slinger
09-10-2003, 06:27 PM
Found this over at SHH! and had to share...
A MAN forced by his girlfriend to attend an artsy foreign-film festival nodded off in the theatre and smothered in a bucket of popcorn!
To make matters worse, 28-year-old Martin Sisco had been dead close to three hours before the Russian movie Ivana, Ivana finally ended and Lois Franks noticed that her beau wasn't breathing.
"I thought he was joking and was trying to make me feel guilty for taking him to the festival," Franks, 31, told police in Sydney, Australia. "But when I pushed his shoulder he didn't get up. He slumped over and then fell to the floor.
"By then I realized something really was wrong with him and I started screaming."
In her statement to police, Franks said the bizarre and tragic drama unfolded after she threatened to end her three-year relationship with Sisco if he didn't hire a baby-sitter and take her to the film festival that featured high-brow movies and so-called "experimental cinema" from all over the world.
He gave in, she said, but he wasn't happy.
"When we arrived there were six movies playing but I wanted to see Ivana, Ivana first because I thought Martin might like it once it started.
"But when we found a seat he just sat there yawning with his arms folded, and he wouldn't even look at me."
The film about the sizzling, star-crossed love shared by a Soviet spy and an American diplomat of Russian ancestry -- Ivana -- is set in Moscow at the height of the Cold War.
It has been praised by critics as capturing "the unique fear and flavor of the era" but by all accounts it "plods" and takes a long time to make its points. Even worse -- it's subtitled.
"I just thought he was bored," she said. "Rather than wake him, I decided to leave well enough alone."
Investigators ruled out foul play when an autopsy revealed Sisco suffered no trauma and hadn't been drugged -- he had fallen asleep in the popcorn and smothered.
"It's a new one on me," says Police Det. Robert Greene. "We've had heart attacks in theaters, and strokes. And sometimes people choke on candy, and occasionally a senior citizen will simply die of old age.
"But smothering in a bucket of popcorn -- it's not something you see every day."
Franks remains devastated and has declined interview requests. But in a prepared statement issued through a family spokesman, she openly wished she could turn back the hands of time -- and steer clear of the art festival.
"I can't help but blame myself. If only we had gone to see Dumb and Dumberer or even Gigli, Martin would still be alive today."
A MAN forced by his girlfriend to attend an artsy foreign-film festival nodded off in the theatre and smothered in a bucket of popcorn!
To make matters worse, 28-year-old Martin Sisco had been dead close to three hours before the Russian movie Ivana, Ivana finally ended and Lois Franks noticed that her beau wasn't breathing.
"I thought he was joking and was trying to make me feel guilty for taking him to the festival," Franks, 31, told police in Sydney, Australia. "But when I pushed his shoulder he didn't get up. He slumped over and then fell to the floor.
"By then I realized something really was wrong with him and I started screaming."
In her statement to police, Franks said the bizarre and tragic drama unfolded after she threatened to end her three-year relationship with Sisco if he didn't hire a baby-sitter and take her to the film festival that featured high-brow movies and so-called "experimental cinema" from all over the world.
He gave in, she said, but he wasn't happy.
"When we arrived there were six movies playing but I wanted to see Ivana, Ivana first because I thought Martin might like it once it started.
"But when we found a seat he just sat there yawning with his arms folded, and he wouldn't even look at me."
The film about the sizzling, star-crossed love shared by a Soviet spy and an American diplomat of Russian ancestry -- Ivana -- is set in Moscow at the height of the Cold War.
It has been praised by critics as capturing "the unique fear and flavor of the era" but by all accounts it "plods" and takes a long time to make its points. Even worse -- it's subtitled.
"I just thought he was bored," she said. "Rather than wake him, I decided to leave well enough alone."
Investigators ruled out foul play when an autopsy revealed Sisco suffered no trauma and hadn't been drugged -- he had fallen asleep in the popcorn and smothered.
"It's a new one on me," says Police Det. Robert Greene. "We've had heart attacks in theaters, and strokes. And sometimes people choke on candy, and occasionally a senior citizen will simply die of old age.
"But smothering in a bucket of popcorn -- it's not something you see every day."
Franks remains devastated and has declined interview requests. But in a prepared statement issued through a family spokesman, she openly wished she could turn back the hands of time -- and steer clear of the art festival.
"I can't help but blame myself. If only we had gone to see Dumb and Dumberer or even Gigli, Martin would still be alive today."