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Tuesday, April 7, 2009

You could have just walked out...


This from Erik Davis at the website Cinematical...the irony of his own questioning gets me. Actually, I am totally surprised we haven't seen more activity of this sort stemming from the release of this film.

http://www.cinematical.com/2009/04/06/man-commits-suicide-while-watching-watchmen/

In the latest of what feels like a flurry of unfortunate movie theater incidents, a 24-year-old man in Eugene, Oregon shot himself in the head while taking in a late-night Watchmen screening at a Regal Cinemas. According to a story over KMTR.com -- which was passed to us by Cinematical reader Ian G. -- it was about halfway through the film when theatergoers heard a "popping" noise, and it was shortly after that when the man was discovered in the back of the theater with a gunshot wound to the head. The closest audience member was two rows away, and there were about ten folks total in attendance.

Currently there's no word on why the man chose to bring a gun to the screening of Watchmen and decide to shoot himself halfway through. Was it a completely random decision on his part? Did it have anything to do with the film itself, which spends most of its time dealing with a potential nuclear war? Did a particular shot or scene prove too much for the man, or were his suicidal issues completely separate from the film itself? If any of these questions are answered at a later date, we'll update this post. In the meantime, our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends.

With shootings inside movie theaters becoming more frequent, should metal detectors be added to all theaters or is that taking it too far? [I didn't realize that Movie Theater violence was a growing issue...}

4 comments:

Atareye said...

That is bizzare. All the complaining I heard from 'true' fans might indicate a motive. I enjoyed the movie throughly. I still haven't finished reading it yet though. One thing that irritated me is the absence of the E.T. from the movie. Oh well cake...eating cake... and all that.

aferrismoon said...

Though it seems far-fetched I wonder if , considering the movie-culture of the past 50 years, the man wanted to 'enter' the film.
Its certainly a sci-fi movie plot, often used in is going onto the screen.
Perhaps some people just want to take the chance - who knows.

cheers

Mango Jones said...

Maybe he had nothing left to live for after seeing this movie? (or most of it) He could have been a longtime fan of Watchmen and decided that after this, there's nothing else to do.

FilmNoir23 said...

That would be a pretty bleak existence...