Batman audience left terrified by power failure weeks after US massacre

Susie Maguire, who was at the Odeon in Huddersfield for 
Friday’s 9.15pm screening of The Dark Knight Rises, said customers were given no explanation after the screen went black.

A gunman who targeted a screening of the film at a cinema in Colorado in the US killed 12 people and injured 58 others after setting off gas bombs and firing at panicked cinema-goers who tried to flee in the dark.

The massacre has led to increased security at cinemas in some cities amid fears of a copycat attack.

Mrs Maguire, who had taken her 16-year-old son Declan to the film, said: “Bearing in mind what has happened recently, it was extremely insensitive because we were left for at least five minutes.

“It was about 10 minutes before the end of the film when the film stopped and all the lights went out. We were all completely terrified.

“You could actually feel the tension in the room, and when people realised that nobody from the cinema was coming, they started getting their mobile phones out for light to see what was going on and if we should try and get out.

“It took a good five minutes before anyone from the cinema came in and then a young man came in and just said ‘we’ve f***ed up, we’ll try and sort it out’ then off he went.”

Mrs Maguire, 50, of Keighley Road, Halifax, said the sound then came back on but no picture, and then the last 10 minutes of the film was repeated before the 40-strong audience went looking for answers.

The NHS manager added: “It was a complete shambles. We eventually found the cinema manager, who said he could not understand what our problem was.

“In the end he agreed to write out some vouchers so we could come back and watch another film, but what we wanted was our money back and an apology, which we did not get.

“I thought perhaps it was just me at first, but there were 18 and 19-year-olds there who said they had been left shaking.”

An operator at Odeon’s call centre yesterday said nobody was available at the cinema or at 
head office to talk about the incident.

Sacrifice of Colorado victim hailed: Page 14.