Festival Line-Up is Bigger, Bolder, and Bloodier
Featuring Over 40 Film Premieres
Popcorn Frights Film Festival returns bigger, bolder, bloodier with its second wave of programming for the annual celebration of all things genre. Featuring over 40 film premieres from 8 countries, special guests, and live DJ sets inspired by iconic horror film music, this year’s Popcorn Frights promises more thrills than ever before as it rages through Miami from August 11-17.
“We couldn’t be more thrilled with this year’s Popcorn Frights Film Festival program as it offers something exciting for every horror lover. These films brilliantly showcase the breadth and quality of genre work being produced worldwide and serves as a great reminder that the genre form is both thriving and continuously evolving. We’re honored to share the vision and voices of this remarkable group of American and international filmmakers and look forward to them creating many memorable moments this year,” said Igor Shteyrenberg & Marc Ferman, Co-Founders & Co-Directors of the Popcorn Frights Film Festival.
For the first time, Opening Night will feature a triple-bill of premieres, including the previously announced slasherfest Tragedy Girls. The wild night will be completed with the Final Cut presentation of the All Hallow’s Eve spinoff Terrifier and the North American Premiere of the 80’s set psychological thriller Jackals starring Stephen Dorff.
It wouldn’t be Popcorn Frights without some exciting film premieres and this year is no exception. Popcorn Frights will present the hotly anticipated US Premiere of the gory horror comedy Dead
Shack starring Lauren Holly, the North American Premiere of the Russian gothic nightmare The Bride, and the North American Premiere of The Hatred, produced by Malek Akkad (Halloween) and based on the award-winning short Hush which the Festival premiered at its inaugural edition.
Other buzzy titles encompassing the ever-burgeoning cutting edge of genre cinema include the Florida Premieres of the mind-bending sci-fi thriller The Endless, the Cronenbergian horror romance Sequence Break, the savage social satire Happy Hunting, and the 90’s set dark coming-of-age tale Super Dark Times, as well as the South Florida Premiere of the breakneck non-PC pulp noir 68 Kill.
Popcorn Frights prides itself on providing a fertile ground for new and emerging filmmakers, and this year will present 20 extraordinary short films, including the World Premiere of the mind-melding thriller Level, the North American Premiere of the remarkably brutal animated film Fierce, the North American Premiere of the eerie found footage film IMedium, and the Florida Premiere of the award-winning short Great Choice. This is in addition to the Festival’s previously announced inaugural sidebar, Homegrown: 100% Pure Fresh Squeezed Florida Horror, which is toplined by the Florida Premiere of Rodney Ascher’s Primal Scream.
Joining Popcorn Frights for the first time is Miami based record label Bribery Corporation, who will be curating a live aural journey highlighting the marriage of music and horror with DJ sets from Mystvries and Dr. Mofongo. These performances will shine a spotlight on iconic theme music from John Carpenter, Goblin, Steve Moore, S U R V I V E, and Disasterpeace as well as Darkwave, Synthwave, and Retrowave from across the spectrum of classic and modern horror films.
It’s time for rampage. It’s time for chaos. It’s time for gory fun. It’s time for Popcorn Frights!
