Night of the Living Dead caused insanity

[snopes]

Comment: An urban legend I heard
growing up in my small hometown was about a horror film that I had never seen
or heard of at the time, called Night of the living dead. I lived in
Rockdale Texas and my cousins lived in Austin. I heard from them that
people were going crazy after seeing NOTLD. We all believed it. I don't
think it played Rockdale, but if it had I would not have seen it for fear
of going nuts.

When I moved to Austin, I saw it around halloween(ten years or so after it
was first released)at a UT theater and I did not....repeat did not go
crazy. I did find it scary and funny as heck though.

[MisterGrey]

Sounds like classic exploitation film gimmickry. It wasn't at all uncommon in the 1960s-1980s for theatre managers to have total autonomy over their own theatre (as opposed to the rigid, bureaucratic, corporate structure in which they are operated today), and managers would often come up with "road show" gimmicks to promote their movies. You could show up at a horror movie and buy "life insurance policies" in case you died of fright, or be given an air sickness bag and be instructed on how to use it in case nausea set in (this was done to great effect when the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre was first released). It wouldn't be at all out of place for patrons to be "warned" by theatre staff that the film they were about to see had caused madness.

[Troberg]

or be given an air sickness bag and be instructed on how to use it in case nausea set in (this was done to great effect when the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre was first released).

I have the official Braindead barf bag, sent to me as a postcard by my sister after she saw the premiere! Luckily, it was unused.

[finger stutters]

Originally Posted by MisterGrey

or be given an air sickness bag and be instructed on how to use it in case nausea set in

I think this would have been a good idea to bring back for Cloverfield.

Originally Posted by finger stutters

I think this would have been a good idea to bring back for Cloverfield.

Yeah I totally agree with that one. All the camera shaking made me a tad bit nauseous, although I liked the movie.

[barbrainey]

I recall back in the early '70s--about 1972 or '73--there was another movie inspired by The Night of the Living Dead. Or maybe it was a sequel. It was titled Orgy of the Living Dead. When it ran the theatrical circut, the advertisements promoting the film featured the photo of a young man with his name included. The ads stated that this guy went totally insane after viewing this film. The ads also said that if "you" lose your mind after seeing Orgy of the Living Dead, then your ticket money would be refunded to you.

Of course, I don't know if the case of the guy who supposedly went mad after seeing that movie was true or if the ads were just a gimick. Probably the latter. While the contents of a movie, TV program, or fiction book can cause psychological problems in sensitive people, I don't think it can cause totally insanity.

B. A. Rainey

[mags]

IMDB has no record of a movie called Orgy of the Living Dead. The closest I could find was La Orgía de los muertos, the spanish name for Terror of the Living Dead.

If we could find out the real title of the movie you're remembering, maybe we could come up with some more info about the ad gimick you saw.

[mags]

Aha, possible source of the idea, from the Trivia section on Night of the Living Dead at IMDB:

One of the Walter Reade Organization's publicity stunts was a $50,000 insurance policy against anyone dying from a heart attack while watching the film.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063350/trivia

[Jusenkyo no Pikachu]

Originally Posted by mags

IMDB has no record of a movie called Orgy of the Living Dead. The closest I could find was La Orgía de los muertos, the spanish name for Terror of the Living Dead.

If we could find out the real title of the movie you're remembering, maybe we could come up with some more info about the ad gimick you saw.

There's also Orgy of the Dead, one of Edward D. Wood Jr's later forays into writing.

[MisterGrey]

Originally Posted by finger stutters

I think this would have been a good idea to bring back for Cloverfield.

I've actually got my souvenir Cloverfield barf-bag sitting on my dresser right now. The bitter irony is that it was my idea, before I left the theatre, and was told that gimmicks not only wouldn't work now, but they had never worked in the past. Ever. Now that I'm gone and not around to take credit, my former employers have become very liberal about using my "useless, gimmicky ideas".

[nancyfancypants]

NOTLD was shot here in the greater Pittsburgh area. I don't remember any local hype about insanity, but that sure doesn't mean it wasn't promoted that way elsewhere.

There were also barf bags for Mark of the Devil. The one that really made me giggle, though, was the radio ad for Don't Look in the Basement: "To avoid fainting, just keep repeating, 'It's only a movie...it's only a movie...it's only a movie...'"

[Ali Infree]

Was it Psycho where no one was allowed to enter the theater in the last 20 minutes? It seems that I saw some trailer about that, and I think I can remember some other movies that used a similar gimmick.


Ali "if only I had paid attention to the people leaving Bolero" Infree

[inkrose115]

Originally Posted by Troberg

I have the official Braindead barf bag, sent to me as a postcard by my sister after she saw the premiere! Luckily, it was unused.

Blech. Some movies are so horribly done I'd like a barf bag. And a refund.

Do you guys know how I can obtain one of the aforementioned Brain Dead or Cloverfield Barf Bags? I have one of the largest collections of sickbags in the world.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Note: I already have several Mark of the Devil bags.

Thanks,
Steve

[RealityChuck]

Originally Posted by Ali Infree

Was it Psycho where no one was allowed to enter the theater in the last 20 minutes? It seems that I saw some trailer about that, and I think I can remember some other movies that used a similar gimmick.

The other way around -- people weren't allowed to enter the theater after the movie started. It was not unusual at the time to show up halfway through a film; Hitchcock didn't want people showing up late and wondering why Janet Leigh wasn't in the movie at all. The film was heavily promoted that you had to be there from the start (which, of course, helped sell tickets).

[barbrainey]

I THOUGHT that there had been a movie entitled Orgy of the Living Dead. And I DO recall the gimick/ad of the guy who was supposed driven insane by the film. Unless I got the title wrong, there may have been a cheap, grade-B type of film with that title since IMDb does not mention it has ever having existed.

B. A. Rainey

[landmammal]

Originally Posted by Ali Infree

Was it Psycho where no one was allowed to enter the theater in the last 20 minutes? It seems that I saw some trailer about that, and I think I can remember some other movies that used a similar gimmick.

In Wait Until Dark, they turned off all the lights in the theater during the last 12 minutes of the film.

[TallGeekyGirl]

Originally Posted by nancyfancypants

The one that really made me giggle, though, was the radio ad for Don't Look in the Basement: "To avoid fainting, just keep repeating, 'It's only a movie...it's only a movie...it's only a movie...'"

It made me giggle, too... and then I relized that you typed "fainting" and not "farting." Totally changes the meaning, huh?

[Ali Infree]

TallGeekyGirl writes:

It made me giggle, too... and then I relized that you typed "fainting" and not "farting." Totally changes the meaning, huh?

Couldn't you use the bag for that?

Ali "this little light of mine.." Infree

No, no, allow me:

[Xia]

Originally Posted by nancyfancypants

The one that really made me giggle, though, was the radio ad for Don't Look in the Basement: "To avoid fainting, just keep repeating, 'It's only a movie...it's only a movie...it's only a movie...'"

Are you sure it was that movie? If so, they stole that phrase from the tagline for "The Last House on the Left."