A horror movie screening at Golden Village (GV) Bugis+ last Sunday (Nov 5) afternoon was stopped after technical issues occurred midway through the film.
The audience, who were an hour into Five Nights at Freddy's, were left in darkness for more than 15 minutes - all while facing a blank screen.
A TikTok video shared on Monday (Nov 6) showed a GV employee apologising and telling the disgruntled audience that the film would be restarted.
The bad news was met with audible moans and groans.
"Huh, restart the movie?" A woman could be heard off camera, while others asked the staff if they could continue where they left off.
Jayden, who was at the screening, told AsiaOne that several of the audience went for a toilet break during the unwanted intermission.
Others, who initially thought that the sudden halt was part of the movie, later complained in their seats that their experience was ruined.
"I felt shocked and unsatisfied because I had plans after the movie," Jayden said.
[embed]https://www.tiktok.com/@heyyojayden/video/7297919202176814344[/embed]
The moviegoer shared that the staff managed to rectify the issue, but the film did not continue from the point when it was stopped.
Instead, it was resumed towards the ending.
"They were trying to figure out the part we stopped at, so they were randomly jumping into different scenes," he said.
Jayden credited the GV staff for giving him free tickets for the inconvenience but felt that the sudden halt ruined the movie experience because they were watching a horror film.
"And it took them quite a while to resolve the issue," he added. "And we ended so late".
The TikTok video has since garnered over 500,000 views.
One netizen had an amusing explanation for the technical issue.
"I think the show stopped halfway because it's too scary and the characters turned off the screen and cannot turn back on," he said.
Others felt that Jayden's movie experience wasn't that bad.
"I don't see the problem to be honest. Another free hour of aircon and a complimentary pass ticket," one said.
'We had to bargain for free passes'
But Jayden replied that several of the audience were not too happy because they had plans after the film.
"We had to bargain for the free passes too," he said.
Several netizens praised the GV staff informing the audience about the technical issue.
"Poor guy. I could literally feel his anxiety trying to inform the people", one said. "Give this man a raise".
"It's not easy to face the entire crowd and say what is required to be said," another added.
A server issue was behind the brief interruption during the Nov 5 movie screening at Bugis+, GV told AsiaOne on Monday (Nov 7).
A GV spokesperson said that their team rectified the issue in 10 minutes, and screening resumed shortly thereafter.
"GV would like to apologise for the incident. We have conducted a technical check to ensure that such incidents do not happen again," they added.
Patrons affected by the incident can reach out at support@goldenvillage.com.sg
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