OOPS. It's not even Halloween yet and already a bunch of UK children have been given the fright of their little lives.

Children were left traumatised when supernatural horror film Paranormal Activity 4 was accidentally screened instead of animated family film Madagascar 3 at a cinema in the UK.



"It opens on the most terrifying scene in the first film - where a body shoots full pelt towards the camera," said parent Natasha Lewis, whose attended the screening with her eight-year-old son.

"It's enough to make grown men jump, so you can imagine the terror in these young faces."

Ms Lewis said almost 25 families fled the theatre after images of a corpse hurtling at the screen frightened the children.

"Everybody just scrambled for the exits, all you could hear were children crying and screaming. Everyone was very upset. I've watched a few horror films in my time but the Paranormal Activity films are the scariest since The Exorcist.

"It was only about two minutes worth of the film but it was enough to scar them for life," she said.

Cineworld cinema in Nottingham blamed a "technical error" on the mix-up and apologised to the families involved.

"We take matters such as this very seriously and are currently working with technicians to ensure this does not happen again," the cinema said.

The theatergoers were given refunds as well as complimentary tickets and were invited to attend a later showing of Madagascar 3 free of charge.