Sometimes, the only thing you want to do is settle down and watch one of your all-time favorite movies. Alone, mostly, but often the best viewing experiences for even the worst movies come from collecting some of your nearest and dearest and watching a thrilling tale together.
But sometimes, you may end up picking one of the worst movies to watch, depending on your audience. There’s nothing more awkward than seeing a graphic sex scene flash on the screen while you’re with your parents. Or putting on, say, Trainspotting to watch with your baby. Sometimes, certain movies are just a big no-no, even if they do involve some of the best actors or best directors of all time.
On Reddit, some folks have taken to the movies subreddit to share their most embarrassing movie-watching experiences in a discussion. And boy, some of these are doozies. Like, real ‘change your name and never speak to your family again’ stinkers.
“My wife put on RoboCop to watch with our three-year-old son because she thought it was like Inspector Gadget,” wrote s_other. Honestly, RoboCop is traumatizing fare for even us, fully grown adults, so we can only imagine how this classic science fiction movie altered the brain chemistry of that poor boy.
“My parents took teenage me, my little brother, and my best friend to see Deliverance. They were big into camping so it seemed like a safe bet,” said wrongseeds. Yikes. Nope.
“Marriage Story… for valentines day. My wife and I had no idea what we were in for. Thought it’d be a cute love story… nope!” said Will01536. We get this one. Even the Marriage Story poster is a picture of a very happy-looking family, so the confusion is understandable.
AlaskaStiletto said: “At a kids party they wanted to watch a scary movie. The birthday kid and the mom picked The Lighthouse. I didn’t stop them.”
Okay, this one is legitimately funny. The Lighthouse isn’t exactly thought of as one of the best horror movies so much as being one of the most bizarre movies ever made. Now I can’t stop picturing a bunch of children being very confused (and entranced) by Willem Dafoe‘s “Hark” monologue.
The Digital Fix team checked in with our own movie-watching history after being inspired by this thread. It turns out, even we aren’t immune to some cinematic slip-ups.
“I cheered and clapped when Hayden Christensen appeared as a force ghost in Rise of the Jedi and was met with stony silence,” said Charlotte Colombo, while Anthony McGlynn said, “As the horror aficionado of the group, my friends would ask me to bring the goriest films to hangouts to watch. Brought Human Centipede 2 once, and one of the group very nearly blacked out. Wasn’t asked much after that.”
Sometimes, even the best family movies can induce an awkward reaction, as is the case with Tom Beasley: “During the scene in Paddington 2, when he wordlessly accepts his imminent death in the train cart, I let out an involuntary but clearly audible cry of “no!”. I don’t think the audience of parents and kids around me were even half as invested. I got some looks.”
Even our Editor, Tom Percival, had something to say. “I screamed out loud while watching The Conjuring 2 and the only other person in the theater laughed at me.”
We’re sorry for setting off what is probably a long and bumpy road of embarrassing movie theater memories for you, but we had to do it. Check out our list of the best movies of all time for some palate cleansers, or check out our list of the best 80s movies and best drama movies. You can also get to know all the new movies coming out this year.
For something to look forward to, check out our guides to the Dune 2 release date and Killers of the Flower moon release date. Plus, take a look at our feature on why you need to put some respect on Matt Damon’s name.