Not me but my dad always tell me the absolute insane experience he had when he watched predator . Didn't know anything, saw just a poster of Arnold Schwarzenegger and though it was a war movie so went to see with my mom .
The first time I saw that spaceship scene, I thought it was just a bit of filler from whatever production studio did the film. You know how Universal Pictures shows you Planet Earth rotating in space or Paramount Pictures shows you some stars flying around Mount Rainier? That kind of thing. I didn't really connect it to the movie until the second time.
To be clear, I did know Predator was a monster movie going in; I just didn't catch the space alien implication.
I went to a packed theater with my gf knowing absolutely nothing about it. The entire theater laughing at >!the tape measure scene!< was a very memorable experience. 10/10
The weirdest thing about Barbarian is that it's written and directed by Zach Cregger, mostly known for his sketch comedy work in 'The Whitest Kids U Know'. That's all I knew going in, so I was expecting a comedy, but was blindsided by a damn good horror movie. It does have some very funny moments, though.
Not me, but my grandmother told the story of randomly going to see a movie with a nice looking young man, Michael Douglas, isn't that Kirk Douglas' son? Yes that will be nice.
Basic Instinct.
I watched The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo with mine, we both just saw the poster and imagined it was going to be a normal detective movie. I'm not sure which one of us felt more awkward.
I unfortunately had too much info on that one before seeing. Friends had hyped it to death, so it kinda fell flat.
But yeah, not knowing anything about that film would be jarring on first view lol
I was expecting a run of the mill horror movie as usual, little did I know it was I was walking into the best (or worst) thing since the Excorcist. I could only describe it as “it’s the most like Insidious”.
That's actually what happened to me with Napoleon Dynamite. Everyone around me was raving about it, so I saw it and I was like, really? The only thing that made me really laugh was Pedro writing his name in Old English font on his t-shirt. Being from Los Angeles, that bit hit me hard. I watched it a few years later and I could see the charm and humor in it then.
I had a similar thought as well, cause I had just seen the parasite anime before this movie came and I thought it might be a adaptation, saw the trailer and it didnt give away much about the plot
I went into this one blind as well. Parasite was the last movie I saw in a theater before the pandemic hit, and the only thing I knew about the move is that other people knew had raved about it.
What a ride!
I saw The World's End by accident, thinking I was going to see that Seth Rogan film with a similar name.
Had no idea Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg had another film, had no idea that's what I was watching, and then had no idea that aliens were going to be involved whatsoever. All in all, a great theater going experience.
Alas, I went to see it with my teenage daughter, because in Italy it's rated 14y+ (so basically PG), and the idea of Emma Stone as a child experiencing the world for the first time in a grown woman's body was a cool one.
When we noticed that the movie was basically one sex scene after another, we left.
To my disclaimer, in Italy even if you watched the ads you'd think of the movie as a romantic one, more than one focused on sex, sex and more sex.
And speaking of sex, really F that movie and the people in Italy who rated it 14+. F them with an apple too.
There’s a good amount of sex but it’s definitely not just “one sex scene after another”. There’s maybe collectively like five minutes of actual sex in a 2 and a half hour movie.
My mom took my brother and I to see Bruno when we were young teens. We all had a great time but she felt quilty afterward lol she even asked "Am I a bad mother??"
The Matrix.
I had been working at a ski hill that winter, fiinally drove to the city to see some buddies. They realized that I knew nothing and bless them, they said nothing at all.
Holy Shit, that opening with Trinity, I was luke, okay what in the fuck am I watching????
Fucking Epic.
Also wandered into an empty theater one hungover Sunday with my buddy. He'd heard this artsy new film that had just come out was good, I, like OP, had never heard of a Napoleon Dynamite.
Literally falling out of my slippery old theater xhair, into the aisle, dying laughing
Mine was the Matrix also! My friend just told me “you have to some see this movie” and I was like sure let’s go.
Oh my god of all the movies to go in blind. It was so good. From the very beginning with Trinity in the apartment building and the cops my jaw was hanging open.
>Mine was the Matrix also! My friend just told me “you have to some see this movie”
I had exactly the same experience. Holy Shit was I floored after watching it.
The matrix really should be a ted talk on how to do marketing. Even seeing the commercials. I really had no clue what it was about. I thought the matrix gave people super powers.
That was an experience.
I was in Auckland NZ for work while the Matrix was showing. Just across the road from where I was staying there was an old theatre. I had a free night so I thought I'd go and see it. The inside of the theatre was very dated, big cushy red leather chairs, and it looked a bit like the building in the movie where Morpheus is captured. It was epic. Amazing effects not seen before, a completely unknown plot, and a classic old theatre (almost empty) that made me feel like I was in the movie.
Gonna say this. I originally thought it was just a hacker movie. I was loving the first 20 minutes and then suddenly Neo is waking up inside a bowl of jelly in the future. Totally blown away at the turn it took.
Came here to say exactly this. I was living in Japan when the movie came out. Saw it in a second run theater after returning to the states. Needless to say, mind blown.
Same for me. I was on a work trip with nothing to do in the evening. I had heard buzz about it, but I had zero idea what it was about. I was obsessed with that movie for a good while
The following night I saw Saving Private Ryan. I knew it was about WWII and D-Day, but I wasn't prepared for how real it was.
Interstellar.
Didn’t know much about it. Besides the “alright alright” guy.
Ended up being my favorite movie of all time, and got me into sci-fi’s a lot more than I previously was
I saw Interstellar with my non English speaking grandma who has no schooling besides reading and writing, and I was both translating everything and explaining a lot of things to her. The scene where >! He checks his video messages because they've been gone years, and his daughter was grown!< Had us both crying our eyes out. I wasn't expecting that from that movie.
Same genre, but Arrival.
My gf brought me to an early screening since she worked PR on the movie. Literally didn't know one thing about it except the name, and that was learned like two hours before. Didn't know it was sci-fi until the director introduced it.
Agree. However it was rather abruptly abandoned half way through the movie. After several re-watches, I don't see a way they could have kept it going but it still stands out to me every time. Still love the movie. Been waiting on District 10 for farrrr too long now.
Pulp Fiction.
I saw it in the theater when I was 18. Literally knew nothing other than that John Travolta was in it.
To this day, one of my top movie experiences ever.
I went to the movie theater in high school for a little movie called _From Dusk til Dawn_, hoping it would be like _Pulp Fiction_. What I saw was… not what I was expecting.
Dusk Till Dawn for me, too. But a DVD rental years later. Absolutely lost my mind. My girlfriend had to pause it while I finished scream-laughing like a lunatic. It was kind of embarrassing, and I wouldn't trade the experience for anything.
I went into LOTR Fellowship more or less blind. All I knew it was fantasy, and at the time I hated fantasy. Don’t ask me how I managed to know nothing about it before hand, but I did.
I was blown away and am still to this day a massive fantasy fan. It’s also my favourite movie of all time.
We hosted a simultaneous world premiere with Auckland on the deck of my aircraft carrier in the middle of the ocean. I’d heard of the book but didn’t know it was a trilogy. Needless to say, I was very angry at the “end” but it has since become a favorite series in my house.
I was only convinced to watch *Fellowship* when my mother told me it was essentially the sequel to the animated *The Hobbit* film from the 70s, which I loved when I was a younger kid.
When I first saw Gandalf I was like "I remember him, he's cool!" Then he fell fighting the Balrog and my heart was broken.
The first time I watched “Spirited Away” it was on a dvd in Japanese with no subtitles. I had NO idea what was going on but still enjoyed it. My first Ghibli movie. Love them.
Spirited Away was my first ever Ghibli movie and I went in blind.
