hostel 2 inclosed with this print?! This does makes me worry though, we've got Mimzy split with Beyond the Gates. Originally titled Shooting Dogs which is extremely violent right off the bat.

Although its not always possible I've always liked when movies doubled up each are a different format.
 

---

Posted by Mark Strube (Member # 4190) on 04-10-2007, 01:10 PM:
 
I think putting the blue rating band BEFORE movies might've helped a lot in a situation like this. It's absolutely pointless to put it after the film, I don't even understand the thought process on that, and they already make it play before movies on DVD's... why not in theatres as well?
 

---

Posted by Christopher Seo (Member # 7) on 04-10-2007, 03:58 PM:
 

quote: Eric Hooper

---

Stop making excuses.

---

quote: Jesse Skeen

---

Steven Segal masterpiece

---

Oh dear lord!
 

---

Posted by Justin Gorka (Member # 3727) on 04-15-2007, 02:40 PM:
 
Just noticed that we have 'Last Minzy (bezare film.... anyone else seen it?)' and 'Hills Have Eyes II(total boring crap)' on thew same screen this week. Have posted a large poster for them to ignore. I await the fury of the British press shortly (now the future Prince has ditched the ugly cow)
 

---

Posted by Caleb Johnstone-Cowan (Member # 3710) on 04-15-2007, 06:19 PM:
 

quote: Geoff Jones

---

As a moviegoer, it's sad to me that the projectionist or manager or usher wouldn't look at the screen after starting every show. To make sure that it was in focus. To make sure that it was masked properly. To make sure that there wasn't anything wrong.

---

quote: Justin Gorka

---

(now the future Prince has ditched the ugly cow)

---

She's ugly over there? Wow you guys must be on a totally different level than us.
 

---

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 04-25-2007, 09:16 PM:
 
Several years ago, my old theater doubled-up "Hercules" with "American Pie".

The manager thought he could save on payroll by having one of the assistant managers run the first round of the day and not have the UBs come in till later when it was time for the second round.

On the VERY FIRST day of his opening shift, the assistant threaded up "American Pie" when he should have played "Hercules"!

Of course, we all know what this genius of a manger did... He started the movie and went downstairs. The mistake wasn't caught until well into the first scene where the kid, Kevin, is his bedroom spankin' the monkey into an old sweat sock while watching scrambled porno movies on cable TV.

That was the first and LAST day of the new "money saving" policy!
 

---

Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 04-26-2007, 02:31 AM:
 
We run our theater like that all the time; one of the managers opens the place and threads the first set. Though, since we set it up so that there's only 1 brain per each auditorium, the person closing booth usually (or at least I do when I close it) put the brain into the platter that it needs to be for the first show in the morning.
 

---

Posted by Matt Kerekes (Member # 2777) on 04-26-2007, 07:57 AM:
 
I am confused to how many people do not label their prints, or do not look at the label on the tail BEFORE threading. At my theatres we move films around occasionally for special events, and also double up prints frequently. However, every single person that goes into the booth, manager or not, always checks the tail of the film that is being threaded, and checks to make sure it is in the right auditorium. In fact, the number of brains shouldn't matter, if anyone sees 2 full platters, shouldn't they check first rather than rushing to thread the first one they see?
 

---

Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 05-13-2007, 01:42 PM:
 
In a related incident, in the middle of a Walt Disney movie on a cable channel I believe it was in northern NJ, all of a suddent up popped a porno movie. It ran for about 10 minutes before the error was corrected by the cable provider. I heard it on the radio news; I was a little surprised that from the report, it didn't sound like there was much of an outrage about it by the general public. However, I am sure the cable company will soon be served with the court appearance papers by the Disney legal department. You know how touchy the Mouse is about such things.

Anyone ever see that video of the Disneyland characters backstage where the Goofy and Mickey actors were feigning double-humping Mini Mouse, and Mini was acting like she was in great sexual ecstasy? They were young actors just kidding around on their break in a staff room -- it looked totally innocent and like kids having some fun. Another actor evidently had a camcorder and took it out and videoed it. From there it was the inevitable post on You Tube. Of course, all of them immediately got fired. I'll bet it was faster than a speeding bullet that the Cease and Desist notice went out to YouTube to pull that clip; I am surprised that YouTube wasn't required to post a notice in its place stating infatically that the clip posted originally was not intended to suggest or imply that any Disney characters(c) have now or have ever had any sex organs.
 

---

Posted by Jesse Skeen (Member # 586) on 05-13-2007, 07:00 PM:
 
Well, The Mouse has already tarnished its reputation by putting an ugly BUG on The Disney Channel! Of course The Playboy Channel has a rabbit-head logo; I predicted the world would come to an end when that happened.
 

---

Posted by Mike Williams (Member # 1140) on 05-13-2007, 07:07 PM:
 
Before we go too far off topic - Disney may have their hands a little full with this. It looks like a state run Chinese theme park has decided it can "borrow" all of the Disney characters since "Disneyland is too far".
 

---

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 05-15-2007, 02:01 PM:
 

quote: Jesse Skeen

---

Well, The Mouse has already tarnished its reputation by putting an ugly BUG on The Disney Channel! Of course The Playboy Channel has a rabbit-head logo; I predicted the world would come to an end when that happened.

---

quote: Jarryd Beard

---

This definitely could be an easy (and disastrous) mistake to make when running both movies in digital. We are in the habit of always checking the screen monitor on the Doremi to make sure the correct show is loaded, even when only one movie is playing on a particular screen.

---

I believe in some of the theaters I've been in, there are LED signs at each auditorium listing which movie is showing in that auditorium. It seems like if those signs got the movie title from the projection system, that might help to serve as an extra check: presumably some of the parents of small children would notice if the title displayed at the auditorium they were directed to was a movie they wouldn't consider suitable for their children.

Some sort of integration between the ticket selling system and the projection system might also be possible.
 

---

Posted by Christopher Crouch (Member # 3784) on 05-28-2007, 04:44 PM:
 
This past Friday, my theatre started "Grindhouse" instead of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" (discount house). Theatre goers sat through the Machette faux trailer and part of Rose McGowen's pole dance before the error was noted. The projectionist was well aware he had threaded "Grindhouse" (kind of hard to mistake the two prints, on size alone). Apparently he misread the schedule and thought "Grindhouse" was supposed to play. The mistake was noticed by an usher conducting theatre checks (the audience never said a word). I'm guessing we didn't hear complaints from the audience, during or after the show, because they were primarily teenagers.
 

---

Posted by James Westbrook (Member # 3690) on 05-29-2007, 08:21 PM:
 
I nearly blew a gasket several years ago when one of my crew members started Stuart Little in place of The Green Mile. The size difference of these 2 were quite obvious. This guy just didn't care enough to watch what he was doing.
 

---