Cinema accidentally shows paranormal horror film instead of Madagascar 3

Screaming children flee in terror; parents say their children were left "scarred for life"...

A cinema in Nottingham that experienced a technical hitch resulted in children, who were expecting to watch the cartoon comedy Madagascar 3, screaming and fleeing the cinema. Instead of showing a cartoon, staff accidentally played the horror movie Pananormal Activity 4; thought to be scary enough to “make grown men jump”.

32-year-old Natasha Lewis, who was watching the flick with her 8-year-old son, told the Daily Mail how the incident happened.

She said: “They started playing the movie and I thought - this doesn't look right. And then I recognised the opening sequence as a flashback to the first movie, which I saw a couple of years ago.

“It opens on the most terrifying scene in the first film - where a body shoots full pelt towards the camera…It's enough to make grown men jump, so you can imagine the terror in these young faces.

“Everybody just scrambled for the exits, all you could hear were children crying and screaming.

A spokesman for Cinemaworld has confirmed that it was a technical error and apologised to the families who were watching at that time.

He said: “All customers who were affected by the incident were offered refunds and complimentary tickets.

“We also invited customers to watch the screening of Madagascar 3 half an hour later.

“We take matters such as this very seriously and are currently working with technicians to ensure this does not happen again.”