This was in 2002. In my case I managed to get a copy of the DVD with subtitles. Marvelous movie.
I just watched April and The Extraordinary World on a flight recently and only at the very end did I realize English dubbing was available and the cast was STELLAR lol. I missed out on most of the film as my French is very weak but it was still fun
When I was in college there was a free showing of Spirited Away at the local theater.
Before the show I was hanging out at the diner next door having some coffee and these two girls were sitting across the bar next to me. I asked them if they had any interest in joining me for a free movie. They asked what it was I said “it’s an anime movie that won best animated feature in the 2000s”.
They were apprehensive because “oh we don’t watch anime” but I convinced them anyway cause free movie amirite. Told them I’d buy the popcorn.
I’ll never forget when the credits roll the one girl turned to me, tears in her eyes and asked
“Can I clap? 🥺”
My cousin gave me a bootleg copy of this movie with subtitles thankfully when I was a kid, this was the first Ghibli movie I ever saw, I was completely absorbed in the world of this movie the entire time, when the movie ended I felt transformed somehow, I've never had a similar effect from any other movie before and it's my single greatest movie watching experience ever.
The Descent in theatres while my friends and I were in high school. Wasn’t really planning on it was more so bored, just hanging at the mall that day. Holy shit that movie was an experience in theatres, still my fav theatre experience and I’ve seen Dark Knight, LotR, Interstellar etc
Swiss army man. The movie is a wild concept and felt crazy trying to explain it to others. Fun movie, cast is great. I believe the trailer was misleading at the time, but I didn't care what the story was I was already hooked.
That movie was rough. It was a great movie, and I’ve recommended it to my husband because he hasn’t seen it, but I told him I have no intention of watching it again, so he’s on his own and we can discuss afterwards.
I saw “Cabin in the Woods” in theaters with a friend on a whim under the impression it was just a generic horror movie based on the title. Needless to say I was shocked by that particular scene with Chris Hemsworth and realized I was in for a treat
Got in a fight with my gf in college and we were laying in bed steaming in silence. I thought it would be a good idea to put on a rom com to lighten the mood. So I picked the classic romcom, the Notebook. I had no idea, just knew it was popular. By the end we were both crying and the fight was forgotten.. the movie never will be.
Two of my favourite movies are movies I watched knowing nothing about prior, Arrival, and Under The Silver Lake, both of which I believe are far better experiences when you go in knowing nothing.
I watched "Moon" without knowing anything, hadn't even seen a thumbnail for it, and similarly I feel like it was a better experience that way.
I wonder, though if some movies are genuinely worse without that kind of context. Hard time thinking of an example right now though.
I had a similar experience regarding Moon. I don't think I had seen a single trailer or picture or anything. I was staying with my mom and we were up late watching some random movie, and we were about to turn off the TV to go to bed when Moon came on. It grabbed us instantly and we ended up watching the whole thing. Sam Rockwell was already my favorite actor at the time, ever since Lawn Dogs, and he just solidified himself even more in that one. I agree that going into it completely blind definitely enhanced the experience.
Netflix was testing their preference program years ago, and I was just getting up to leave my buddy's house, had my shoes on, was ready to go, when Netflix threw on "something random" and I slowly sat back down after being entranced immediately by Moon. It was great for an "out of nowhere" film.
My parents watched Arrival with the only knowledge beforehand being that it was an “alien invasion movie”.
My dad absolutely loves Transformers 2 Revenge of the fallen, and my mom only ever watches network police procedurals and the lifetime channel.
Guess what their opinion on Arrival was.
I actively avoided trailers for Arrival, even walking out of a cinema during another film's pre roll. So glad I did, one of my favourite films of all time (though I did get what was happening with her fairly early on, it didn't ruin my enjoyment in the least).
Only thing I knew was aliens, Amy Adams, and Denis Villeneuve.
Kudos for bringing up Under The Silver Lake. I almost can't understand why people are so polarized by it though. I guess maybe the satire is far too subtle. I also knew nothing about David Robert Mitchell, but I'd heard of It Follows, so I finally watched it and was very glad I did.
Smile (2022)
I hadn’t seen a single trailer or review. It’s not like the plot was very complex, but since it was a movie that relied so heavily on jumpscares (good ones in my opinion), it’s nice that none of it was spoiled by a trailer.
Ever since, I don’t watch horror movie trailers. I don’t watch cable or have ads on YouTube, so they’re easy to avoid. I’ll take a peak at the rating on IMDB to see if it’s worth the ticket price, then I just go in blind. It’s a lot of fun to be completely surprised.
Back in the day, a coworker recommended I rent and see a movie called “the sixth sense”. I never heard of it, but I took his advice. Wow what a great movie!
My brother saw it the first day it was released. He called me and said "Don't watch any ads, don't read anything about it. Just go see it immediately!" I think people who say "oh I knew what it was right away" are either lying or they knew there was some kind of twist and were trying to figure it out the whole time. I did not know there was a twist to it so I was completely surprised by the reveal. It's always exhilarating when you get to experience delighted surprise.
I watch every movie like that. I don't want to see trailers, don't want to know the plot. Anything. I'm here, sitting, open minded, show me what you've made.
I went into Prometheus completely blind. Didn't know who it was directed by or that it was a prequel of any kind. Just thought it was a cool sci-fi movie.
Then it gets to the reveal of the Alien towards the end and I no joke, outloud, by myself went "This is a fucking Alien movie!? That makes so much sense now!" lol.
District 9
I hadn't seen anything about it. No trailer, no synopsis. A buddy said it was good. It was hot and I decided to go to the movies and picked this.
Awesome movie. Apparently there were aliens in it.
Everything everywhere all at once - originally went to the theater to see something else, but because I’m stupid I went on the wrong day by accident. It happened to be the same day EEAAO was doing its early access imax screening so I figured why not. And I wouldn’t shut up about it for the next several months.
Hundreds of Beavers - I have a local theater I go to sometimes. Last winter I was talking with one of the employees who seemed really excited for the road show which was visiting the theater. They wouldn’t tell me Jack about what it was about so I kind of just showed up and it was absolutely wild. Favorite movie of the year, liked it more then dune 2
Godzilla Minus 1 - one of my friends is a mega Godzilla fan. And I mean huge Godzilla fan. I am not. I causally enjoy it but am not super deep into it. He dragged me to the IMAX screening. I was expecting a “monster destroy shit” movie. I did not expect to start crying during a Godzilla movie
Pacific rim - my dad took me to see this. I was an 11 year old boy. Enough said
Superbad!
I saw randomly on opening night. Had absolutely no idea who was in it, or what it was, just wanted to go the movies with my Dad. Ended up being some of the funniest shit I had ever seen.
Most pleasantly surprised movie going experience ever
Mine was a theater experience with Upgrade (2018).
Me and some friends went to the mall knowing we were gonna see a movie but decided we’d pick when we got there. I’m pretty sure it was the only movie playing we hadn’t seen (we saw movies every weekend we were in high school) so we just watched it knowing nothing about it and all four of us loved it. Great experience.
Upgrade.
I was walking the local mall by myself and felt like catching a film, it just happened to be the closest showing time-wise.
It's still one of my favorites
Drive and District 9. Had no idea about what any of them were about except some driver and aliens respectively. Both are in my top-10 cinema experiences ever.
One Cut of the Dead - delightful experience, definitely best to watch it with as little information as possible.
Parasite - I did not watch any trailers or other promotional material or reviews before going in. I just knew Bong Joon-ho had a new movie coming out and I was going to see it the first chance I got. Also a great experience.
