"This was obviously a mistake," said the woman, who did not want to be named.
"This older man walked up to her and ripped her phone out of her hand. We were a bit shocked and looked at each other like 'what just happened?'.
"Then we thought, 'okay, we mustn't be allowed to do that', and were happy to leave it at that and get her phone after the movie."
Snapchat is a smartphone application which allows users to send photos or short videos to friends. Once the photo or clip has been viewed, it deletes itself and cannot be retrieved.
The women thought the phone had just been confiscated and would be given back to them at the end of the movie, but instead an employee came up to them and told them they needed to leave.
They said that as they came out of the movie Mr Vinnell began "yelling" at them, saying they had broken the law.
"He was very aggressive."
Mr Vinnell told the Chronicle there was no excuse for using cellphones in the cinema. "It's been ongoing for years - protection of copyright property is all over the place. All the teenagers know about it, adults know about it."
There was a sign up forbidding the use of cellphones.
Mr Vinnell denied being aggressive. "I was actually quite polite," he said. The two women both have children and said they did not get many opportunities to have a night out together.
"We understand that we did something wrong, but the way it was handled was really poor," one said.
She was also upset she did not receive a refund, despite the fact she did not know her friend was using the cellphone.
The woman said she would no longer be going to Embassy 3, she would instead make the trip to the cinema in Hawera.