Calls for refunds as Glasgow 'immersive' film screening branded as rip off

Customers have demanded refunds from organisers after an 'immersive cinema experience' in Glasgow was branded a wash out.

The screening of Home Alone was described as "like a sleepover in a scout hut".

The screening of Home Alone, at the city’s SWG3 Studio Warehouse, has been described as “like a sleepover in a Scout Hall”, with ticket holders claiming the film started over an hour late, while the “free popcorn all night” advertised by organisers Alternative Cinema Sessions was a handful of small bags thrown into the crowd.

Immersive cinema experiences have become popular in recent years, with live action versions of the films taking place alongside outdoor screenings - often with entire “worlds” based around the film constructed on site and actors wearing costumes interacting with the viewers.

But people who attended the showing, last Friday - where tickets cost between £16.96 and £22.65 per person according to the listing on ticket sales site EventBrite - found that the “immersive experience” was limited to a few people squirting water guns at customers, while the film was restarted three times due to a faulty DVD.

SWG3 said it would refund any tickets sold through its own ticketing partner TicketWeb, but that tickets bought elsewhere would have to be dealt with by Alternative Cinema Sessions.

A separate screening in Liverpool by Alternative Cinema Sessions - of Saving Private Ryan - was cancelled after rights holder Paramount Pictures issued the venue, Western Approaches, with a cease and desist notice in November, warning them that the organisers had not applied for permissions to screen the film.

Facebook pages with details of the showings and all future events run by James Daly of Alternative Cinema Sessions firm Masq Events, have now all been removed from the social media site.

Adele McVay, who attended the Home Alone Screening in Glasgow, said she had been issued with two service charges after buying her ticket.

She said: “On the night, kept waiting in the rain, movie started one hour late, “free popcorn all night” was advertised but there was only 14g bags chucked at the audience at the start. The seating was hard uncomfortable benches.

“The immersive experience was cringing at five or so people running about daft squirting water guns and waving their arms in the air. Overall the whole thing felt like a sleepover in a Scout Hall. Total rip off.”

Another attendee, who asked not be named said: “People have been scammed out of money for ‘alternative cinema’ experiential events. I paid £22 for Home Alone and it was complete rubbish - nothing like the multi sensory experience that was promised. Overpriced tickets, late cancellations, no rights to screen movies, unanswered queries, deleted social media profiles. There are a lot of unhappy customers.”

Another ticket holder, Kathleen McPhee, wrote on Facebook: “Six months pregnant and had to stand waiting outside in the wind and rain for 30 minutes before getting in to a freezing cold room with hardly any seats. No food stalls. No Santa hat or hot chocolate as sold. Guy selling small popcorn portions for £2 scooped out a big bag presumably bought from a discounter which had been set up in the corner of the room on table which can only be described as the type of fold down table used when hanging wallpaper.”

Lorraine Sneddon added: “Wouldn’t waste your money totally false advertisement only thing that was true to word was they played the film. Better watching it in your house. venue was freezing and the seats were benches...organisers should be reimbursing everyone.”

A spokeswoman for SWG3 said: “We have worked with Masq Events on a number of occasions and have always been satisfied with the quality of their screenings. On this occasion however, the event did not deliver and we have asked the organisers to offer a full refund to anyone who attended.”

A spokeswoman for Western Approaches in Liverpool said: “Alternative Cinemas had provisionally hired the space for a showing of Saving Private Ryan. In early November they received an email from Paramount Studios in Hollywood informing them that they were not appropriately licensed to show Saving Private Ryan, we were copied in on the email, so were aware of the situation. We informed Alternative Cinemas that we could not host them unless the film was changed and appropriately licensed.”

James Daly has not responded to requests for comment.