IT'S a distinctly chilly tale of disaster and bravery in the ice-locked Himalayan peaks.

But Southampton cinemagoers, who went to see the new film, Vertical Limit, at the Odeon this weekend, got a more realistic taste of conditions on K2 than they bargained for - when the cinema's heating system broke down.

Hundreds of film-lovers, who rushed to see the icily atmospheric mountaineering disaster movie in its opening weekend, were left rubbing their hands together and turning up coat collars to keep warm - due to a faulty component in the heating system. Ironically, only the screen showing Vertical Limit was affected.

Daily Echo sports writer Graham Hiley, who took his children to see the film, said the unexpected cold snap really added to the atmosphere.

"Of all the films it could have happened to, this was probably the best one," he said. "It almost felt like you were really there. I'm used to wrapping up warm to go to football, but not to the cinema. It seemed strange going out into the warm afterwards."

Odeon Southampton general manager Steve Christie joked: "I'd love to claim it was an effect of the film, but unfortunately it was a malfunction in the heating system."

Notices were put up to inform customers of colder-than-usual temperatures when staff discovered the problem. But anyone going to see the film at the Odeon, in LeisureWorld, this week needn't bother about thermal underwear.

"We've since got the part we needed to fix the problem - and the heating is now back to normal."