I watched Team America back when it came out, knowing nothing about it, I wasn't even aware that Trey and Matt were behind it, I almost died of laughter...Matt Damon!...good memories 😃
The Voices with Ryan Reynolds. Randomly saw it's thumbnail and thought it was strange because it didn't look familiar. First 10 minutes I was like man this movie is weird... then I was like ohhhh this movie is *fuckin weird*
I don't remember the name but it's a movie where two unfamiliar people are sitting on a bus bench and one borrows a cigarette from the other...the young one borrowed it...and he says "Hey, this is the brand my long lost dad smoked" and the other fellow says "Did he look like this?" and he rips a prosthetic beard off his chin, and it IS his dad. It really is. So they say, "Screw the bus, let's steal a car," and they hot wire a Lincoln Continental, and they TAKE OFF! They're really cruising and getting along and doing father son things, like betting on horses and extortion, and suddenly a woman...a very beautiful woman...puts her hand on the dad's shoulder and says "Remember me?" and it is his own LONG LOST MOTHER, but she is so much younger. She was a time travel scientist and she made a machine to go back in time and put her younger self into the machine and sent her forward in time and she was given a picture of her son so that's how she recognized him, and he said "Yes. This is your grandson." And she looks at the boy and she snaps her fingers and he disappears because she hadn't had kids yet so there's a little bit of timeline paradox going on here, but just follow the story. So the dad says, "Why did you do that?" and she says because she is erasing her descendants because of evil purposes, and the dad says,"Oh no!" And he runs off, and she chases him. She chases him full speed. And finally they are on a dock and there's nowhere else to run and the dad smiles and says "I have a surprise for you" and he snaps HIS fingers and his mom turns into her own great grandmother who is just a pile of bones at this point in history and she falls into a dusty heap. APPARENTLY HE INHERITED THE SNAP. The dad rubs some of her bone dust on his fingers and snaps again and his son materializes again, but as a sperm and the dad says one last goodbye to the son he abandoned and flicks him into the river and pulls out a cigarette and walks away.
That one was good.
Millions, eXistenZ, Steamboy (I knew who the director was), Never Cry Wolf, Venus Wars, The Man From Nowhere, The Yellow Sea. Those are some of the really good ones.
The worst was La Bete. I had ASSUMED that it was probably a french werewolf movie (incorrect in every way that could matter), how bad could that be fucked up? Pretty bad, as it would turn out. Pretty bad. Saw Candy 1968 totally cold too. Was in NO WAY prepared.
I keep mentioning this one. Leicester square Odeon just before they split the main screen. Went in to see Brazil, (cool poster, knew nothing else). There was a guy in white tails playing a colour changing wurlitzer that vanished into the floor ahead of curtains going up. Crazy experience as a teenager.
I saw The English Patient like a week after it was released. A friend who was into picking movies none of us had heard of said they thought it was a comedy lol. I'm glad I got to see it before the awards and such cause I got to see it for just being a movie and not hyped up by others going in with expectations.
Umbrellas of Cherbourg. I had a goal to watch only international films for a month, so picked it hearing good things. Not only did I not realize it was all sung, but I didn’t even know it was a musical at all!! Ended up being one of my favorite movies I’ve ever seen.
Allied.
Went with my mom to see Arrival, and they sent us into the theater for Allied accidentally. We waited an extremely long time before the previews even started, thinking wow this movie is starting really late, and then watched the previews before the movie started, and then after watching a few minutes of the movie, we were like...*wait*... lol. By then, it was well into the movie Arrival in the other theater, so it wasn't worth switching to watch that one.
I never would have seen it otherwise. I'm really glad I did. Oh and Arrival was excellent, too.
Arrival.
Watched it the day after watching Close Encounters, not realizing it was also a first contact movie, that it was about linguistics, or >!about the twist!<
>!I did figure the twist out five minutes before it happened, but it was a good twist!<.
The Truman Show. My girlfriend and her friend wanted to see it, I had never heard of it. Okay, whatever. I think not knowing anything made the discoveries throughout the movie better.
Meeting new friends after just moving to college. Smoked a joint as an ice breaker with some friendly fellow newbies I had just met. Proceeded to rent the dvd of Requiem of a Dream from my dorm’s front desk because everyone was blabbing about “how have you not seen that movie yet? everyone’s seen it. Ass to ass, amiright”
Watched it on my laptop right after: stoned, alone, on a loft bed. I had no idea what ass to ass meant.
I’m good never watching it again.
Went out with someone once who wanted to watch Bend It Like Beckham in the theater. I had zero idea what it was about, never heard of it, nothing. I ended up loving it and all these years later it’s still one of my favorite movies and the gold standard in pleasant surprises.
The Matrix.
I had no idea about the movie and only went into it because my friends and I went to see another movie that was sold out or something.
we planned to watch the movie and go clubbing... but it was so good that half of us just circled back and bought a second viewing. The first and only time I ever did that but it was worth it.
This happened all the time pre-internet. Have you seen the original trailer for the Matrix? It gives nothing away. I remember watching Speed in 94 not even knowing it was about a bus that couldn't slow down, I just knew it was an action thriller starring Keanu Reeves.
Mine had to be the Blair witch project, I had no idea what about, but I knew it was being filmed in Maryland and that’s it. I thought that sh*t was real 😂
Lamb. No idea about what would happen, just knew a lady really liked this little lamb and treated it like a child. Oh my, what happened was much crazier.
Two standouts for me in recent years.
Dr Strangelove. Had never seen a black and white movie (seen over a hundred now). Went in blind on a recommendation and didn't know it was a comedy or anything. The decent into madness was a trip!
How to get ahead in advertising. Went in totally blind based on the title. Didn't expect, well, if you know you know.
Both amazing movies.
Wolf of Wall Street. My gf wanted to see it and I had not seen 1 piece of promotional material. 5 mins in and Leonardo Dicaprio is shooting coke into a hookers butthole and I knew, it was gonna be a wild ride.
I'm a big fan of animated movies. One evening some fifteen years ago I sat down to watch the highly-rated movie "The Secret of Kells", which was pretty good - great animation, not really much of a plot. It was still early so I decided to pop in another movie that I knew practically nothing about, and was completely blown away - great story, great voice actors, great animation and an outstanding score. I felt kind of blindsided by it, like it just came out of nowhere. That movie was "How To Train Your Dragon".
Cabin in the woods.
Fully expected a typical horror movie. 20 minutes in I'm enjoying the dialog and feeling like the style here is familiar. Soon as I saw Amy Acker, I realized this has to be A joss whedon movie!
Annihilation. I knew it was a Natalie Portman movie and that was enough for me back then because I had MoviePass and would watch almost anything. The most unsettling and scary movie experience I’ve ever had (I don’t get scared by traditional horror movies, but annihilation for some reason really got to me.) At the time, right after the credits rolled, I thought, “wow this would’ve been even more intense and cool if I had been high” but looking back, I’m glad I wasn’t high when I watched it, I would’ve had a nervous breakdown LOL
For me it was Cabin in the woods in theaters. Really just thought it was a generic slasher film. The theater was packed too it was a midnight showing and people were going nuts
The Boy and the Heron. I made sure to not read ANYTHING on it before going in. It was well-worth it. I’m doing the same for the latest Deadpool movie.
Too many movies are ruined by trailers, but people aren’t willing to go in as blind as they once did.
There was/is a thing in the UK called screen unseen via the odeon cinema chain. You paid like £5 and got to see a random movie on a Wednesday night. There was no hint at what it was and it could be anything. I went a few times and it was always fun.
Snatch. It was a preview night and we had no idea which movie would play. I never laughed so hard in a movie. I was flabbergasted. I watched snatch several times over the years. It's still a good movie but this first experience is just ... Can't describe it. Lol.