FESTIVAL LINEUP (SECOND WAVE)
FEATURE FILMS
68 KILL Directed by Trent Haaga US | 93 minutes | 2017 SOUTH FLORIDA PREMIERE. This southern-fried caper focuses on infatuated nice guy Chip and his crazy girlfriend, Liza, whose relationship takes a sharp turn into homicide when they try to rob Liza’s sugar daddy – only to end up with two corpses, a hostage, and $68,000 in stolen cash. THE BRIDE Directed by Svyatoslav Podgayevskiy Russia | 93 minutes | 2017 Russian with English subtitles
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE. A young woman travels with her soon-to-be husband to his family home in the outskirts and becomes increasingly suspicious of their strange behavior. Sheer psychological terror soon overwhelms her as she starts witnessing terrifying visions when his family prepares her for a mysterious ritual ceremony. DEAD SHACK Directed by Peter Ricq Canada | 85 minutes | 2017 US PREMIERE. Three kids on a weekend getaway are holed up at a run-down cottage in the woods and must save their hard-partying parents from a shotgun-toting psycho (Lauren Holly) who wants to feed them to her slavering zombies. THE ENDLESS Directed by Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead US | 111 minutes | 2017 FLORIDA PREMIERE. A mind-bending delight from the directors of Spring, The Endless follows two brothers who return to the death cult from which they fled a decade ago and discover that there might be some truth to the group’s otherworldly beliefs. HAPPY HUNTING Directed Joe Dietsch & Louie Gibson US | 91 minutes | 2017 FLORIDA PREMIERE. A gory thrill ride about an alcoholic drifter who gets stranded in a one-horse town deep in the American desert. It turns out that the town’s psychotic rednecks celebrate a gory pastime rounding up drifters and hunting them for sport. THE HATRED Directed by Michael G. Kehoe US | 90 minutes | 2017 NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE. From the producer of Halloween comes the terrifying new feature centering on four young women who travel to their college professor’s new country home for a weekend getaway, only to discover that the house has a malevolent past. Featuring Andrew Divoff (Wes Craven’s Wishmaster), David Naughton (An American Werewolf in London), and Amanda Wyss (A Nightmare on Elm Street). JACKALS Directed by Kevin Greutert US | 90 minutes | 2017
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE. A potent ’80s-set psychological thriller that centers on an estranged family who hire a cult de-programmer (Stephen Dorff) to get back their teenage son from a murderous cult, only to find themselves under siege when the cultists surround their cabin, demanding the boy back. LAKE BODOM Directed by Taneli Mustonen Finland | 85 minutes | 2017 Finish with English subtitles FLORIDA PREMIERE. A smart, slick, savage slasher that riffs on a notorious real-life Finnish murder still unsolved. More than 50 years later, four teens get some gruesome surprises when they camp out at the site of the grisly massacre. SEQUENCE BREAK Directed by Graham Skipper US | 80 minutes | 2017 FLORIDA PREMIERE. A loner video arcade technician experiences bizarre bio-mechanical mutations and Cronenbergian hallucinations when a mysterious new arcade game appears in his shop. Reality itself threatens to fracture as he works to solve its mystery and the new chaos that has entered his life. SUPER DARK TIMES Directed by Kevin Phillips US | 100 minutes | 2017 FLORIDA PREMIERE. An incinerating and strangely dream-like teenage nightmare set in the leafy American suburbs of the early 1990s when a group of best friends get caught up in an abrupt and violent accident that results in a gruesome death. TERRIFIER Directed by Damien Leone US | 82 minutes | 2017 FINAL CUT SOUTHEAST PREMIERE. It’s Halloween night and Art the Clown, the cold-blooded killer who also stalked the omnibus All Hallow’s Eve, is not wearing a creepy costume just for show. He terrorizes three young women and everyone else who stands in his way in this gritty and jarringly depraved new cut.
SHORT FILMS 2AM Directed by Huseyin Hassan Australia | 16 minutes | 2017 FLORIDA PREMIERE. A man awakens in an unusual asylum when supernatural events begin to unfold right in front of OUR eyes. A KNOCK ON THE DOOR Directed by Katrina Rennells & Wendie Weldon US | 8 minutes | 2017 FLORIDA PREMIERE. Moments after a bloodcurdling scream disrupts a normally peaceful neighborhood, a frantic knocking at one resident’s door triggers events that unknowingly alter his fate forever. BORN AGAIN Directed by Jason Tostevin US | 7 minutes | 2017 FLORIDA PREMIERE. When a group of bumbling Satanists has their summoning ceremony go terribly right, they’re left to face the decidedly holy shit consequences. THE CLEANSING HOUR Directed by Damien LeVeck US | 19 minutes | 2016 SOUTH FLORIDA PREMIERE. Two failed filmmakers get in over their heads when their latest staged hoax, an elaborate exorcism, turns out to actually be demon-possessed. COUPLE’S NIGHT Directed by The Summers Brothers US | 4 minutes | 2017 FLORIDA PREMIERE. A couple’s night goes off the rails when one couple reveals they’re blood sacrificing devil worshippers. And then things get weird… CURVE Directed by Tim Egan Australia | 10 minutes | 2016
SOUTH FLORIDA PREMIERE. Clinging to a smooth, curved surface high above an abyss, a girl tries to cover the few feet back to safety without falling to her death.
