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5 Reasons To Go To A Screening Of The Room

The best time I’ve ever had at a movie was the first time I went to a midnight screening of The Room. If you’re unfamiliar with the movie, you’re not alone. After being released in two Los Angeles theaters in 2003, the film has taken on a completely new identity by being shown in the midnight circuits in various cities across the United States and Canada. It has become this generation’s Rocky Horror Picture Show, drawing audiences who hear about it through word of mouth circulation, attracting an interactive experience that invites the audience to participate in the show. While Rocky Horror has had decades to formalize the etiquette and script and shadow casting protocols, The Room feels like a blossoming secret.

[h2]5) The more you go, the better it gets[/h2]

The Room

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I wouldn’t necessarily encourage people to familiarize themselves too much with the movie and its recommended additional dialogue before they go to their first screening, other than to get a general sense of what you’re in for (i.e. make sure to bring along a box of plastic spoons, and a football if your theater allows it). But the more familiar you become, the deeper down the wormhole of The Room you get. And the more you can contribute to the mayhem of people shouting comments at the screen. You can tell who in the theater are the real veterans, folks who know what’s coming, the perfect moment to spring the line they surely had been practicing at home for the month since the last screening they went to.

I’ve seen it about 5 or 6 times now, and it continues to be nearly as shockingly hilarious and confoundingly terrible each time. It’s hard to get used to seeing something like The Room and not think “How on earth does this even exist? How is this a movie that actually got made in real life?” The answer is there is no reason. It exists because literally anyone can make a movie if they’re determined enough. And it’s why everyone who loves movies should watch it; you get an even broader picture of what movies are capable of, or at least an example of ways they should absolutely not be made. There’s no method to The Room, only madness.