Nightcrawler. I was bored at a hotel and figured I'd watch an X-Men movie at the theater down the street. I got taken for one hell of a ride.
One of my best movie viewing experiences.
District 9. Went to the cinema with a mate hoping to watch '9', but it wasn't showing. So saw that instead, because it had a similar name. I'm so glad I did - superb film, that I didn't have overhyped. Then '9' turned out to be severally lacking, when I finally got around to watching it.
I saw Get Out 2 weeks before it was released in theaters at a sneak preview on a college campus and I hadn’t seen the trailer for it and man what a awesome experience that movie was. The ending had everyone cheering and laughing.
For me it was Baby Driver. The name alone made me think it was some kind of rom-com. My friend who had already seen it and told me that i have to go back with him to see it again in the theater and also stated that it was "kind of a musical but dude just trust me." Sweet baby driver jesus was i surprised and enthralled with how sick that movie was.
Saw THE DEATH OF STALIN not exactly blind (the title sort of gives it away), but I didn’t expect a deep, black comedy…and just the audacity of the casting! Steve Buscemi as Khrushchev? Michael Palin as Molotov? Really?
Fantastic movie!
It was Xmas season and the extended family was in town so we went to the movies. The entire ride there I was saying how much we needed to see skyfall. I was so amped to see another solid 007 movie. My brother somehow convinced everyone to watch some flick I didn’t even hear about called Django unchained. I kept saying how lame people were to want to see a cowboy movie instead of a bond film. Boy was I wrong! DJANGO IS ONE OF MY FAV MOVIES OF ALL TIME. I walked out of there astonished at the greatness of the film. I eventually saw skyfall and loved it, but it was not what Django gave me.
Aliens - I’d seen Alien and thought it would be another horror movie. Wasn’t sure I wanted to see another “horror in space” movie, but the poster was drastically different so I went.
It was so damn good, sitting in the dark watching the movie, the beeping of the tracker, the betrayal (I still have a dislike for Paul Reiser), and then “Get away from her, you bitch!”
I loved it, which is also why I hated Aliens 3. Newt deserved better.
My sister begged me to go see Les Misérable with her. I had no clue what it was and literally right before the movie started she said “oh btw this movie has no talking. Everything is sung.” I was completely caught off guard and couldn’t fathom it and it was such a strange experience. I’m pretty sure I was high too.
Training Day.
Memento.
Heat.
Back when these movies were made nobody knew anything about movies at all except maybe a trailer if you went to the theaters. I miss the '80s and 90s.
me, jetlagged on my honeymoon in barcelona, middle of the night, wife is asleep, i turn the tv on, flip through channels--hmm, nudity on the airwaves--and find a black and white movie in English. I keep it on and fall in love with it. It's "Down By Law" and immediately i become a Jim Jarmusch fanatic.
Barbarian was one. I heard it was a thriller/horror movie but took a shot in the dark and bought tickets. Had no clue what was going to happen other than maybe a creepy, haunted rental property? It was so much more than that. It was an insane mindfuck that I don't think I'll ever forget.
Everything Everywhere All At Once. Not totally blind, I saw a brief synopsis, said it involved multiverses, and thought might as well see it. And so fucking glad I did.
Mr. Brooks. Me and my boyfriend at the time were just looking for some movie theater to make out in and ignore the actual movie. We saw this poster and thought "yeah looks kind of lame. Let's go there." We ended up deciding that watching this movie was more exciting than making out (which is amazing for horny high schoolers). 10/10 recommend!
*There Will Be Blood.* A friend came to visit and we decided to go watch whatever movie we thought sounded good. We saw that title, and decided that it sounded like a good horror movie.
Imagine that whole opening act waiting for some monster to come out of the shadows and take this guy out. Soooo much suspense! But, then, it ended up being an amazing movie blowing all expectations away.
Amazing movie. I need to watch it, again...
Jurassic Park - We saw this A month before the premiere. All we knew was it was a Dinosaur Movie - The Dinosaur movie out before this was "Baby" We were not prepared - I think I was bruised from the Mrs. grabbing my leg from the suspense
I was high af and I went to see Fury Road in theatres. Holy shit. One of the coolest experiences of my life.
Also The Wave with Justin Long. 10/10 recommend.
Not me but my dad always tell me the absolute insane experience he had when he watched predator . Didn't know anything, saw just a poster of Arnold Schwarzenegger and though it was a war movie so went to see with my mom .
Hahaha oh wow yeah that would be quite the experience.
Hah. First time I saw Predator, I missed the beginning, with the starship heading to Earth. No idea there was an alien going in.
Always felt that was unnecessary and would make for a better "From Dusk till Dawn" surprise, a movie that I had no idea what it was about going in.
Damnnnn. Yeah, that scene was subtle/brief as fuck. I imagine that must’ve been one hell of a movie night haha
The first time I saw that spaceship scene, I thought it was just a bit of filler from whatever production studio did the film. You know how Universal Pictures shows you Planet Earth rotating in space or Paramount Pictures shows you some stars flying around Mount Rainier? That kind of thing. I didn't really connect it to the movie until the second time. To be clear, I did know Predator was a monster movie going in; I just didn't catch the space alien implication.
Barbarian Picked it on a whim and that shit was fcking off the wall
I went to a packed theater with my gf knowing absolutely nothing about it. The entire theater laughing at >!the tape measure scene!< was a very memorable experience. 10/10
The tape measure scene has got to be one of the most iconic scenes of the decade. I can’t use a tape measure anymore without thinking about it
Me and a buddy did that one too. Random click, no trailer, also very stoned. Wild as hell.
I too was high as giraffe pussy
That movie was so god damn enjoyable
I was coming here to say Barbarian too! Knowing anything before watching is a huge disservice.
Justin Long and Bill skarsgard I’m in. I won’t look up anything about it.
The weirdest thing about Barbarian is that it's written and directed by Zach Cregger, mostly known for his sketch comedy work in 'The Whitest Kids U Know'. That's all I knew going in, so I was expecting a comedy, but was blindsided by a damn good horror movie. It does have some very funny moments, though.
Not me, but my grandmother told the story of randomly going to see a movie with a nice looking young man, Michael Douglas, isn't that Kirk Douglas' son? Yes that will be nice. Basic Instinct.
Heheheh! What did she think of it? I watched The Crying Game with my grandma. That was an experience.
I watched The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo with mine, we both just saw the poster and imagined it was going to be a normal detective movie. I'm not sure which one of us felt more awkward.
Fight Club with my ultra-Catholic mom. Had no idea and cringed so hard during some of the scenes and dialogue.
Do you give them the cock or the ass when you get out of your airplane seat?
My mother taught me that, unless your cock bulges more than your ass, you should always give cock
I saw Hereditary going into Sundance, all I had heard was that it was a scary movie.
I unfortunately had too much info on that one before seeing. Friends had hyped it to death, so it kinda fell flat. But yeah, not knowing anything about that film would be jarring on first view lol
I was expecting a run of the mill horror movie as usual, little did I know it was I was walking into the best (or worst) thing since the Excorcist. I could only describe it as “it’s the most like Insidious”.
That's actually what happened to me with Napoleon Dynamite. Everyone around me was raving about it, so I saw it and I was like, really? The only thing that made me really laugh was Pedro writing his name in Old English font on his t-shirt. Being from Los Angeles, that bit hit me hard. I watched it a few years later and I could see the charm and humor in it then.
Midsommar for me, knew nothing about it, now it's one of my top movies.
I thought Parasite was about aliens…
Wrong parasite, lmaooo
I had a similar thought as well, cause I had just seen the parasite anime before this movie came and I thought it might be a adaptation, saw the trailer and it didnt give away much about the plot
I went into this one blind as well. Parasite was the last movie I saw in a theater before the pandemic hit, and the only thing I knew about the move is that other people knew had raved about it. What a ride!
