Watching Horror Movies In 4DX Might Be A Game-Changer

A few years back, I finally got to see The Tingler with "Percepto!" intact, and was surprised at how minimally the effect was used. The gimmick worked well, but it was pretty much contained to one sequence, and of course, not every seat was equipped with the buzzers, so it left me somewhat underwhelmed. And it didn't help that the film is not one of William Castle's best in my opinion - it takes too long to get to the fun stuff, and the abrupt ending doesn't do it any favors; while the gimmicks enhanced his other movies, here it's pretty much the only thing it had going for it. But I remain a huge champion of the concept of giving moviegoers some (relatively non-disruptive) interactivity at the movies, which is why I'm intrigued by the possibility of 4DX showings, especially for horror movies.

That curiosity led me to check out IT: Chapter One at the LA Live Regal Cinema, which can boast being the first 4DX-equipped theater in the USA (though they've been around since the '00s in Korea, the first US one didn't open until 2014; the first movie they showed was Transformers 4). While we've had D-Box movies for quite some time, which gives you motion seats, 4DX offers more advanced motion seating along with wind, mist, fog, lighting, and even smell effects, upping the immersion and gimmickry in ways that would make Castle proud (and presumably jealous). Most of the offerings are action blockbusters like Pirates of the Caribbean - you'll get blasted with wind and water as Jack Sparrow's ship careens through the ocean, while your seat sways and shakes along with the images on screen - but it offers a unique benefit for horror films, as these things can enhance the jump moments and give you more of the roller coaster thrills you seek. To showcase the technology, Regal and the 4DX folks teamed up to make the 4DX Fright Film Festival, which showed IT along with The Nun, Annabelle: Creation, and Jigsaw at a reduced price to show folks how this stuff can make scary movies even scarier.

Obviously it wouldn't be a good fit for every horror movie; I can't imagine the types that try to get under your skin would work in such a setting (though in Hereditary's case, I can't deny wanting to see that one particular car scene with moving seats and wind effects). But for a movie like IT, which has a number of effective jumps that work even without the bells and whistles, it was an immensely enjoyable experience, allowing me to get "got" again even though I've seen the movie a couple times. Even when I knew this or that moment was coming, such as Eddie's encounter with the vagrant, the added effects made me jump again, so I can't imagine how much of a jolt it'd be when you're unprepared. It even helped moments I thought were silly; I never fully shined to the way Bill Skarsgård's Pennywise shakes/shuffles as he approaches someone, finding it to look very goofy (and overused to boot), but when the seat is shaking as hard as he is, it's easy enough to get the pulse racing.

I was unprepared for how much the seat would be used, however. Before the movie I figured it'd be restricted to the more iconic moments and leave you alone otherwise, but no. If nothing particularly exciting was happening, the seats would often rock back and forth or side to side in a slow, gliding manner, either to mimic camera movements (crane shots and the like) or people walking down stairs. And for those action scenes it was far more aggressive than I assumed - the Neibolt Street house sequence practically beat me up as the chair was slamming us around so much. On the way into the theater, they tell you not to bring in any hot liquids like coffee (and to keep the lids on your sodas), and I can see why - things WILL go flying if you're caught unaware, and I started wondering if I'd be wearing my bottle of water or popcorn if I didn't know when things were about to get hectic. If you see a movie like this for your first viewing when you don't know when the scares are coming, I suggest eating up your snacks during the trailers, or at least keeping them out of your lap.

As for the environmental effects, they were hit or miss, and will of course vary from theater to theater or even seat to seat depending on your size and how the various devices are set up/calibrated. For example, occasionally they would simulate lightning with some lights on the sides of the theater, but it didn't quite land as well as the wind/mist effects - is it just not a particularly good use of the tech, or is this theater in need of a tune-up? The wind effects are all pretty much on point though - the rock fight, for example, gave you the sensation of things whizzing by your head (with seat jolts for the hits, of course), which was very cool. They also employed scent effects for key scenes, but unfortunately I suffer from anosmia (no sense of smell) so I can't speak on their effectiveness - however my friend did tell me that the school smelled like a school, and he noticeably reacted to the presumed foul smells of the sewer scene. So it seemed to be working; if you have a strong sense of smell you probably wouldn't want to see the original Saw in this format.

Or anything really long. While all the gimmickry was fun and worth the extra cost (at this theater, normal 4DX showings cost 25 dollars, though this special presentation was only $10), the seats themselves were closer to airline seats than ones I'd associate with a premium moviegoing experience. They don't recline, which was no surprise - the tech probably wouldn't allow for that, but the width of the seat itself was fairly narrow, and (again, probably because of the tech requirements) there was no way to raise the armrests to give your legs a little breathing room. Since the seats need room to move they can't have as many in a row as a normal theater, but I hope in future installations they consider the larger moviegoers and perhaps remove one or two seats per row in order to give the remaining ones a few extra inches of width. And maybe it was just an oversight in this particular theater and/or it's been added to the newer ones, but it might be good to have the option of turning down the intensity of the seat motion (the lone D-Box theater I've been to allows this, for sure). Again, IT is a long film - 135 minutes - and by the time the kids entered the sewer to confront Pennywise, I didn't think there was anything "new" the seat could do and wouldn't have minded turning it down a bit before another assault like the Neibolt sequence. 

But those few blemishes aside, I see a lot of potential with this burgeoning format, especially for jump scare fests like The Nun. I didn't love that entry in the Conjuring-verse, but after watching IT like this I couldn't help but wonder if it would improve the former's standing, making up for the movie's creative lapses with some good ol' fashioned hucksterism. CJ 4DPLEX, the South Korean company that owns and develops the system, said they will be expanding to more Regal cinemas in the US (there are currently only a handful here), so hopefully it's something any fan of 3D, IMAX, and other movie enhancement concepts will be able to check out at least once in their life. Again, it's not a natural fit for every movie, and given how much action I experienced in a relatively low-key movie like IT, it might be too much for a film with more aggressive (and continual) action like Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom or one of the Fast & Furious sequels, but it's something I'm glad I tried and would definitely do it again with the right property. If they can ever get another Friday the 13th going...