Children and their parents had settled down to enjoy the new PG-rated Peter Rabbit film, when they experienced an accidental horror show.
Cinema-goers at a screening in Innaloo, Western Australia, were shocked to see a trailer for supernatural horror film Hereditary before the film began.
The clip for the 15-rated film, which shows a girl cutting into a pigeon’s neck with a pair of scissors, was the first to play during the usual reel of previews and adverts before the main event.
I actually closed my eyes halfway through the 'Hereditary' trailer and just sat there (I went to the theater alone). And I'm a grown ass woman! These poor children.
— Kim Renfro (@kimrrenfro) April 26, 2018
Families reportedly fled the Event Cinema after shouting at the projectionist to take it off the screen.
Jane, who attended with her sister’s children, told the Sydney Morning Herald that many of the kids were upset at the “dreadful” scenes.
She said: “Very quickly you could tell this was not a kids’ film. Parents were yelling at the projectionist to stop, covering their kids’ eyes and ears.”
A member of staff eventually turned the screen off, and those affected were given free cinema tickets valid for one year, she said.
A spokesman for Event Cinema said the incident was being investigated internally.
Hereditary, starring Toni Collette, is anticipated to be one of the scariest horror films of the year. It has not yet been released in the UK.