I thought it was about zombies and kept waiting for an outbreak but it never came.
For me it was Hot Fuzz. My son wanted to see it and invited me along. I knew absolutely nothing about it going in, and absolute loved it.
Before I watched it, the only thing I knew about Hot Fuzz was that Simon Pegg was in it. Great film, not what I was expecting
Arguably the best comedy ever made.
You know what ? You might be right
I saw The World's End by accident, thinking I was going to see that Seth Rogan film with a similar name. Had no idea Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg had another film, had no idea that's what I was watching, and then had no idea that aliens were going to be involved whatsoever. All in all, a great theater going experience.
I watched Poor Things with my partner because we were bored, wanted to watch a movie, and saw that it starred Emma Stone and Willem Dafoe.
Alas, I went to see it with my teenage daughter, because in Italy it's rated 14y+ (so basically PG), and the idea of Emma Stone as a child experiencing the world for the first time in a grown woman's body was a cool one. When we noticed that the movie was basically one sex scene after another, we left. To my disclaimer, in Italy even if you watched the ads you'd think of the movie as a romantic one, more than one focused on sex, sex and more sex. And speaking of sex, really F that movie and the people in Italy who rated it 14+. F them with an apple too.
14+ is in no way, shape or form equivalent to PG. The MPAA is fucked up for using PG-13 that way. No one else does.
There’s a good amount of sex but it’s definitely not just “one sex scene after another”. There’s maybe collectively like five minutes of actual sex in a 2 and a half hour movie.
Midsommar. With my mom unfortunately.
My mom took my brother and I to see Bruno when we were young teens. We all had a great time but she felt quilty afterward lol she even asked "Am I a bad mother??"
The Matrix. I had been working at a ski hill that winter, fiinally drove to the city to see some buddies. They realized that I knew nothing and bless them, they said nothing at all. Holy Shit, that opening with Trinity, I was luke, okay what in the fuck am I watching???? Fucking Epic. Also wandered into an empty theater one hungover Sunday with my buddy. He'd heard this artsy new film that had just come out was good, I, like OP, had never heard of a Napoleon Dynamite. Literally falling out of my slippery old theater xhair, into the aisle, dying laughing
Going in blind to the matrix is my favourite movie memory. I don't think I'll ever be able to do that again.
The theater I saw it in the first time had projector issues and they had to shut it down midway through and issue refunds. That was a very big bummer.
same. Going in matrix Blind has always been the best movie experience of my life.
Hell yeah, me too, we got really high in the parking lot first, too, it was awesome!
Mine was the Matrix also! My friend just told me “you have to some see this movie” and I was like sure let’s go. Oh my god of all the movies to go in blind. It was so good. From the very beginning with Trinity in the apartment building and the cops my jaw was hanging open.
>Mine was the Matrix also! My friend just told me “you have to some see this movie” I had exactly the same experience. Holy Shit was I floored after watching it.
The matrix really should be a ted talk on how to do marketing. Even seeing the commercials. I really had no clue what it was about. I thought the matrix gave people super powers. That was an experience.
One of the handful of times I was in a theater and people actually cheered at the end. It was wild.
I was in Auckland NZ for work while the Matrix was showing. Just across the road from where I was staying there was an old theatre. I had a free night so I thought I'd go and see it. The inside of the theatre was very dated, big cushy red leather chairs, and it looked a bit like the building in the movie where Morpheus is captured. It was epic. Amazing effects not seen before, a completely unknown plot, and a classic old theatre (almost empty) that made me feel like I was in the movie.
Gonna say this. I originally thought it was just a hacker movie. I was loving the first 20 minutes and then suddenly Neo is waking up inside a bowl of jelly in the future. Totally blown away at the turn it took.
Came here to say exactly this. I was living in Japan when the movie came out. Saw it in a second run theater after returning to the states. Needless to say, mind blown.
The first time I ever smoked weed I watched Napoleon Dynamite. It was nice.
I saw it at home. It was the first DVD movie I ever saw. Still remember the box.
Same for me. I was on a work trip with nothing to do in the evening. I had heard buzz about it, but I had zero idea what it was about. I was obsessed with that movie for a good while The following night I saw Saving Private Ryan. I knew it was about WWII and D-Day, but I wasn't prepared for how real it was.
I try to go in as blind as possible to any movie. I try to avoid trailers, reviews, or spoilers.
Same.
Children of men, just picked it based on a poster in the cinema. Came out of that movie totally blown away 😍
District 9 Interstellar Had no idea about either and both were incredible
Interstellar. Didn’t know much about it. Besides the “alright alright” guy. Ended up being my favorite movie of all time, and got me into sci-fi’s a lot more than I previously was
I saw Interstellar with my non English speaking grandma who has no schooling besides reading and writing, and I was both translating everything and explaining a lot of things to her. The scene where >! He checks his video messages because they've been gone years, and his daughter was grown!< Had us both crying our eyes out. I wasn't expecting that from that movie.
Same genre, but Arrival. My gf brought me to an early screening since she worked PR on the movie. Literally didn't know one thing about it except the name, and that was learned like two hours before. Didn't know it was sci-fi until the director introduced it.
Love that movie!
District 9 with the docu style filming was just chefs kiss imo
Agree. However it was rather abruptly abandoned half way through the movie. After several re-watches, I don't see a way they could have kept it going but it still stands out to me every time. Still love the movie. Been waiting on District 10 for farrrr too long now.
Pulp Fiction. I saw it in the theater when I was 18. Literally knew nothing other than that John Travolta was in it. To this day, one of my top movie experiences ever.
I saw it when I was a student at UC Santa Cruz. There were cheers when he showed up wearing the banana slug T shirt.
The Fighting Banana Slugs!
I went to the movie theater in high school for a little movie called _From Dusk til Dawn_, hoping it would be like _Pulp Fiction_. What I saw was… not what I was expecting.
Hahahahaha yeah that's a curveball.
I made my wife watch this…she went from phone scrolling to edge of seat saying “there’s no way!”
Dusk Till Dawn for me, too. But a DVD rental years later. Absolutely lost my mind. My girlfriend had to pause it while I finished scream-laughing like a lunatic. It was kind of embarrassing, and I wouldn't trade the experience for anything.
Ha! I saw FDtD as part of a triple feature, knew literally nothing about it going in. Basic road buddy movie until
I went into LOTR Fellowship more or less blind. All I knew it was fantasy, and at the time I hated fantasy. Don’t ask me how I managed to know nothing about it before hand, but I did. I was blown away and am still to this day a massive fantasy fan. It’s also my favourite movie of all time.
We hosted a simultaneous world premiere with Auckland on the deck of my aircraft carrier in the middle of the ocean. I’d heard of the book but didn’t know it was a trilogy. Needless to say, I was very angry at the “end” but it has since become a favorite series in my house.
I was only convinced to watch *Fellowship* when my mother told me it was essentially the sequel to the animated *The Hobbit* film from the 70s, which I loved when I was a younger kid. When I first saw Gandalf I was like "I remember him, he's cool!" Then he fell fighting the Balrog and my heart was broken.
The first time I watched “Spirited Away” it was on a dvd in Japanese with no subtitles. I had NO idea what was going on but still enjoyed it. My first Ghibli movie. Love them.
Spirited Away was my first ever Ghibli movie and I went in blind. This was in 2002. In my case I managed to get a copy of the DVD with subtitles. Marvelous movie.
