By MICHAEL GINGOLD
The biggest horror screening event in the Southeast U.S. has its fourth annual edition in August; read on for the first wave of announcements for Florida’s Popcorn Frights Film Festival.
The 2018 Popcorn Frights takes place August 10-16 at Ft. Lauderdale’s Savor Cinema. “The Sunshine State is about to get a whole lot more bad-ass and bloody as we unleash the most twisted, bold, breathtaking, hilarious and downright wildest films in the world,” co-founders and co-directors Igor Shteyrenberg and Marc Ferman promise. “It’s a collection of the weird and awe-inspiring from the most thrilling visionary artists and nightmare-makers on this planet. This summer will see a fury of cinematic terror unlike Florida has ever seen!” Among the highlights is the opening-night world premiere Guillermo Iván’s HAVANA DARKNESS (pictured above), billed as the first English-language horror movie shot in Cuba, in which three friends encounter terror when they investigate a mysterious manuscript allegedly written by Ernest Hemingway. Also screening opening night are John McPhail’s zombie musical ANNA AND THE APOCALYPSE and the Florida premiere of Sonny Laguna and Tommy Wiklund’s tiny-terror franchise revival PUPPET MASTER: THE LITTLEST REICH.
Other films announced for Popcorn Frights are Darren Lynn Bousman’s religious shocker ST. AGATHA, making its East Coast premiere; the Southeast U.S. premiere of Justin P. Lange’s THE DARK, a different kind of living-dead drama (review here); Joko Anwar’s SATAN’S SLAVES, about a haunted Indonesian family (Florida premiere); Colin Minahan’s WHAT KEEPS YOU ALIVE, in which a female married couple face terror in the woods (Florida premiere); WOLFMAN’S GOT NARDS, a documentary on THE MONSTER SQUAD by its star Andre Gower (East Coast premiere); Brad Michael Elmore’s BOOGEYMAN POP, telling three intertwined stories (East Coast premiere); and Chris Caldwell and Zeek Earl’s PROSPECT, a sci-fi thriller set on an alien moon (Southeast U.S. premiere). In addition, veteran director Chuck Russell will host screenings of his films THE BLOB and A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 3: DREAM WARRIORS. Festival Premiere Badges are currently available at the fest’s official website, and single-screening tickets go on sale July 2. More title announcements are coming soon!
