A Washington Post article reports that the intense flashing strobes used to dramatize the birth of Bella's vampire baby in Twilight: Breaking Dawn have caused at least two male movie-goers to experience photosensitive epileptic seizures.
A similar visual effect used in the "Electric Soldier Porygon" episode of Pokemon (broadcast in 1997) resulted in over 12,000 reported illnesses among children. (Most were later dismissed as cases of mass hysteria, but a few were genuine). It also inspired a notorious article in USA Today attacking the Japanese industry and predicting that no such incidents would happen in the United States, because anime was simply not good enough to show on American TV.
One witness, who had taken her boyfriend along with her to the newly released Twilight film, reported that during the scene she noticed her companion suddenly start “snorting and trying to breathe.” The boyfriend later said he had no recollection of what had happened.
A number of movie critics have allegedly reported similar reactions to the film.