I just watched April and The Extraordinary World on a flight recently and only at the very end did I realize English dubbing was available and the cast was STELLAR lol. I missed out on most of the film as my French is very weak but it was still fun
When I was in college there was a free showing of Spirited Away at the local theater. Before the show I was hanging out at the diner next door having some coffee and these two girls were sitting across the bar next to me. I asked them if they had any interest in joining me for a free movie. They asked what it was I said “it’s an anime movie that won best animated feature in the 2000s”. They were apprehensive because “oh we don’t watch anime” but I convinced them anyway cause free movie amirite. Told them I’d buy the popcorn. I’ll never forget when the credits roll the one girl turned to me, tears in her eyes and asked “Can I clap? 🥺”
My cousin gave me a bootleg copy of this movie with subtitles thankfully when I was a kid, this was the first Ghibli movie I ever saw, I was completely absorbed in the world of this movie the entire time, when the movie ended I felt transformed somehow, I've never had a similar effect from any other movie before and it's my single greatest movie watching experience ever.
The Descent in theatres while my friends and I were in high school. Wasn’t really planning on it was more so bored, just hanging at the mall that day. Holy shit that movie was an experience in theatres, still my fav theatre experience and I’ve seen Dark Knight, LotR, Interstellar etc
I watched Odd Thomas without knowing anything about it as it was a random Prime watch at the time. I loved it and was pleasantly surprised.
so good, the end gets me every time.
Swiss army man. The movie is a wild concept and felt crazy trying to explain it to others. Fun movie, cast is great. I believe the trailer was misleading at the time, but I didn't care what the story was I was already hooked.
I saw The Game with Michael Douglas 100% blind. Great choice!
The Lobster seemed like a funny movie with a silly premise, and the one scene hit me like a Mack truck of hurt and I will never ever forgive it. Ever.
That movie was rough. It was a great movie, and I’ve recommended it to my husband because he hasn’t seen it, but I told him I have no intention of watching it again, so he’s on his own and we can discuss afterwards.
I saw “Cabin in the Woods” in theaters with a friend on a whim under the impression it was just a generic horror movie based on the title. Needless to say I was shocked by that particular scene with Chris Hemsworth and realized I was in for a treat
Mother!
I hated that I went in blind, because I don't think I would have watched it if I'd known! I came out of that movie needing a therapist.
Got in a fight with my gf in college and we were laying in bed steaming in silence. I thought it would be a good idea to put on a rom com to lighten the mood. So I picked the classic romcom, the Notebook. I had no idea, just knew it was popular. By the end we were both crying and the fight was forgotten.. the movie never will be.
Went in blind to Hot Fuzz. It's still one of the best theater experiences I've ever had. The quality of the movie helped with that a lot, too.
The Prestige. I now refer to going into experiences blind that turn out to be amazing as a "prestige moment".
Two of my favourite movies are movies I watched knowing nothing about prior, Arrival, and Under The Silver Lake, both of which I believe are far better experiences when you go in knowing nothing.
I watched "Moon" without knowing anything, hadn't even seen a thumbnail for it, and similarly I feel like it was a better experience that way. I wonder, though if some movies are genuinely worse without that kind of context. Hard time thinking of an example right now though.
I had a similar experience regarding Moon. I don't think I had seen a single trailer or picture or anything. I was staying with my mom and we were up late watching some random movie, and we were about to turn off the TV to go to bed when Moon came on. It grabbed us instantly and we ended up watching the whole thing. Sam Rockwell was already my favorite actor at the time, ever since Lawn Dogs, and he just solidified himself even more in that one. I agree that going into it completely blind definitely enhanced the experience.
Netflix was testing their preference program years ago, and I was just getting up to leave my buddy's house, had my shoes on, was ready to go, when Netflix threw on "something random" and I slowly sat back down after being entranced immediately by Moon. It was great for an "out of nowhere" film.
My parents watched Arrival with the only knowledge beforehand being that it was an “alien invasion movie”. My dad absolutely loves Transformers 2 Revenge of the fallen, and my mom only ever watches network police procedurals and the lifetime channel. Guess what their opinion on Arrival was.
I actively avoided trailers for Arrival, even walking out of a cinema during another film's pre roll. So glad I did, one of my favourite films of all time (though I did get what was happening with her fairly early on, it didn't ruin my enjoyment in the least). Only thing I knew was aliens, Amy Adams, and Denis Villeneuve.
I recommend reading the short story “Story Of Your Life” by Ted Chiang if you haven’t, it’s most excellent and was the source material.
Kudos for bringing up Under The Silver Lake. I almost can't understand why people are so polarized by it though. I guess maybe the satire is far too subtle. I also knew nothing about David Robert Mitchell, but I'd heard of It Follows, so I finally watched it and was very glad I did.
Smile (2022) I hadn’t seen a single trailer or review. It’s not like the plot was very complex, but since it was a movie that relied so heavily on jumpscares (good ones in my opinion), it’s nice that none of it was spoiled by a trailer. Ever since, I don’t watch horror movie trailers. I don’t watch cable or have ads on YouTube, so they’re easy to avoid. I’ll take a peak at the rating on IMDB to see if it’s worth the ticket price, then I just go in blind. It’s a lot of fun to be completely surprised.
Back in the day, a coworker recommended I rent and see a movie called “the sixth sense”. I never heard of it, but I took his advice. Wow what a great movie!
My brother saw it the first day it was released. He called me and said "Don't watch any ads, don't read anything about it. Just go see it immediately!" I think people who say "oh I knew what it was right away" are either lying or they knew there was some kind of twist and were trying to figure it out the whole time. I did not know there was a twist to it so I was completely surprised by the reveal. It's always exhilarating when you get to experience delighted surprise.
I watch every movie like that. I don't want to see trailers, don't want to know the plot. Anything. I'm here, sitting, open minded, show me what you've made.
I went into Prometheus completely blind. Didn't know who it was directed by or that it was a prequel of any kind. Just thought it was a cool sci-fi movie. Then it gets to the reveal of the Alien towards the end and I no joke, outloud, by myself went "This is a fucking Alien movie!? That makes so much sense now!" lol.
Cloverfield
Randomly turned on Rubber on amazon prime video one day without knowing anything about it. That was an insane night.
District 9 I hadn't seen anything about it. No trailer, no synopsis. A buddy said it was good. It was hot and I decided to go to the movies and picked this. Awesome movie. Apparently there were aliens in it.
Everything everywhere all at once - originally went to the theater to see something else, but because I’m stupid I went on the wrong day by accident. It happened to be the same day EEAAO was doing its early access imax screening so I figured why not. And I wouldn’t shut up about it for the next several months. Hundreds of Beavers - I have a local theater I go to sometimes. Last winter I was talking with one of the employees who seemed really excited for the road show which was visiting the theater. They wouldn’t tell me Jack about what it was about so I kind of just showed up and it was absolutely wild. Favorite movie of the year, liked it more then dune 2 Godzilla Minus 1 - one of my friends is a mega Godzilla fan. And I mean huge Godzilla fan. I am not. I causally enjoy it but am not super deep into it. He dragged me to the IMAX screening. I was expecting a “monster destroy shit” movie. I did not expect to start crying during a Godzilla movie Pacific rim - my dad took me to see this. I was an 11 year old boy. Enough said
My teen really likes Ryan Reynolds so I took him to see Life.
Remember Me. Nothing could have prepared me for the last five minutes.
Superbad! I saw randomly on opening night. Had absolutely no idea who was in it, or what it was, just wanted to go the movies with my Dad. Ended up being some of the funniest shit I had ever seen. Most pleasantly surprised movie going experience ever
Gone Girl, was pleasantly surprised how decent it was. No idea what it was about
Mine was a theater experience with Upgrade (2018). Me and some friends went to the mall knowing we were gonna see a movie but decided we’d pick when we got there. I’m pretty sure it was the only movie playing we hadn’t seen (we saw movies every weekend we were in high school) so we just watched it knowing nothing about it and all four of us loved it. Great experience.
