Oh my lord, the opening title roll for Smile was intense in theaters. Epilepsy be damned, I still couldn’t turn my head away from the screen.I know there was a whole convo about how "you had to see it theater is overrated" a while back, but I completely disagree and I think both Barbarian and Smile were a lot better in the theater albeit for different reasons. Smile had more of the Paranormal Activity style impact, where every time the score would drop out, the entire theater would audibly tense up. People were either giddy for or dreading the upcoming scare, which made it a fun experience. People would scream, then everyone would laugh.
Barbarian, I think hit harder because of the score. Sinister was like that for me too. A theater with a super clear screen and crazy clean audio enhanced just about everything about it. I still enjoyed it from home, a lot, but I was thinking about buying a soundbar or something to try and enhance the audio.
Both these are subjective though and you're just as likely to wind up in a theater with kids who won't shut up or other distractions. But my niece went to see Smile in the theater THREE times, and my nephews went to check Barbarian twice. So I think that theater hype runs in the family (speaking of horror obsessed family, my goddaughter asked for a Michael Myers theme for her 7th bday)
Rarely do I ever go to a primetime showing on Friday/Saturday because of that distraction factor, lol. Especially when it’s my first time watching a film, cause that can totally make or break the experience. Barbarian was a 3pm watch on a weekday. Kids and rowdy teens in school, and the soccer mom Beckys were at work. Graceful viewing.
Extremely jealous you got to experience Sinister in theaters when it came out. Hoping AMC can roll that one back as part of their ‘Thrills & Chills’ surprise line-up.
S/O to your goddaughter too. It’s fascinating seeing how people process things differently. I was the complete opposite growing up when it came to Michael, and that theme.
Nowadays? That shyt is practically an anthem. 
