Horror movie night turns real for 30 trapped nearly an hour in Malaga cinema

A Saturday night out at the cinema in Malaga’s new premium multiplex ended with firefighters forced to free around 30 people locked inside a screening room for almost an hour.

Cinemagoers had just finished the recently released horror film La otra madre (Other Mommy), starring Jessica Chastain, when the sole exit door refused to open at about 5 to midnight. Staff at MK2 Malaga Nostrum Premium, inside Parque Comercial Malaga Nostrum, could not free the group. Someone then activated the fire alarm, so an evacuation message looped for roughly 40 minutes while people stayed stuck.

One cinemagoer later described the experience as “bad”. “Now we take it as a joke, but if there had been a fire or something worse, we’d have been left there like sardines in a tin,” he told Malaga Hoy. A friend with claustrophobia suffered a clear anxiety episode. Early on, some of the group tried to keep spirits up with jokes; later, the mood turned more tense. A note slipped under the door confirmed firefighters were on their way. The trapped audience answered on the same scrap of cardboard, asking for a free year of cinema.

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Firefighters open the jammed door

Malaga’s fire service arrived and found the handle had locked solid. Attempts to force it caused the handle to snap. Crews eventually freed the door by working on the lock mechanism with a square key. Firefighters noted that emergency exits with panic bars should normally open outwards and questioned how the main exit could fail so completely. No one was injured, but several people described moments of real distress while the alarm continued.

Staff response draws criticism

Once outside, several people asked for official complaint forms. Staff were said to appear surprised by the request and then made the process difficult. Forms arrived incomplete, missing the copy for the administration, and staff initially withheld the stamp needed to make them valid. Only after one person threatened to call the police did the stamp appear, according to one. The cinema later offered each person a free ticket as compensation. Cinemagoers called the overall treatment “nefarious” and said the later arrival of a manager made little difference. “You go to enjoy a film and you end up locked in a room,” he said. All those trapped were adults, consistent with the late screening of a horror title.

Premium cinema still relatively new

MK2 Malaga Nostrum Premium opened to the public in early June 2026 after a roughly €7 million refit and move into the former Conforama building within the same retail park. The complex has 11 screens and about 1,000 reclining seats with footrests, laser projection and upgraded sound. It is the first full-premium multiplex of its kind in Malaga city.

Cinema operators have not yet issued a detailed public statement beyond the free-ticket offer reported by those involved.