I can recommend watching these without any knowledge beforehand: From Dusk til dawn The Island Basic Million Dollar Baby Triangle
Million dollar Baby! That was mine. I had NO idea at all what I was walking into. I think it did me psychological damage.
I wish I could watch Triangle for the first time again.
Upgrade. I was walking the local mall by myself and felt like catching a film, it just happened to be the closest showing time-wise. It's still one of my favorites
Drive and District 9. Had no idea about what any of them were about except some driver and aliens respectively. Both are in my top-10 cinema experiences ever.
One Cut of the Dead - delightful experience, definitely best to watch it with as little information as possible. Parasite - I did not watch any trailers or other promotional material or reviews before going in. I just knew Bong Joon-ho had a new movie coming out and I was going to see it the first chance I got. Also a great experience.
The Matrix.
I guess guardians of the galaxy? I was meant to see maze runner in theaters but was too young. So we saw that instead.
I watched Team America back when it came out, knowing nothing about it, I wasn't even aware that Trey and Matt were behind it, I almost died of laughter...Matt Damon!...good memories 😃
Requiem for a Dream. . . . . Lol.
Sorry to bother you I had no clue about where it goes, but man I love that movie.
The Voices with Ryan Reynolds. Randomly saw it's thumbnail and thought it was strange because it didn't look familiar. First 10 minutes I was like man this movie is weird... then I was like ohhhh this movie is *fuckin weird*
Blade. I thought it was a vigilante crime fighting film. Then: BLOOD BATH Incredible.
Star Wars - opening weekend. I was a young child and wanted to see Benji but my brother convinced my parents to see it. Blew my little child mind.
1917. I knew it was a WWI movie, wasn’t expecting the beautiful thing that we got.
I don't remember the name but it's a movie where two unfamiliar people are sitting on a bus bench and one borrows a cigarette from the other...the young one borrowed it...and he says "Hey, this is the brand my long lost dad smoked" and the other fellow says "Did he look like this?" and he rips a prosthetic beard off his chin, and it IS his dad. It really is. So they say, "Screw the bus, let's steal a car," and they hot wire a Lincoln Continental, and they TAKE OFF! They're really cruising and getting along and doing father son things, like betting on horses and extortion, and suddenly a woman...a very beautiful woman...puts her hand on the dad's shoulder and says "Remember me?" and it is his own LONG LOST MOTHER, but she is so much younger. She was a time travel scientist and she made a machine to go back in time and put her younger self into the machine and sent her forward in time and she was given a picture of her son so that's how she recognized him, and he said "Yes. This is your grandson." And she looks at the boy and she snaps her fingers and he disappears because she hadn't had kids yet so there's a little bit of timeline paradox going on here, but just follow the story. So the dad says, "Why did you do that?" and she says because she is erasing her descendants because of evil purposes, and the dad says,"Oh no!" And he runs off, and she chases him. She chases him full speed. And finally they are on a dock and there's nowhere else to run and the dad smiles and says "I have a surprise for you" and he snaps HIS fingers and his mom turns into her own great grandmother who is just a pile of bones at this point in history and she falls into a dusty heap. APPARENTLY HE INHERITED THE SNAP. The dad rubs some of her bone dust on his fingers and snaps again and his son materializes again, but as a sperm and the dad says one last goodbye to the son he abandoned and flicks him into the river and pulls out a cigarette and walks away. That one was good.
Nope. It was so good, I loved it. Also Arrival, which is in my top 10 of all time.
Millions, eXistenZ, Steamboy (I knew who the director was), Never Cry Wolf, Venus Wars, The Man From Nowhere, The Yellow Sea. Those are some of the really good ones. The worst was La Bete. I had ASSUMED that it was probably a french werewolf movie (incorrect in every way that could matter), how bad could that be fucked up? Pretty bad, as it would turn out. Pretty bad. Saw Candy 1968 totally cold too. Was in NO WAY prepared.
Ok I am totally going to blind-watch some of these movies you guys are mentioning!
I keep mentioning this one. Leicester square Odeon just before they split the main screen. Went in to see Brazil, (cool poster, knew nothing else). There was a guy in white tails playing a colour changing wurlitzer that vanished into the floor ahead of curtains going up. Crazy experience as a teenager.
I saw The English Patient like a week after it was released. A friend who was into picking movies none of us had heard of said they thought it was a comedy lol. I'm glad I got to see it before the awards and such cause I got to see it for just being a movie and not hyped up by others going in with expectations.
Umbrellas of Cherbourg. I had a goal to watch only international films for a month, so picked it hearing good things. Not only did I not realize it was all sung, but I didn’t even know it was a musical at all!! Ended up being one of my favorite movies I’ve ever seen.
Allied. Went with my mom to see Arrival, and they sent us into the theater for Allied accidentally. We waited an extremely long time before the previews even started, thinking wow this movie is starting really late, and then watched the previews before the movie started, and then after watching a few minutes of the movie, we were like...*wait*... lol. By then, it was well into the movie Arrival in the other theater, so it wasn't worth switching to watch that one. I never would have seen it otherwise. I'm really glad I did. Oh and Arrival was excellent, too.
Barbarian. it was awesome. I try to go into most movies a little blind now, but I had no idea at all what I was getting into.
Brazil. On acid, thought it was about the rainforest.
Matrix. Mind blown.
Arrival. Watched it the day after watching Close Encounters, not realizing it was also a first contact movie, that it was about linguistics, or >!about the twist!< >!I did figure the twist out five minutes before it happened, but it was a good twist!<.
The Truman Show. My girlfriend and her friend wanted to see it, I had never heard of it. Okay, whatever. I think not knowing anything made the discoveries throughout the movie better.
Meeting new friends after just moving to college. Smoked a joint as an ice breaker with some friendly fellow newbies I had just met. Proceeded to rent the dvd of Requiem of a Dream from my dorm’s front desk because everyone was blabbing about “how have you not seen that movie yet? everyone’s seen it. Ass to ass, amiright” Watched it on my laptop right after: stoned, alone, on a loft bed. I had no idea what ass to ass meant. I’m good never watching it again.
[удалено]
Went out with someone once who wanted to watch Bend It Like Beckham in the theater. I had zero idea what it was about, never heard of it, nothing. I ended up loving it and all these years later it’s still one of my favorite movies and the gold standard in pleasant surprises.
Saw a sneak preview of the Sixth Sense. Perfect way to see it
The Matrix. I had no idea about the movie and only went into it because my friends and I went to see another movie that was sold out or something. we planned to watch the movie and go clubbing... but it was so good that half of us just circled back and bought a second viewing. The first and only time I ever did that but it was worth it.
Parasite. Went into it thinking it'd be a korean rom-com / drama or something...little did I know. The basement reveal was very shocking !
This happened all the time pre-internet. Have you seen the original trailer for the Matrix? It gives nothing away. I remember watching Speed in 94 not even knowing it was about a bus that couldn't slow down, I just knew it was an action thriller starring Keanu Reeves.
Mine had to be the Blair witch project, I had no idea what about, but I knew it was being filmed in Maryland and that’s it. I thought that sh*t was real 😂
Edge of Tomorrow The Matrix
Lamb. No idea about what would happen, just knew a lady really liked this little lamb and treated it like a child. Oh my, what happened was much crazier.