DIE! SITTER! DIE! Directed by Lee & Sam Boxleitner US | 25 minutes | 2016 FLORIDA PREMIERE. A young girl takes a job looking after an infant for the night. Little does she know her night is about to get more horrifying than she could have ever imagined. FIERCE Directed by Izù Troin Switzerland-France | 15 minutes | 2017 French with English subtitles NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE. A young corporate executive is kidnapped from his apartment and wakes up in the middle of a forest only to be stalked by a mysterious hunter. FUCKING BUNNIES Directed by Teemu Niukkanen Finland | 18 minutes | 2017 Finish with English subtitles FLORIDA PREMIERE. Raimo’s comfortable, middle-class bubble is burst when a Satan-worshipping sex cult moves in next door. GREAT CHOICE Directed by Robin Comisar US | 7 minutes | 2017 FLORIDA PREMIERE. A woman gets stuck in a Red Lobster commercial. HELL FOLLOWS Directed by Brian Harrison US | 11 minutes | 2017 FLORIDA PREMIERE. Betrayed by his clan and murdered for his past evil deeds, a sadistic killer’s soul possesses his identical twin’s body and sets out onto the road of vengeance for one final crusade of extermination. Everywhere he goes…HELL FOLLOWS.
IMEDIUM Directed by Alfonso García López Spain | 7 minutes | 2017 Spanish with English subtitles NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE. A mourning mother has lost all hope of finding her missing daughter alive, so she decides to subscribe to an app that connects directly with dead people. LEVEL Directed by Andrew Hunt US | 19 minutes | 2017 WORLD PREMIERE. Trapped inside a never-ending nightmare, a cat and mouse game plays out between a man and a hellish beast lurking in the shadows. NECK AND NECK Directed by Shaun Clark UK | 5 minutes | 2017 FLORIDA PREMIERE. Inspired by Shakespeare’s Othello, this animated short presents a dark surreal take on the relationship between the deceived Othello, the innocent Desdemona, and the mendacious Iago. NIGHTMARE Directed by James Mansell UK | 3 minutes | 2017 FLORIDA PREMIERE. Put on a headset and step inside a frighteningly immersive environment, where all is not as it seems. OVERTIME Directed by Craig D. Foster Australia | 9 minutes | 2017 FLORIDA PREMIERE. No one likes working late on a Friday night…especially if it’s a full moon and you happen to be a werewolf. SAVOR Directed by Marc Cartwright US | 1 minute | 2017 FLORIDA PREMIERE. A man discovers the horrors of dinning alone.
THE THIN PLACE Directed by Alexander Mattingly US | 15 minutes | 2017 FLORIDA PREMIERE. A mother and daughter are haunted by a terrifying presence in this supernatural suspenser. THE TICKLE MONSTER Directed by Remi Weekes UK | 4 minutes | 2017 FLORIDA PREMIERE. A quiet night in for an aspiring grime artist and his girlfriend takes a dark turn when she reveals her room is haunted by the tickle monster. TICKET SALES:
Festival Premiere Badges are on sale for a limited time for $120 per person and $180 for couples, and single screening tickets are available for $12. To purchase badges or tickets and view the Festival schedule, visit www.popcornfrights.com
LOCATION: All films will screen at the O Cinema Wynwood (90 NW 29th Street, Miami, FL 33127).
MORE INFORMATION:
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ABOUT POPCORN FRIGHTS FILM FESTIVAL
Popcorn Frights Film Festival is Florida’s largest and most respected genre film event presenting the very best genre films from across the world as it celebrates the art of horror. Popcorn Frights prides itself on premiering films from emerging and established filmmakers enabling the industry and general audiences to experience the power of storytelling through genre film. The third annual Popcorn Frights Film Festival occurs August 11-17, 2017.
