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- If there is one filmmaker who pushes the bounds of decency, it is David Cronenberg. With his love of body horror, unsuspecting audiences might not know what to expect when walking in to one of his movies. That is especially true when someone like Kristen Stewart has a main role in the movie, such as his 2022 release dozens of people get up and walk out of the theater in the middle of the movie, showing how polarizing certain genres could be for moviegoers.
Just like a bad book, viewers still feel like they need to finish watching a terrible movie once it has been started. That goes especially for when audiences pay good money to see it in theaters, as it's more of an experience and an evening out than anything. But, sometimes, a movie can be so bad that there's simply no other option than to duck and roll and leave the movie theater before lights come back on.
Between sequels that couldn't capture the magic of the originals and some hack-job remakes, Redditors couldn't sit through these movies despite paying to see them. Sometimes the movies weren't even bad, and it's just that viewers couldn't handle how intense some of the scenes were.
UPDATE: 2022/09/11 08:20 EST BY SHAWN S. LEALOS
If there is one filmmaker who pushes the bounds of decency, it is David Cronenberg. With his love of body horror, unsuspecting audiences might not know what to expect when walking in to one of his movies. That is especially true when someone like Kristen Stewart has a main role in the movie, such as his 2022 release dozens of people get up and walk out of the theater in the middle of the movie, showing how polarizing certain genres could be for moviegoers.
House Of The Dead (2003)
Stream on Plex
When someone goes to an Uwe Boll movie, they surely have an idea of what is coming. This was not the case in 2003, when Boll made a movie meant for worldwide audiences and licensed a videogame franchise to do so with House of the Dead. Fans didn't know what they were walking into, and many walked out early.
When asked if anyone ever left a movie early on Reddit, one commented that they walked out on House of the Dead and Lithium-Ryan-Battery wrote, "Me too. In fact, it's the only time that I've walked out on a movie." The movie had a rock low three-percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and it somehow still spawned a sequel.
Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (2011)
Stream now on Starz
The first Nicolas Cage wanted to do his superhero movie right, so he returned for a sequel. This time, the duo who directed Crank signed on for the movie, so there were hopes their kinetic energy could elevate it. Sadly, it had the opposite effect and the movie was another bomb.
When talking about walking out of movies, SlackMomma said on Reddit that they only walked out of two movies in a theater, and this was the second. "Not only was the film cringe-inducing and poor from a screenplay perspective but the editing choices ended up giving me a migraine lol."
A Wrinkle in Time (2018)
Stream now on Disney+
Ava DuVernay directed the adaptation of A Wrinkle in Time in 2018, and did everything she could to tell the story in a colorful, meaningful manner. However, the movie wasn't what many fans of the books wanted to see, and it caused many people to reject it outright.
If there is one way to get theater walkouts, it is by disappointing fans of the source material. When asked if they ever walked out of a movie, Rick_the_P_is_silent wrote Reddit, "A Wrinkle In Time (2018). Wow what a dumpster fire. I mean, did they even glance at the book?" The movie ended up with rotten ratings from both critics and the audience.
The Nun (2018)
Stream now on DirecTV
Horror movies are a tough sell in theaters. There are times when people will walk out when the horror gets too intense, but there are major horror fans who will walk out for the opposite reason. When it comes to The Nun, it ended up disappointing horror fans as well as fans of its preceding films in The Conjuring series.
Critics savaged the movie, with bad reviews and low scores. Fans didn't like it much better, as it resulted in walkouts from fans wanting a scarier horror movie. Cregs wrote on Reddit they walked out of The Nun, saying it "wasn't even remotely scary. I almost walk out on lots of horrors, the genre is done so poorly recently but i keep showin up and hopin."
The ion of the Christ (2004)
Stream on Prime Video
The ion of the Christ ended up as one of the most successful independent movies ever made. However, while entire church congregations met at theaters to watch the movie, it was a little too much for some people to handle. Some critics compared it to torture porn with what Jesus Christ went through in the movie.
When things got too bloody and disturbing, it caused a lot of walkouts in theaters. Captainhowdy82 wrote, "I walked out of The ion of the Christ because it too graphic. I do not want to sit there and watch all the gory details of every lash of the whip."
Independence Day: Resurgence (2016)
Stream now on Fubo
The 2010s saw a trend of studios returning with sequels to movies that were decades old, and Independence Day: Resurgence was a prime example of that. However, the sci-fi sequel didn't deliver quite the bang that its alien invasion-based predecessor did, and Brokid81 suffered the most.
The Redditor explains that "I found it to be so bad, I just couldn't take another second of it." While the movie did see Jeff Goldblum reprise his role of David Levinson, there was a huge Will Smith-shaped hole that no newcomer to the series could have filled.
Dark Shadows (2012)
Stream now on Netflix
Dark Shadows is a dark comedy movie adaptation of the TV series of the same name about a vampire who has the misfortune of living with humans. It could very well have been a return to form for director Tim Burton, as he made a career out of original gothic comedies but had a string of critical failures in the 2000s. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.
Talismanic_Mechanic puts it best by explaining that they "really loved Tim Burton and Johnny Depp at the time," as they made up one of cinema's best actor/director duos. But it ended up being "the least funny film I’ve ever seen." It almost plays out like how a parody of a Burton movie would. Though the celebrated director has always had a horror-comedy aesthetic, it was never as in-your-face as it is with Dark Shadows.
Titane (2021)
Stream now on Hulu
Titane won the coveted Palme d'Or at Cannes in 2021, and though that's an incredible feat, it isn't exactly the Oscar bait that would normally be selected to win a grand jury prize at a film festival. The movie is about a woman, Alexia, who has sex with a car and then finds out that she's pregnant.
While the movie is a lot deeper than the core concept would have audiences think, Alexia continuously leaks oil from her body throughout the whole film, and it's so difficult to watch. Nessidy explains that they had to flee the cinema it was screening in because "its amount of graphic violence and body horror made me feel literally nauseous."
Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)
Stream now on Disney+
Hail Caesar, and it had two visionary directors at the helm. Unfortunately, the production was drowning in so many troubling rumors, and the movie turned out to be a mess.
David-saint-hubbins was most disappointed by the film, explaining that "my girlfriend was dozing off throughout until we finally left at the beginning of the third act." They didn't miss much, but they had still seen enough to know that one of Harrison Ford's most iconic roles had been stained.
Wild Wild West (1999)
Stream now on Tubi
Will Smith and director Barry Sonnefeld worked together on the smash hit Wild Wild West. Blastershift hated it more than almost anyone else based on how they left things in the cinema. The Redditor recalls when they walked out, "the guy offered me a refund and I didn't even take it. Just had to run."
The movie features some of Smith's worst fight scenes of his career, and between Independence Day 2 and Wild Wild West, it seems like certain movies are doomed whether Smith is in them or not. On top of that, the final act with the giant mechanical spider is totally random, ugly to look at, and not in the least bit entertaining. But luckily enough, the Redditor didn't have to experience that.