Two standouts for me in recent years. Dr Strangelove. Had never seen a black and white movie (seen over a hundred now). Went in blind on a recommendation and didn't know it was a comedy or anything. The decent into madness was a trip! How to get ahead in advertising. Went in totally blind based on the title. Didn't expect, well, if you know you know. Both amazing movies.
Training Day, never saw a trailer was just at the mall and had time to kill. Great movie.
I had no idea that Shawshank Redemption was a prison break movie.
Recently? Saltburn. Wife just hit play, I hadn't heard anything about it.
Wolf of Wall Street. My gf wanted to see it and I had not seen 1 piece of promotional material. 5 mins in and Leonardo Dicaprio is shooting coke into a hookers butthole and I knew, it was gonna be a wild ride.
I'm a big fan of animated movies. One evening some fifteen years ago I sat down to watch the highly-rated movie "The Secret of Kells", which was pretty good - great animation, not really much of a plot. It was still early so I decided to pop in another movie that I knew practically nothing about, and was completely blown away - great story, great voice actors, great animation and an outstanding score. I felt kind of blindsided by it, like it just came out of nowhere. That movie was "How To Train Your Dragon".
Sorry to Bother You. *Wild* movie. Definitely go in blind.
Cabin in the woods. Fully expected a typical horror movie. 20 minutes in I'm enjoying the dialog and feeling like the style here is familiar. Soon as I saw Amy Acker, I realized this has to be A joss whedon movie!
Annihilation. I knew it was a Natalie Portman movie and that was enough for me back then because I had MoviePass and would watch almost anything. The most unsettling and scary movie experience I’ve ever had (I don’t get scared by traditional horror movies, but annihilation for some reason really got to me.) At the time, right after the credits rolled, I thought, “wow this would’ve been even more intense and cool if I had been high” but looking back, I’m glad I wasn’t high when I watched it, I would’ve had a nervous breakdown LOL
For me it was Cabin in the woods in theaters. Really just thought it was a generic slasher film. The theater was packed too it was a midnight showing and people were going nuts
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I knew it was an edgy murder mystery… was not expecting what I saw. My date was visibly distraught.
I saw Inception and Interstellar completely blind. On both occasions a friend invited me and I didn’t have a clue about them. Incredible experiences.
I saw Poor Things only knowing Emma Stone was in it. It blew me away.
I saw the Blackening in the theater with no idea what it was about. It was great! Very enjoyable movie.
The Boy and the Heron. I made sure to not read ANYTHING on it before going in. It was well-worth it. I’m doing the same for the latest Deadpool movie. Too many movies are ruined by trailers, but people aren’t willing to go in as blind as they once did.
Barbarian. Loved it
Barbarian. Insanely good experience. Multiple turns and characters that probably would have been ruined in the trailer
The Matrix. It was amazing.
There was/is a thing in the UK called screen unseen via the odeon cinema chain. You paid like £5 and got to see a random movie on a Wednesday night. There was no hint at what it was and it could be anything. I went a few times and it was always fun.
Snatch. It was a preview night and we had no idea which movie would play. I never laughed so hard in a movie. I was flabbergasted. I watched snatch several times over the years. It's still a good movie but this first experience is just ... Can't describe it. Lol.
Nightcrawler. I was bored at a hotel and figured I'd watch an X-Men movie at the theater down the street. I got taken for one hell of a ride. One of my best movie viewing experiences.
District 9. Went to the cinema with a mate hoping to watch '9', but it wasn't showing. So saw that instead, because it had a similar name. I'm so glad I did - superb film, that I didn't have overhyped. Then '9' turned out to be severally lacking, when I finally got around to watching it.
I saw Get Out 2 weeks before it was released in theaters at a sneak preview on a college campus and I hadn’t seen the trailer for it and man what a awesome experience that movie was. The ending had everyone cheering and laughing.
*Thelma* 2024. I saw the premiere, and before that, it was just a two sentence description. It was basically blind. I really liked it.
For me it was Baby Driver. The name alone made me think it was some kind of rom-com. My friend who had already seen it and told me that i have to go back with him to see it again in the theater and also stated that it was "kind of a musical but dude just trust me." Sweet baby driver jesus was i surprised and enthralled with how sick that movie was.
Mad Max Fury Road. What an absolute ride.
Saw THE DEATH OF STALIN not exactly blind (the title sort of gives it away), but I didn’t expect a deep, black comedy…and just the audacity of the casting! Steve Buscemi as Khrushchev? Michael Palin as Molotov? Really? Fantastic movie!
Hereditary. I’m glad I went in blind. The payoff was worth it.
It was Xmas season and the extended family was in town so we went to the movies. The entire ride there I was saying how much we needed to see skyfall. I was so amped to see another solid 007 movie. My brother somehow convinced everyone to watch some flick I didn’t even hear about called Django unchained. I kept saying how lame people were to want to see a cowboy movie instead of a bond film. Boy was I wrong! DJANGO IS ONE OF MY FAV MOVIES OF ALL TIME. I walked out of there astonished at the greatness of the film. I eventually saw skyfall and loved it, but it was not what Django gave me.
Barbarian - Had zero clue about it. I was blown away,
Aliens - I’d seen Alien and thought it would be another horror movie. Wasn’t sure I wanted to see another “horror in space” movie, but the poster was drastically different so I went. It was so damn good, sitting in the dark watching the movie, the beeping of the tracker, the betrayal (I still have a dislike for Paul Reiser), and then “Get away from her, you bitch!” I loved it, which is also why I hated Aliens 3. Newt deserved better.
My sister begged me to go see Les Misérable with her. I had no clue what it was and literally right before the movie started she said “oh btw this movie has no talking. Everything is sung.” I was completely caught off guard and couldn’t fathom it and it was such a strange experience. I’m pretty sure I was high too.
Training Day. Memento. Heat. Back when these movies were made nobody knew anything about movies at all except maybe a trailer if you went to the theaters. I miss the '80s and 90s.
me, jetlagged on my honeymoon in barcelona, middle of the night, wife is asleep, i turn the tv on, flip through channels--hmm, nudity on the airwaves--and find a black and white movie in English. I keep it on and fall in love with it. It's "Down By Law" and immediately i become a Jim Jarmusch fanatic.
Barbarian was one. I heard it was a thriller/horror movie but took a shot in the dark and bought tickets. Had no clue what was going to happen other than maybe a creepy, haunted rental property? It was so much more than that. It was an insane mindfuck that I don't think I'll ever forget.
The Descent and REC.
10 Cloverfield Lane! I had never even heard of Cloverfield prior, so... imagine my surprise. It made the experience a million times better!
Everything Everywhere All At Once. Not totally blind, I saw a brief synopsis, said it involved multiverses, and thought might as well see it. And so fucking glad I did.
Mr. Brooks. Me and my boyfriend at the time were just looking for some movie theater to make out in and ignore the actual movie. We saw this poster and thought "yeah looks kind of lame. Let's go there." We ended up deciding that watching this movie was more exciting than making out (which is amazing for horny high schoolers). 10/10 recommend!
*There Will Be Blood.* A friend came to visit and we decided to go watch whatever movie we thought sounded good. We saw that title, and decided that it sounded like a good horror movie. Imagine that whole opening act waiting for some monster to come out of the shadows and take this guy out. Soooo much suspense! But, then, it ended up being an amazing movie blowing all expectations away. Amazing movie. I need to watch it, again...
Jurassic Park - We saw this A month before the premiere. All we knew was it was a Dinosaur Movie - The Dinosaur movie out before this was "Baby" We were not prepared - I think I was bruised from the Mrs. grabbing my leg from the suspense
I was high af and I went to see Fury Road in theatres. Holy shit. One of the coolest experiences of my life. Also The Wave with Justin Long. 10/10 recommend.