Here at the Screengrab, we’ve always regretted missing out on the golden age of horror movie gimmicks. You know, the William Castle movies of the '50s and early '60s, with such added-value enhancements as "Emergo," an inflatable skeleton that floated over the audience during the climax of House on Haunted Hill, or "Percepto," the giant joy buzzers that shocked selected viewers when The Tingler attacked.
Well, the audience at a Fullerton, California screening of The Signal got a frightening bonus attraction on Sunday night, but in this case the producers can’t take credit for it — not that they’d want to. According to the Orange County Register, officers were dispatched to the theater "after someone reported finding a bag with what appeared to be illegal substances." Soon after they arrived, people started fleeing the theater showing The Signal. Sure, some of them may have been reacting to the movie itself, but two men covered with blood indicated that something more sinister was happening in the theater.
According to Fullerton police Lt. Tom Basham, the two men were sitting in separate areas of the theater, and were apparently stabbed at random by an unknown assailant. "He started stabbing at the theater seat and then he stabbed the victim," Basham said. "As he fled, he stabbed another victim sitting near the exit." Both men were taken to the hospital and are expected to survive, but their attacker is still at large.
The movie concerns an electronic transmission that turns people into homicidal maniacs. The Register reports that "Basham said the film was paused while police conducted their investigation. When it was resumed, the first scene was a stabbing, he said." We’re not sure William Castle would approve, but even he would have to admit it tops "Emergo."