Just like a bad book, viewers still feel like they need to finish watching a terrible movie once it has been started. That goes especially for when audiences pay good money to see it in theaters, as it’s more of an experience and an evening out than anything. But, sometimes, a movie can be so bad that there’s simply no other option than to duck and roll and leave the movie theater before lights come back on.

  • If there is one filmmaker who pushes the bounds of decency, it is David Cronenberg. With his love of body horror, unsuspecting audiences might not know what to expect when walking in to one of his movies. That is especially true when someone like Kristen Stewart has a main role in the movie, such as his 2022 release Crimes of the Future. The movie was one of the big releases at the Cannes Film Festival, and when it ended, Cronenberg received a seven-minute standing ovation. However, it also dozens of people get up and walk out of the theater in the middle of the movie, showing how polarizing certain genres could be for moviegoers.

Between sequels that couldn’t capture the magic of the originals and some hack-job remakes, Redditors couldn’t sit through these movies despite paying to see them. Sometimes the movies weren’t even bad, and it’s just that viewers couldn’t handle how intense some of the scenes were.

House Of The Dead (2003)

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When someone goes to an Uwe Boll movie, they surely have an idea of what is coming. This was not the case in 2003, when Boll made a movie meant for worldwide audiences and licensed a videogame franchise to do so with House of the Dead. Fans didn’t know what they were walking into, and many walked out early.

When asked if anyone ever left a movie early on Reddit, one commented that they walked out on House of the Dead and Lithium-Ryan-Battery wrote, “Me too. In fact, it’s the only time that I’ve walked out on a movie.” The movie had a rock low three-percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and it somehow still spawned a sequel.

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (2011)

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The first Ghost Rider movie received poor reviews, but Nicolas Cage wanted to do his superhero movie right, so he returned for a sequel. This time, the duo who directed Crank signed on for the movie, so there were hopes their kinetic energy could elevate it. Sadly, it had the opposite effect and the movie was another bomb.

When talking about walking out of movies, SlackMomma said on Reddit that they only walked out of two movies in a theater, and this was the second. “Not only was the film cringe-inducing and poor from a screenplay perspective but the editing choices ended up giving me a migraine lol.”

A Wrinkle in Time (2018)

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Ava DuVernay directed the adaptation of A Wrinkle in Time in 2018, and did everything she could to tell the story in a colorful, meaningful manner. However, the movie wasn’t what many fans of the books wanted to see, and it caused many people to reject it outright.

If there is one way to get theater walkouts, it is by disappointing fans of the source material. When asked if they ever walked out of a movie, Rick_the_P_is_silent wrote Reddit, “A Wrinkle In Time (2018). Wow what a dumpster fire. I mean, did they even glance at the book?” The movie ended up with rotten ratings from both critics and the audience.

The Nun (2018)

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Horror movies are a tough sell in theaters. There are times when people will walk out when the horror gets too intense, but there are major horror fans who will walk out for the opposite reason. When it comes to The Nun, it ended up disappointing horror fans as well as fans of its preceding films in The Conjuring series.

Critics savaged the movie, with bad reviews and low scores. Fans didn’t like it much better, as it resulted in walkouts from fans wanting a scarier horror movie. Cregs wrote on Reddit they walked out of The Nun, saying it “wasn’t even remotely scary. I almost walk out on lots of horrors, the genre is done so poorly recently but i keep showin up and hopin.”

The Passion of the Christ (2004)

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The Passion of the Christ ended up as one of the most successful independent movies ever made. However, while entire church congregations met at theaters to watch the movie, it was a little too much for some people to handle. Some critics compared it to torture porn with what Jesus Christ went through in the movie.

When things got too bloody and disturbing, it caused a lot of walkouts in theaters. Captainhowdy82 wrote, “I walked out of The Passion of the Christ because it too graphic. I do not want to sit there and watch all the gory details of every lash of the whip.”

Independence Day: Resurgence (2016)

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The 2010s saw a trend of studios returning with sequels to movies that were decades old, and Independence Day: Resurgence was a prime example of that. However, the sci-fi sequel didn’t deliver quite the bang that its alien invasion-based predecessor did, and Brokid81 suffered the most.

The Redditor explains that “I found it to be so bad, I just couldn’t take another second of it.” While the movie did see Jeff Goldblum reprise his role of David Levinson, there was a huge Will Smith-shaped hole that no newcomer to the series could have filled.

Dark Shadows (2012)

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Dark Shadows is a dark comedy movie adaptation of the TV series of the same name about a vampire who has the misfortune of living with humans. It could very well have been a return to form for director Tim Burton, as he made a career out of original gothic comedies but had a string of critical failures in the 2000s. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.

