Sensurround Horror Stories |
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| Written by: friends from film-tech.com | Date: March 18, 2004 |
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..the projectionist consumed a lot more alcohol on the job than normal to try and numb his headaches from the constant rumble and vibration in the booth! I took my girlfriend to see "Earthquake" and she complained about a sick stomach! We were in the balcony and it felt like it was a roller coaster at times. When The Branmar Theater in Wilmington, DE, which had shown all the Sensurround films closed in the late 80's, you could still see the cracks in the ceiling from the process! In Billings, Mont. they opened “Earthquake”. A knickknack/china shop occupied one of the storefronts. Needless to say, the morning after the opening all the wall-mounted breakables were in pieces on the floor. For the rest of the run, that store had to take down all of their wall displays every night and put'em back up the next day! I received an e-mail last night from a gentleman in England who's wife got a nose bleed watching "Earthquake" in Sensurround! Ceiling tiles would vibrate loose and fall on the audience, giving the true earthquake effect. On "Battle of Midway", I walked inside on one of the rear beasts [speakers], and it was vicious. The owner of a cinema in Luxembourg thought that the number of subwoofers proposed by the installer wasn't enough so he doubled it. Result was that the first time they played “Earthquake” the hotel next to the theatre was evacuated because people were convinced a real earthquake was happening At the Fairlawn during the presentation of "Rollercoaster", it was found that in either theatre, the Sensurround noise would intrude into the sound of the other theatre. The only option was to run the picture simultaneously in both houses. There were, of course, numerous tales associated with the running of this print (“Battlestar Galactica”), such as the elderly lady who lived behind the Fairlawn, complaining to the Toronto Transit Commission that they were running their subways especially loud at 8:00. UA Fox Theatre in Hackensack, NJ. The theatre was an old 1800 seat Egyption Art Deco with an awesome balcony. Sensurround presentations ended when part of the plaster ceiling came crashing down during a showing of “Rollercoaster”. Nobody was hurt, but the fact that 10 seats got crushed spooked the management. At the Penn Centre in St Catherines Ontario the effect was so powerful the booth floor separated from its slab and sank 2 inches At the Elaine theatre the shockwaves killed all the goldfish in the pet shop at the other end of the mall. One of the most interesting aspects of the Sensurround "experience" was watching the crowd reaction. I saw a couple people get up and run out of the theater in fear! Really! The down side was going to a movie in a auditorium next door. |
Further
in 70mm reading: Introduction Sensurround @ the Schauburg Internet link: |
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