Sunday night when I took in a showing of A Quiet PlaceI also experienced for the first time Dolby Cinema at the local AMC Theater. During the sound and visual system demo reel my mind harkened back to the classic Simpson take on the THX sound promotion that ended with Grandpa Simpson, after everyone else’s head had exploded scanner style, for the theater to ‘turn it up.’

Dolby Cinema certainly presented the images in a vibrant and highly detailed manner and the full spectrum audio sounded quite good, but when my seat shook with every bass note I could not help but to think back on Sensurround.

Back in the mid 1970s, as movie ticket sales declined and Hollywood continue to fend off new challenges from this thing call ‘cable t.v.’ and HBO one of the attempts to lure people back into theaters was Sensurround, a system of low frequency sound reproduction intended to shake the audience and create a more immersive movie experience. Developed and deployed for the big budget all-star disaster epic Earthquake, Sensurround was meant to mimic the sensation of the earth tremors. The process was employed for the big budget all-star war epic Midwayand less than big budget and not all-star terrorism inspired thriller Rollercoaster.Intended for the grand movie palaces that still existed at the time, Sensurround was ill suited for the coming of the multiplex and their smaller auditoriums.

With the threat of massive home monitors, 4K source materials, and elaborate sound systems Hollywood is continuing to battle for the hearts, minds, and wallets of America with systems such as Dolby Cinema as part of their arsenal.

I honestly cannot remember if I experienced Sensurround when I went to the theater for some of the above mentioned films.  Certainly do not remember my seats shaking like the old trip to the moon ride at Disney World. During the screening of A Quiet Placewhenever there would be a ‘jump scare’ my seat with vibrate. Instead of enhancing my experience it detracted from my immersion in the story, pulling me out of the story to remind me that I was sitting in a theater. (Albeit quite comfortably in a plush leatherette recliner.)

In the future I suspect I will be avoiding Dolby Cinema whenever possible.