Midnight Screening

On Weibo, discussions about the films are in full swing under the relevant topics of the Yannan University Student Film Festival.

I just watched "The Short Spring Nights" today, and it resonated with me deeply. It reminded me of the hardships I faced when I first graduated, and I couldn't help but shed tears.

This "College Entrance Exam! College Entrance Exam! College Entrance Exam!" is ridiculous! A bunch of high school seniors aren't studying properly, they're busy with family matters. When we were in our senior year of high school, we didn't have so many problems.

[The Crying Movie was the most surprising one for me this time. I never imagined a horror movie could be made like this. I'm speechless, my cabinet is moving.]

The love story between the male and female leads in "Ashes of the Past" is truly divine, so sweet and captivating, absolutely amazing!

I've heard that many people were too afraid to leave the cinema after watching "The Crying"; to clarify, they were too afraid to leave the shopping mall!

[Let me tell you, you absolutely have to buy tickets for a late-night showing of "The Crying" – watch it around 11 or 12 pm! That's the most enjoyable and immersive experience! I saw it during the day before and kind of regretted it; I'm planning to go see it again at night sometime!]

[The movie "The Crying" seems really scary. I'm too timid to go to the cinema; it would be so embarrassing to get frightened.]

Interspersed among these topics are some news stories, such as how the audience members who left the mall last night were too afraid to take a taxi home by themselves, and since public transportation was suspended, many people who lived nearby simply walked home together, causing a driver who was driving at night to think he had seen a ghost and call the police.

Also, a staff member at a movie theater that screened "The Cry" last night was found huddled in the staff break room this morning. It is said that after watching the movie in the break room, he was too afraid to leave or go to the restroom, and just waited trembling until dawn.

For young viewers, what the movie is about is not that important.

Many people go to the cinema simply to kill time when they have nothing else to do. Their real intention is not the movie itself, but to hold hands during the film and have conversations afterward.

Most viewers don't care much about the specific logic of a movie. As long as the plot is generally coherent and the visuals are exciting and the story is thrilling, a lack of logic is acceptable.

Another factor is trending topics. If a movie is very popular and goes viral, and everyone around you is watching it, many people will subconsciously choose to watch it as well. This creates common topics in social interactions. For example, if a girl you have a crush on posts on her social media that she just watched a certain movie, wouldn't you want to watch that movie too and find common ground with her?

Therefore, "The Cry" has successfully capitalized on the hype.

The first-day box office results showed that several films had similar screening schedules, so their final box office figures were roughly the same. Only "The Crying" was fully booked for the second day, and even the third and fourth days were full. It is expected that the box office has already reached number one.

In response to this situation, the theater chains and film festival organizers were not foolish; the very next afternoon, they announced that they would increase the number of screenings for "The Crying Cry".

To be fair, these screenings will not take up the time slots of other movies, but will all be placed in midnight screenings.

Midnight screenings, showings after midnight, usually include a mix of bad movies or classic old films, aside from premieres. There are also all-night screenings, where three movies run from midnight to 6 a. m.

Normal people wouldn't go to a show like this.

Who would stay up all night at the movie theater?

But this time it's different.

"The Cry" is a horror film.

Horror movies are only really exciting when watched late at night!

Moreover, the sound and visuals in the movie theater are top-notch, making watching horror movies in such an atmosphere incredibly enjoyable.

Therefore, when the news of the midnight screenings first came out, "The Cry" saw a lot of ticket refunds – most of them refunded the daytime screenings and went on to buy tickets for the midnight screenings.

Of course, not everyone can like something, and even the most popular things will have opposing opinions.

The film "The Cry" uses horror and suspense as its selling point, which naturally makes it scorned by some people who are numb to horror films and seek horror thrills.

On Weibo, some people have made comments.

I'm a forensic scientist, and I've seen all sorts of corpses. I think movies like "The Crying Cry" are probably just a gimmick; they're scary enough for the general public, but they shouldn't scare me. I'm planning to go and try it out with my classmates.

The person with the account name "Spicy Eggplant" is indeed a forensic medicine student named Zheng Li.

He posted this Weibo post partly because he genuinely felt that ordinary horror movies were bland and uninteresting, and that movies like "The Crying Cry," which everyone was praising, were just the traditional jump scares.

On the other hand, it's also about showing off to get some traffic and buzz, in case it becomes popular.

However, his Weibo post was quickly met with criticism, with people suggesting he do a live stream or meet at a movie theater for a challenge.

Zheng Li certainly couldn't back down; whoever backs down is a coward. After some online debate, he bought tickets for the midnight showing that night and made plans with a few netizens to watch "The Crying" together.

After buying the ticket, Zheng Li, just to be on the safe side, searched for the keywords "crying".

"I'm not afraid, I'm just saying that knowing yourself and your enemy will ensure you win every battle."

He wanted to find out if there were any explanations or spoilers. He wasn't afraid of horror movies, but he still couldn't stand the kind of scare that suddenly appeared with a ghostly face. It wasn't that he couldn't stand it psychologically, but that he would definitely have a physical reaction.

Zheng Li felt he wasn't afraid at all, but his body would react instinctively, and he couldn't suppress his instincts.

So he wanted to find out in advance if the movie had any such highlights, and prepare in advance, because he couldn't lose face in an offline competition.

However, when Zheng Li searched for information about "The Crying," he unexpectedly found news about Nanhua Private Renji Hospital. According to the plot synopsis, this seemed to be the hospital that was used as the subject of the movie.

Clicking on the link, Zheng Li saw that the hospital seemed to actually exist.

As he looked at the information summarized in the post, along with various photos and news comparisons, Zheng Li noticed something.

"Is this movie real?"

He felt a chill run down his spine. After all, it was all too real. It wasn't just a few words from netizens; even the local news reported it. It didn't seem like something fabricated for propaganda purposes.

"No, we can't watch this anymore. The more we watch, the scarier we'll get."

Zheng Li decisively closed the webpage, trying to drive those thoughts out of his mind and stop himself from thinking too much.

It was past 11 p. m. when he arrived at the movie theater. To his surprise, the theater was packed with people, as if they weren't planning to go to sleep.

They're all here for the midnight showing.

Around 11:30, Zheng Li heard a sudden commotion coming from ahead.

He saw that it was the audience members who had finished watching the previous performance of "The Crying" and were coming out.

The audience remained silent, seemingly still immersed in the film, unable to tear themselves away.

One of the girls, supported by someone next to her, took a couple of steps when she suddenly seemed to see something. Her expression turned ferocious, and she took several steps back, letting out a scream.

"Don't come any closer! Don't come any closer!"

She fell to the ground, as if she had seen something terrifying.

"Hiss--"

Zheng Li took a breath. He felt that as a forensic doctor, he had seen all sorts of things and wouldn't be surprised.

However, he had never seen such a scene before.