Before every screening at London's Prince Charles Cinema, a recorded message plays. The latest one features Timothée Chalamet, who asks audiences not to laugh at moments that were never meant to be funny. Because the cinema mostly shows older films, viewers often find outdated language, clumsy special effects, or strange fashions hilarious. This kind of reaction, sometimes called 'performative laughter', can ruin a serious film for everyone else. A scary movie becomes far less frightening, and a drama loses its emotional weight.
Few directors have suffered more from this than John Boorman. His sequel Exorcist II: The Heretic was a famously expensive failure. Boorman disliked the original Exorcist and wanted to make something grand and hopeful instead of terrifying. Audiences, expecting more scares, responded with confusion and mockery. The film quickly lost money, and Boorman tried to re-edit it, but it was too late to save its reputation. A new documentary, Boorman and the Devil, tries to defend the film, pointing to its beautiful cinematography and ambition. Even its supporters, however, admit it is a bad movie.
The documentary also shows how Boorman still feels the 'old wound' of that mocking laughter. But laughter does not have to destroy a film. The Room, Tommy Wiseau's famously terrible drama, is now a cult classic. Audiences at the Prince Charles and elsewhere love to laugh at its awful dialogue and wooden acting. Wiseau himself embraces the mockery, appearing at screenings and enjoying the attention. He has turned mass ridicule into a successful career, proving that laughter can sometimes be the best medicine.