It turns out that someone else fainted while watching V/H/S. This time it happened at the Friday 9:40pm Nuart screening in Los Angeles, but tales of people getting sick floated around after the film hit Sundance and caused a moviegoer to pass out. It’s not really an epidemic, but the thing is, both got sick during the same scene.
So what scene could hit viewers that hard?
I contacted writer/producer Simon Barrett to ask what spot it was, and for those who have seen the movie, it probably won’t come as a surprise. If you haven’t seen the movie, consider yourself mildly spoiler warned.
In the first non-wrap segment, directed by David Bruckner, our mostly reluctant camera man has just seen his friends eaten alive by the awkward girl they brought back to their hotel room. As he runs through the hotel corridors in search of safety, he falls on the concrete and breaks his wrist with a generous snap.
It’s presented with a kind of rawness that, apparently for at least two people, was enough to make them lose consciousness. Fortunately, the man who fainted at the Nuart screening is now perfectly okay.
