Hush: it’s secret
When I go to a film, there are certain things I expect: the popcorn only affordable with a small loan; the endless standing up and sitting down as people push past, suddenly sure the film will look better from the row in front; these are a given. What I don’t expect is to be plunged into the film’s set, spending two hours wandering through the real-life version of the world on screen. But that’s what you get when you sign up to Secret Cinema.
I booked a ticket to its latest screening, and arrived at the specified time and place without knowing what film I would actually be seeing. The setting was a disused hospital, and, once I’d put on the patient’s gown I was given at the door, I was free to explore what turned out to be a chilling recreation of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest with Jack Nicholson (above). Blank-eyed patients wandered the decrepit halls, muttering as they passed; stuttering light bulbs offered glimpses of bloodstained walls and covered corpses. At one point, ‘The Sound of Silence’ was played over the intercom and, if you think it’s an eerie song on its own, wait until you hear it sung by hundreds of people filling an entire hospital, everyone frozen to the spot as the halls fill with smoke.
After all that, the film was shown, and, great as it is, there’s not much to say about it here. But that’s the point – with Secret Cinema it’s never just about the film. It’s about the way you experience the film.
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