A cinema was forced to stop a showing of Halloween Ends after a gay couple were subjected to homophobic abuse by a large group.
The incident, which took place on 15 October at the VUE Bury the Rock cinema in Bury, Greater Manchester, occurred during the 10:15pm showing of the movie.
Staff had warned the group about their behaviour multiple times after they repeatedly disrupted the screening, eventually being asked to leave by security.
Prior to the movie being allowed to continue after the customers left, one gay couple, who have asked to remain anonymous, said they were verbally assaulted with homophobic slurs by the group.
The pair, who went to the cinema with one of their friends, “went to a later showing” than they had originally planned.
“We initially noticed a group of young males, I’d say they were teenagers, gathering at the entrance milling around, but didn’t think too much of it at first,” one of them told the Manchester Evening News.
“When we went inside, they were sat on the row in front of us. Before the film even started the security guard said there had been a complaint about their noise and if he had another they would be kicked out.
“After this, a girl sat in front of them asked them to stop kicking her chair, and one of them swore at her. Then another woman on the same row as them got into a verbal disagreement with them, but we decided to leave it as there was a big group of them and we didn’t want any trouble.
“For the first hour they weren’t too bad, they had been chatting but it wasn’t too distracting. It was then that one of them got a phone call and answered it, prompting a couple to move seats.”
Tensions reportedly escalated around an hour into the movie, with the couple and their friend eventually opting to move seats because of the rowdy group – which is when they claim one climbed over the seats to the back row.
The couple’s friend told them they should not be sitting there, which is when some of the group are said to have began hurling homophobic abuse at them.
“It all became a bit out of hand, and more staff came in before the film was switched off and the lights came up. We had been told the film had stopped and they would offer us a refund,” one of the victims further explained.
“I was at my wits end, it was almost laughable. They kept bouncing around, jumping across different chairs and then said to me, ‘what are you laughing at, you f***ing f*****’.
“They kept using slurs – but it just sadly washes over you as a gay person. You sort of come to expect it and almost prepare yourself when there are a group of young people. We have heard it all before. They were just being vile with everyone and anyone who challenged them.”
Greater Manchester Police confirmed that the incident has been logged as a hate crime.
Enquiries into what happened are ongoing and a spokesperson for VUE said: “A group of customers was ejected from a screening of Halloween Ends on Saturday evening following complaints that they were causing a disturbance and impacting the experience of other guests. We are sorry to hear of this customer’s experience and will assist in every way possible during the police investigation.”
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