How not to make a good impression

Yesterday Nina and my friend Claire and I went to the Hampshire mall to see Sin City. "You'll like it," said Nina, "it's based on a comic book."
I do love movies based on comics- Ghost World, The League of Extraordinary Gentleman, Mystery Men, American Splendor, X-Men (to name but a few)- when they're good they're great, and even when they're bad they're still good. So I was excited about Sin City. I'd heard the name and I knew it was based on a series by Frank Miller, but that was all I knew.

Has I done my research, I might have seen some of the following:

"Sin City has more severed heads, dismemberments and acts of cannibalism than The Silence of the Lambs and Freddy vs. Jason put together. I loved it!"
-- Staci Layne Wilson, HORROR.COM

"You know you’re gone beyond run-of-the-mill movie violence you need to use the plural for 'castrations.'"
-- Jeffrey Westhoff, NORTHWEST HERALD (CRYSTAL LAKE, IL)

"Talking bluntly about sex for five minutes will earn an NC-17. Showing it frankly for one minute will do the same. Maiming and slaying people in close-up for two hours -- and delighting in it -- will get you only an R."
-- Lawrence Toppman, CHARLOTTE OBSERVER

It was horrendous. It was the most violent movie I have seen in years. It was also stunningly well-made and interestingly acted and had an amazing visual sensibility, but what use are those things if I can't bear to look at half the movie? About forty minutes in, I got so scared I got up and left. I wandered around the mall absentmindedly, trembling and telling myself, "It's just a movie. It's just pretend. They're just actors. I bet they're going to win an Oscar for Best Makeup, making it look like that guy had that thing coming out of his head!"

I felt like a dork, but I decided eventually that I'd better go back in, not without some trepidation. After all, the only thing dorkier than being scared out of a movie is thinking you're brave enough to go back and then being wrong. Which is in fact what happened. I made it through another hour or so before things got so scary I decided to call it quits. I went out to the bus stop and felt like a loser.

Of course, when you're really embarrassed, the thing to do is talk about it constantly so no one can ever forget what happened. To that end, I've been laughing at myself ever since.

But oh, Sin City, it gives me chills just thinking about it.