Screaming children flee cinema in terror after bungling staff show Paranormal Activity instead of Madagascar 3

Children as young as five at Saturday screening at Cineworld in Nottingham

Instead of comedy cartoon, projectionists put on terrifying horror movie

Parents said children had been 'terrified' and 'scarred for life'

Staff have apologised and offered full refund and complimentary tickets

Parents have told how their children were left 'scarred for life' after cinema staff put on a horror film instead of a cartoon comedy.



There was panic in a Saturday-morning screening when 15-rated supernatural thriller Paranormal Activity 4 started playing instead of PG family movie Madagascar 3.



Youngsters reacted in horror as a 'flashback' scene from the original Paranormal Activity showed a bloodied corpse being hurled at the camera.

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Horror: An audience settling down for a family film were shocked to be shown 15-rated Paranormal Activity 4

Around 25 families at the Cineworld cinema in Nottingham scrambled for the exits with their crying children - some as young as five - when the film started.



Natasha Lewis, 32, had taken her eight-year-old son Dylan to see the film.



The full-time mother, from Bulwell, Nottinghamshire, said: 'Dylan wanted to see the new Madagascar film as he's seen the others and they're his favourite. He was really looking forward to it.



'We sat down and it was meant to start at 10am, but it took until 10.30am for the lights to go down and for the trailers to start.



'They started playing the movie and I thought - this doesn't look right. And then I recognised the opening sequence as a flashback to the first movie, which I saw a couple of years ago.



'It opens on the most terrifying scene in the first film - where a body shoots full pelt towards the camera.



Family fun: Children as young as five thought they were about to watch Dreamworks' Madagascar 3

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



'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.



'There were parents and kids in there, including some children who were younger than Dylan.



'The cinema needs to check the film before sending everyone in so they don't make this mistake again.

Blunder: Staff at the Cineworld cinema in Nottingham (pictured) apologised and offered a refund to the angry audience

'I'm disgusted about it, mistakes like this simply should not happen.



'Dylan has not liked going to the cinema before but I thought we'd try it out. But now he never wants to go back.'



Natasha was refunded the £11.40 she had paid for the two tickets by staff, who also offered customers the chance to see 'Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted' on another screen.



Cineworld apologised to customers who were affected by the glitch, and say measures are being taken to ensure it doesn't happen again.

A spokeswoman for Cineworld said: 'We have investigated the incident and can confirm that this was a technical error with the projector and apologise sincerely to the families.



'All customers who were affected by the incident were offered refunds and complimentary tickets.



'We also invited customers to watch the screening of Madagascar 3 half an hour later.



'We take matters such as this very seriously and are currently working with technicians to ensure this does not happen again.'

WHAT THEY THOUGHT THEY'D SEE

Zoo-escapees Alex the lion, Marty the zebra, Melman the giraffe and Gloria the hippo are still struggling to get home to New York.

They decide to go to Monte Carlo to ask some penguins to fly them home, but a plane crash forces them to hide in a railway siding from the evil Animal Control Officer.

The animals stow away on a circus train and talk their way into performing in Rome and London, where they impress an agent and secure an American tour.

But when they arrive at the Central Park Zoo, the animals realise they have grown too much in spirit to be content in captivity.

Instead, they join the circus permanently and proceed with their American tour. WHAT THEY ACTUALLY SAW...

Suburban teenager Alex is showing her boyfriend Ben the family treehouse, where they discover Robbie, the child from next door.

Scared by Robbie's behaviour, Ben decides to install laptops around the house to film what goes on. Over the next few days, an evil presence makes itself known.

Robbie's possessed mother Katie appears in the house and talks to Alex's brother Wyatt. That night, he causes Alex to levitate in her sleep.

When mother Holly encounters Katie she is killed. Katie then kills Ben when he comes to investigate.

Alex pleads Wyatt to run away. Instead, he stands still and blank-faced in Katie's garden.





VIDEO: Paranormal Activity 4 vs Madagascar 3

...WARNING (Partially) Not suitable for children...



