Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the movies

[Burke Strickland]

Here's another reason to stay home and enjoy a movie in your own HT. Apparemtly, the movie "Anacondas" is so realistic, at a local theater one of the snakes jumped out from the screen and slithered across the floor, prompting management to close the place. ;>) (Just kidding about how it got there, but apparently thare was a very big snake -- about eight feet long -- in the cineplex, which they closed to try to find it.)

Mind you, this is the theater complex nearest to where I live, where, among other titles, I have seen "Minortiy Report", "Ice Age", "Matrix Revolutions", "Finding Nemo", "Master and Commnder", "Scary Story 3"... the last time I went, they had a fire drill, but no "snake drilll". :>)

So far, they still haven't found the snake but they reopened the whole place to very small crowds Friday night. I'm still skeptical enough that I'll be watching a movie at home tonight, thank you. :>)

Burke

Sept. 30, 2004, 1:09PM
Closed movie theater turns up the heat in hunt for 8-foot snake
By RHEA DAVIS
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle

A northwest Houston movie house has temporarily closed its doors after a maintenance worker reported seeing an 8-foot snake slithering along the wall of a theater auditorium, the company said Wednesday.

A janitor was cleaning the Tinseltown movie theater on the Northwest Freeway about 2 a.m. Sept. 22 when he spotted a snake about as thick as a man's arm between the first row of seats and the screen, said Terrell Falk, vice president of marketing and communications for Cinemark USA Inc.

"As soon as he saw it, he left," she said.


"I think everyone who was working left."

Based on the yellow color and skin pattern reported by the janitor, it could be a Burmese python, said a snake catcher hired by the theater company.

The theater opened for its afternoon screenings on schedule, about 10 hours after the sighting.

But as soon as the corporate office heard about the incident, the local management halted all movies in progress, gave customers refunds or rain checks and cleared out the building, said Falk.

"We don't know what it is, or if it is still there," she said, "but just to be cautious, we thought we should close the building."

Seven days and three snake experts later, it remained unclear whether there had been a snake in the theater and, if so, whether it found its way out.

"We have looked throughout the theater and we haven't found a snake yet," said Ramon Cardenas, owner of Critter Control of Houston, a company that specializes in wildlife control.

Setting the trap
Cardenas said he set up temperature-controlled traps in the individual theaters in hopes of catching the snake.

Falk said the company thinks the employee is telling the truth and said other experts have reported signs that a snake is living in the building.

City animal control officers searched the theater Wednesday morning and found no trace of the snake, said Kathy Barton, spokeswoman for the Houston Department of Health and Human Services.

She said she has heard of snakes popping up in strange places, but never in a commercial building.

Still, she wasn't willing to rule out the possibility.

"Just because we didn't see one doesn't mean it's not there," she said.

Texas Snakes and More, a Houston-based company that removes snakes and shows homeowners how to keep their abodes snake-free, also has been put on the case.

The company's owner set up children's plastic booster seats and small glue traps Wednesday around the edges of the building, office manager Michelle Pustejovsky said.

Evidence that the booster seats or glue traps have moved, she explained, would indicate a snake is in the building.

The company "hopes to follow the traps like Hansel and Gretel to find out where the snake is hiding," Pustejovsky said.

She said the traps were set up around the wall because snakes like to travel along the edges of objects.

Because snakes prefer warm temperatures and are sensitive to vibrations, Pustejovsky said, the heat in the building has been turned up and no one will be allowed inside for 24 hours.

Businesses feel strain
If the traps show no movement today, she said, officials must consider three possibilities.

Either the reported sighting was a joke, the snake found its way out of the building or it is hiding in a remote location and probably won't come out again.

Pustejovsky said it is unlikely that a boa constrictor or python would have wandered into the theater on its own. She said if one is found in the theater, it probably was brought in by someone or let loose near the building.

Nearby businesses hope the mystery is solved soon.

Julie Guerrero, an associate manager at an adjacent Fuddruckers restaurant, reported a dramatic drop in customers since the theater shut down.

Guerrero said she thought it strange that the snake sighting happened the same week the movie Anacondas opened.

But she said she didn't know if the sighting was real or a prank.

"It would be a shame if all the businesses had to suffer for nothing," she said.

No business likely will suffer as much as the company that owns the theater.

Falk wouldn't say how much the theater is losing each day it is closed, emphasizing that the safety of its employees and customers is the priority.

"Yeah, sure, we're losing some money," she said.

"But hopefully people will come back to the theater after this is taken care of."

Snake Story

Oct. 1, 2004, 11:37PM
Officials say snake no longer in theater
After aggressive search, experts are confident the coast is clear
By LA MONICA EVERETT-HAYNES and RHEA DAVIS
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle

Ophidiophobes visiting the once-closed northwest Tinseltown cinema need not fear.

After a hunt for a serpent first spotted Sept. 22, cinema officials and snake experts say they are confident that if the snake visited, it's now gone.

The 16-screen cinema, at 12920 Northwest Freeway, reopened at 7 p.m. Friday. "They have aggressively searched for snakes and haven't found any evidence of one," said Michelle Pustejovsky, office manager for Texas Snakes and More, a Houston-based company hired to inspect the building.

The search came after a janitor said he saw an 8-foot serpent inside an auditorium, prompting a hunt for what officials thought might be a Burmese python. The company set up heat-controlled traps, hoping to lure the snake, and checked the ceiling, insulation and crevasses. Searchers found no trace of a snake.

"We are thrilled," said Terrell Falk, vice president of marketing and communications for Cinemark USA Inc., which operates the theater.

"We hope people will come back to the theater. We're happy this is behind us," Falk said.

It was a bleak reopening.

At 6:30, two customers milled about while waiting for the box office to open. Workers hurried to replace the letters on the marquee to show the theater had opened.

Twenty minutes later, about 30 adults and children stood in line waiting to buy tickets. Joe Rios and his two young sons were among them.

Asked if he worried about the snake, 5-year-old Joe Rios III nodded his head. But his father said he had no worries.

"There is no need to be afraid. They are more afraid of humans," said Joe Rios, 33.

Dayna Lehman, 22, said she wasn't afraid.

"I think it's all a hoax," Lehman said.

Cinema officials don't agree. Falk believes the maintenance worker who reported seeing the snake was telling the truth.

"The janitor truly believes he saw a snake, and we believe him," Falk said.

Even though all seems clear, Sharon Edwards said she would be mindful, just in case.

"I'm going to probably pick my feet up when I see the movie," said Edwards.

Snake Story Followup

[David Meek]

Hehe, they had a TV crew (or several) in the area asking people if they'd go see a movie there for discounted tickets. One person said that he wouldn't go even if the tickets were free.
opcorn:

[NMyTree]

Tis' just a little snake. No big deal.

:rofl: :rofl:

[clintsnakeman]

There was never a snake!!! It was a hoax!

I was the true snake man that was hired at Tinsletown Cinemark. Myself and crew spent 40 pluse hours going over 8 years of untuched dust, every inch of insullation, building real custon snake traps, searching for fecal matter, having the theatre, halls and entire building set with snake movement indicators. I have studied and evaluated homes, businesses, etc. for snake movemnet for 20 years. There was never a snake.
Clint "the snake man"