ABC is reporting cases of seizures related to photosensitive epilepsy being triggered by the childbirth scene in Twilight: Breaking Dawn, which opened this weekend. The scene in question is the one in which Edward bites because YOU SHOULDN’T CARE. In the scene, bright flashes of red, black, and white appear on screen (totally original color scheme, bro), and it is this combination and the speed of the flashing which is being blamed for seizures. Because apparently despite the fact that photosensitive epilepsy is pretty common (one out of every four thousand people), they still didn’t bother with one simple Harding Test before releasing the movie worldwide. Oh, sparkly vampires, will you ever stop sucking?
And now, some specific examples of seizures reported so far:
A California man, Brandon Gephart, was reportedly rushed to the hospital after getting sick while watching Breaking Dawn’s birth scene. The screening ended when paramedics arrived to help Gephart. “He was convulsing, snorting, trying to breathe,” Gephart’s girlfriend Kelly Bauman told CBS Sacramento. “He scared me big time.” Gephart admitted that he has no interest in seeing how the movie ends. [THR, emphasis mine]
Hmm, boyfriend with photosensitive epilepsy, or man of genius who figured out how to get out of seeing the whole movie? Your call, internet.
In Utah, a married couple told ABC-4 in Salt Lake City that bright, graphic scene caused the husband, who doesn’t want to be named for fear he could lose his job, to pass out and led to his entire body shaking. “I didn’t really remember what happened after that I think I blacked out. According to her, I was shaking and mumbling different noises,” he told ABC-4. [ABC, emphasis mine]
Is he afraid of losing his job because they might find out he had a medical issue, or because they might find out he went to a screening of Twilight? We’re thinking the latter.
[Sources: ABC4 via THR, ABC via io9, Pleated-Jeans]