Scary movie

Staff at a UK cinema have had to call emergency services three times in one night because of a spate of people passing out during horror film Saw III. One woman was taken to hospital and two other adults were treated by medics after fainting in Stevenage, Herts.

And in a separate case, a man collapsed at a cinema in Peterborough, Cambs, "due to the film's content". "If you know you're squeamish, don't go," warned a spokesman for the East of England Ambulance Service.

"This is obviously a blood-thirsty film. Some of the scenes are fairly horrific," Matthew Ware told the BBC News website.

All the incidents took place on Friday evening, one of the busiest nights of the week for emergency crews, he added. "Taking three ambulances out of the system on a Friday could potentially be a problem", said Mr Ware.

A woman in her 20s was discharged from the Lister Hospital in Stevenage after being treated.

And the two other cinemagoers - who had been at the town's Cineworld complex - were left "in the care of friends and relatives" without needing to be taken to hospital. A man aged 34 fainted at the Showcase in Peterborough, Mr Ware said.

There was also a case of a 22-year-old woman passing out at Cineworld in Cambridge on Friday, but it had not been confirmed that she was watching Saw III, he added. The slasher movie is currently number one in both the UK and North American box office charts.

A spokeswoman for the Cineworld chain said they did not wish to comment.