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« on: July 30, 2003, 01:44:29 AM »
I first saw HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS at the local drive-in theater in 1970; my mom took a friend of mine and me to see it, but we didn't stay for the double feature, so I don't recall what it was with. Later, it came with MUNSTER, GO HOME, also at a drive-in.
I believe it was in 73, HOUSE and NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS played on a double bill at the movie theater, and I went on a Saturday afternoon. The place was filled to capacity with the junior-high school crowd, and they never shut up through the entire double feature. Partway through NIGHT, the theater manager interrupted the show to put on a reel that some of you might have seen: It was a stern-looking gentleman in a suit and tie--rather like everyone's school principal--who proceeded to say: "Have you ever gone to the movie theater, and instead of the great picture you came to see, all you got was this?" The sound of screaming kids rises like a hurricane, then diminishes. "This is what YOU sound like," the man tells us. He indicates that making noise in the theater is very rude, and if you are caught creating a disturbance, you will be asked to leave. "Furthermore, those asked to leave today will be refused admission to this theater in the future!"
Needless to say, the noise in the theater died for maybe 30 seconds, then was back at twice the previous volume. Fortunately, I had already seen NIGHT at the drive-in when it first came out, so I had a clue what was going on. Good thing, since there wasn't a complete line of audible dialogue through the whole thing.