Talismanic_Mechanic puts it best by explaining that they “really loved Tim Burton and Johnny Depp at the time,” as they made up one of cinema’s best actor/director duos. But it ended up being “the least funny film I’ve ever seen.” It almost plays out like how a parody of a Burton movie would. Though the celebrated director has always had a horror-comedy aesthetic, it was never as in-your-face as it is with Dark Shadows.

Titane (2021)

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Titane won the coveted Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2021, and though that’s an incredible feat, it isn’t exactly the Oscar bait that would normally be selected to win a grand jury prize at a film festival. The movie is about a woman, Alexia, who has sex with a car and then finds out that she’s pregnant.

While the movie is a lot deeper than the core concept would have audiences think, Alexia continuously leaks oil from her body throughout the whole film, and it’s so difficult to watch. Nessidy explains that they had to flee the cinema it was screening in because “its amount of graphic violence and body horror made me feel literally nauseous.”

Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)

Solo had so much potential to be great. It was coming off of Rogue One, a great Star Wars spin-off, had Alden Ehrenreich in the lead role, who had impressed audiences in Hail Caesar, and it had two visionary directors at the helm. Unfortunately, the production was drowning in so many troubling rumors, and the movie turned out to be a mess.

David-saint-hubbins was most disappointed by the film, explaining that “my girlfriend was dozing off throughout until we finally left at the beginning of the third act.” They didn’t miss much, but they had still seen enough to know that one of Harrison Ford’s most iconic roles had been stained.

Wild Wild West (1999)

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Will Smith and director Barry Sonnefeld worked together on the smash hit Men In Black, and in an attempt to capitalize on that formula of comedy mixed with a high concept, they teamed up again for Wild Wild West. Blastershift hated it more than almost anyone else based on how they left things in the cinema. The Redditor recalls when they walked out, “the guy offered me a refund and I didn’t even take it. Just had to run.”

The movie features some of Smith’s worst fight scenes of his career, and between Independence Day 2 and Wild Wild West, it seems like certain movies are doomed whether Smith is in them or not. On top of that, the final act with the giant mechanical spider is totally random, ugly to look at, and not in the least bit entertaining. But luckily enough, the Redditor didn’t have to experience that.

The Thin Red Line (1998)

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VrinTheTerrible has a seething hatred for The Thin Red Line, or what they saw of it, at least. When retelling a story about when they went to see the movie with a friend, they said “let’s make a break for it! That’s the only time I ever walked out on a movie”

If The Thin Red Line would have followed its screenplay, it may have been more palatable for the Reddit user. Director Terrence Malick is notorious for shooting loads of material and changing things around. Adrien Brody, who was intended to be the lead character, was reduced to not even a supporting role, as he was only in a couple of very short scenes. But that also means that a great director’s cut could be out there.

Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice (2016)

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It’s no secret that Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was panned by critics upon release. But when Nonjac was dragged along to see the film by his friends in 2016, it seems like they did everything they could to avoid watching it. Though they didn’t walk out, the Reddit user hilariously asks, “does the three smoke breaks I took while watching Batman v Superman in theatres count?

While smoking a cigarette doesn’t exactly take that long of a time, one smoke break is more than enough to miss the full face-off between the two heroes, which lasts for less than 10 minutes. The film was more Dawn of Justice than Batman v Superman.

Drive (2011)

Though SlackMomma didn’t walk out of the movie because they disliked it, they still walked out. The Redditor explains that they “walked out of Drive in 2011 because there was a group of teens in the audience who I can only imagine expected Fast and Furious.”

Though the 2011 movie is great and is generally loved by critics and audiences, it isn’t too surprising that anybody would walk out of the theatre midway through, and they aren’t to blame either. Drive was so horribly mis-marketed, as the trailer portrayed it as some kind of action movie, whereas the film is actually a very slow-paced crime drama that’s more David Lynch than James Wan.

Furious 7 (2015)

A lot of moments in Furious 7 could have made any non-fan want to walk out, whether it’s Dom literally causing an earthquake by stomping on the ground or the nonsensical physics. And for ErikTehRed1, it was when Brian and Dom jumped out of a skyscraper and landed in another skyscraper.

Funnily enough, the Redditor can’t even specifically remember which entry in the series it was that they walked out on, saying, “maybe the one with the skyscraper car scene? It was just too bad!” However, the film is the best Fast and Furious movie according to Metacritic, and they would have missed the most wonderful and heartfelt moment of not just the film but the whole series. There’s a beautiful five-minute tribute to Paul Walker, who passed away during the movie’s production.

The First Purge (2018)

While Purge tends to be a “love it” or “hate it” series, it does have its fans, The First Purge was a huge success and became the highest-grossing film of the series. However, Jaradman explains that they “left The Purge 4 to see Sicario 2.”

Unfortunately, that trade is very much an eye for an eye, as there isn’t much difference in the critical and audience receptions between those two movies. Walking out of the theatre tends to be a recurring pattern for the Redditor, as they also mention that they walked out of seeing Blackhat to watch Interstellar for a second time.