Popcorn

Director(s) -  Mark Herrier (I Like Mike, X-Treme Weekend) and Alan Ormsby (The Great Masquerade, Deranged: Confessions of a Necrophile)
Starring - Jill Schoelen (The Stepfather, Cutting Class), Tom Villard (My Girl, Grease 2), and Dee Wallace (Critters, Cujo)
Release Date - 1991
Genre - Horror/Comedy
Tagline - "Buy a bag, go home in a box"
Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     When I started collecting movies I hit up the only video store my area had when it was closing.  I was able to grab Frankenhooker, Uncle Sam, Bones, a couple Godzilla tapes, and Popcorn.  These were all movies I had never seen before and I was pretty pumped to be adding them to my collection for a quarter a pop.  I was bummed my only video store was going out but the excitement of cheap tapes quickly healed my heartbreak.  When I got home I started a movie marathon that weekend with Popcorn being the final flick.  Sadly, Popcorn had been replaced inside the rental clam with The Santa Claus.  I was pissed I never took a look at the tapes to make sure they were correct and now the video store was gone.  A few years had passed and I grabbed the movie at a used record store fairly cheap and learned that it was a boot that did not work.  I gave up owning the film until recently when Synapse films released the movie on blu.  I reached out to them and they were kind enough to send a review copy my way.  Thanks Synapse!
     The film follows a young girl who suffers from bizarre and unusual nightmares that has inspired her to make a movie based on them.  She is a part of a film group in school and to raise money they decide to host an all night horror marathon featuring classic films that offer theatrical gimmicks in true William Castle style.  When she is shown an experimental film based on a man who went mad and tried to kill people she quickly realizes that the film is the nightmares she has been having.  She tries to learn more about him but finds a dead end when she discovers he is dead.  The event goes off and is plagued with murder when members of the film club go missing and she discovers that someone did survive and is killing everyone there and the filmmaker of the strange film is actually her father.  Now she must fight to survive the night.
     I never really knew what Popcorn was about.  All I knew was that it had some awesome fucking cover out that looked like it was made for my heart.  When Synapse released their blu the artwork was even better than the original poster but still did very little to share what the story was about.  After watching it I can safely say I'm glad I went into this one blind.  The acting in this one is solid.  The cast puts on a great performance but they are lost in their clichéd characters.  The characters, with the exception of a few, are all easily forgettable with no backstory.  Their performance is not bad but their characters are easily forgettable.  The story for this one is heavily inspired by the works of William Castle and the classic Phantom of the Opera tale.  This well thought out mash up actually works and is a love letter to any horror fan.  I'm a huge fan of the gimmicks of William Castle wish I could attend an event that recreated this original feel.  What we have is a very well thought out story that does toss the viewer for a few loops and keeps them guessing until the very end.  Very few slashers from the 80s could pull that off but this early 90s film could.  Finally, the film has several on screen death scenes that makes good use of the story.  Slashers often lost themselves in the body count and lost sight of the gimmicks and themes when it came to the murders.  Popcorn did not and used some of the gimmicks used on the audience to actually kill.  One particular gag was used twice.  It doesn't take away from the film but you can tell they were either running low on funds or time.  The practical effects are solid for what we get but there isn't any gore for you sick fucks out there.  Overall, Popcorn was well worth the wait.  The film has a fun atmosphere and a story plucked straight out of the ass of horror history.  This will be one I watch regularly.  I suggest you do yourself a favor and grab the Synapse release.  Well worth it.