Downtown there's an old crossing the street from the old Ramos cinema 2000 movie theater, that is attached to a handful of rumours and urban legends.
Many of them created by kids and teenagers who, while waiting in the lines that would form around the cinema at nights, would get scared and uneased by its many mannequins who seemed to stare from behind the windows of the store, standing in the middle of the darkness of the closed store, lit only by the lights of the building in front of it.
Under those conditions it's no surprise that many of those in the line could swear to have seen faces in the dimmed shadows casted on the mannequin’s empty faces, or their bodies moving in uncanny fashion.
Time has gone by, and a good chunk of the theater's audience has been eaten by the big chain movie theater that was built only a couple of blocks away a couple years ago. But Ramos Cinema 2000 stands still not only presenting itself as an economic alternative, but by their loyal clientele.
The theater becomes wildly popular around every October, as it is known around town that thanks to the business crossing the street, no other theater can create a better atmosphere for a horror film.
Given its limited number of screens, its billboard features just a few films that include a new superhero flick, a romcom, an animated film still going strong on its 4th week and lastly an obscure horror film that very few have heard from, and other than its enigmatic poster has had no actual promotion. Being presented only today as a special event at the smallest screen the theater has.
…
And well, there they go. Nicole and Ian are on the line waiting to see a horror movie, what could go wrong? Oh right…
Just to continue the Cult Film saga, this one by accident can be considered part of the collection of rare non supernatural slice of life Whisperers pictures. I mean Kinda…
While I'm still struggling to figure out how to structure this story, I felt it would be nice to get a shot of Nicole and Ian before shit went down. While interested in the possible supernatural origin of the film I think they thought it would mostly be a night at the movies.
Worry not though, it's not like Nicole isn't ready for anything. I think here she's actually talking to Ian about what she has managed to find out about the movie. But more on that later.
The mannequin thing though. I think I just felt the instinct to frame the moment in a creepy way somehow. Create the mood or something.
Unless it's foreshadowing something ohhhh… nah
Even though only part of it is visible, the movie theater here is a combination of 3 real life theaters.
One is an old Cinemark in my town from before in Mexico Cinemark was bought by another chain named Cinemex. Which honestly sucked because Cinemex has always been kind of sucky.
But more importantly, Cine Morelos, an old style theater in Cuernavaca. It only has 3 screens, a big one and 2 small ones. I know this theater from when a short film of mine was shown there as part of the Pixelatl festival in 2019 (in one of the small screens).
And lastly, a small theater in my town that I have written about before. Mainly in the name. Until a couple years ago it used to be called Cinemas 2000. But sadly recently it was renamed to Cine+. Which in Spanish would be pronounced Cinemas. Disappointing but not surprising. After all, the year 2000 hasn't been the future for a while. But I still miss it because it sounded cool and it reminded me of a time when the future was exciting.
Timelapses: