Texas cinema has last laugh after filmgoer thrown out for texting

The Alamo Drafthouse in Austin uses voicemail diatribe from disgruntled texter in its anti-texting ad campaign As a cinemagoing experience, the tip tap of fingertips on mobile phone keypads can be almost as annoying as the couple behind you chatting over the opening scenes, or the kid in the back row chucking popcorn. But one cinema in Austin, Texas has laid down the law to anyone caught texting during a movie in no uncertain terms. The Alamo Drafthouse recently ejected a customer from a screening , citing a rule which it says has been in place since 1997. The filmgoer was so offended that she called up the cinema’s management and left an expletive-ridden complaint on an answerphone – which the owners promptly purloined for their latest anti-texting ad campaign. The outraged diatribe is now repeated in full before every screening of an “R” rated movie at the Drafthouse. “Recently, we had a situation where a customer persisted in texting in the theatre despite two warnings to stop,” the cinema revealed on its blog . “Our policy at that point is to eject the customer without a refund, which is exactly what went down that night. Luckily, this former patron was so incensed at being kicked out, she quickly called the office and left us the raw ingredients for our latest ‘Don’t Talk or Text’ PSA.” The Drafthouse’s customer was by no means the first person ever asked to leave a cinema for making too much noise, but some filmgoers have ended up with much rawer deals. In December 2008, a man was shot in a Philadelphia cinema after another customer objected to him talking during a screening of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. In the aftermath of the incident, the offender calmly sat down and finished watching the film as he waited for police to arrive. Earlier this year a man was shot dead by another audience member who objected to the volume at which he was eating his popcorn during a screening of Black Swan. Mobile phones Texas United States Ben Child guardian.co.uk

Posted by on June 7, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.