Our Grudge Experience

Saturday night, Lay and I decided we were for a little horror, so we went to see the movie, "The Grudge." We first went to a nearby theatre, Britton Plaza Cinema’s. This is just around the corner. Its an older theatre, and has been through several owners recently. While it doesn’t have the nicer seats, its not too bad, and their ticket prices are about $2 cheaper than the AMC and Muvico theatres.

First two girls came in to sit across the isle from us, and promptly began talking at a steady rate. Then a large group came in together. What I would suppose was a mom and dad and a couple of other adults with several children…several boys and a couple of girls. The boys decided to move around a couple of times, and then the adults all found their seats and started talking. We went out and asked for our money back.

We found we had time to make a later show at Westshore Plaza, so we headed off there for the show. I’m not sure it was any better. Lots of teenagers talking, and two couples had brought babies (babes in arms) to this 10:35 show. Finally the deputy working the Theatre and the manager came in and got of the noise down. One of the ladies with the baby kept taking the infant out when it started crying. The other didn’t and was finally asked to leave.

Lay and I discussed the increasing noise level in theatres. I attribute it to two main factors. One is a general decline in manners and social skills. People just no longer teach their kids how to behave in public (and some of those kids have now reached adult status). Where I come from its called "rearing." Lots of people seem to have none.

The other problem I see if the proliferation of video and DVD players. Now people watch movies at home where they can come and go and talk as they please. As a result, I think they don’t realize there’s a different expectation when watching a movie in public. Its just natural to sit around and talk (even on your cell phone).

So after all that, what did we think of the movie? Well, Lay was squealing like a little girl at a few places. It was pretty scary, and it grabbed you right into the horror from the beginning. The story was well done, the music was a perfect fit, and it was beautifully filmed. All in all, it was a good movie, and maybe one of the scariest I’ve seen in a while.