Zombies, werewolves, and serial killing social media stars will descend upon Miami this August for the third annual Popcorn Frights Film Festival. Taking place August 11th–17th, the Florida film fest's first wave of programming includes Another Wolfcop, Tragedy Girls, It Stains the Sands Red, Better Watch Out, and more.
Press Release: MIAMI, FL – Popcorn Frights Film Festival, Florida’s largest and most respected genre film event, announces its first wave of programming for its third annual celebration of genre-twisting cinema, occurring August 11 through 17, 2017, at Miami's landmark O Cinema Wynwood theater.
"We're thrilled to bring the best in horror and genre filmmaking to South Florida audiences for our third annual Popcorn Frights Film Festival. We scoured the globe for the most audacious and spine-tingling films and this first wave selection just gives a small taste of all the exciting things to come,” said Igor Shteyrenberg & Marc Ferman, Co-Founders & Co-Directors of the Popcorn Frights Film Festival.
“From the earliest days of cinema, filmmakers turned to horror as a way of engrossing audiences in storytelling. Today, horror is one of the most beloved genres of filmmaking and I'm proud to say Popcorn Frights Film Festival is the premiere platform for horror films in the Southeast,” said Kareem Tabsch, Founder & Director of O Cinema.
Popcorn Frights first wave of programming serves up a fearsome feast of werewolves, zombies, psycho slashers, minotaurs, and all the sinister things that go bump in the night. Opening Night features a triple-bill event kicking-off with the Florida Premiere of Tragedy Girls, a fiendishly twisted and deliriously fun love letter to slasher movies starring Brianna Hildebrand (Deadpool) and Alexandra Shipp (X-Men: Apocalypse). The films rounding out the Opening Night event will be announced in coming weeks.
Featured as the Festival’s Centerpiece is the Florida Premiere of Mayhem starring a hammer- wielding Steven Yeun (The Walking Dead) in a pedal to the metal savage thriller that presents a wonderfully violent middle finger to corporate culture. Other buzzy titles in the lineup include the Final Cut US Premiere of the outrageous horror-comedy Another Wolfcop, home invasion genre-bender Better Watch Out starring Olivia DeJonge (The Visit), Mickey Keating’s slasherfest Psychopaths, zombie love story It Stains the Sands Red, head-splitting gore flick Game of Death, horror rom-com Dave Made A Maze, and the spellbinding thriller Still/Born.
Popcorn Frights will also launch its inaugural “Homegrown: 100% Pure Fresh Squeezed Florida Horror” sidebar that is dedicated to renewing and reinvigorating the audience's engagement with Miami's local filmmakers and Florida’s homegrown talent. This platform is designed to be a springboard for new filmmakers from Florida and a space that helps forge a new direction for Miami's genre scene by further cultivating and nurturing its growing film community. Films featured in the inaugural edition include the Florida Premiere of Rodney Ascher's Primal Scream, as well as the short films Midnight Service, Buzzcut, It Began Without Warning, and Pandemonium.
It's time for rampage. It's time for chaos. It's time for gory fun. It's time for Popcorn Frights!
FESTIVAL LINEUP (FIRST WAVE)
FEATURE FILMS
ANOTHER WOLFCOP
Directed by Lowell Dean
Canada | 82 minutes | 2017FINAL CUT US PREMIERE. Alcoholic werewolf cop Lou Garou springs into action when an eccentric businessman with evil intentions seduces his town’s residents with a new brewery in this outrageous horror-comedy sequel.
BETTER WATCH OUT
Directed by Chris Peckover
US | 85 minutes | 2017FLORIDA PREMIERE. On a quiet suburban street tucked within a ‘safe neighborhood’, a babysitter (played by The Visit star Olivia DeJonge) must defend a twelve-year-old boy from strangers breaking into the house, only to discover that this is far from a normal home invasion.
DAVE MADE A MAZE
Directed by Bill Watterson
US | 80 minutes | 2017SOUTH FLORIDA PREMIERE. Driven by an inner need, frustrated artist Dave begins building a fort in his living room. But as he completes construction, Dave becomes trapped inside by the dangerous creatures he's designed, forcing his girlfriend to mount a rescue mission.
GAME OF DEATH
Directed by Sebastien Landry & Laurence Morais-Lagace
France-Canada-USA | 73 minutes | 2017FLORIDA PREMIERE. When seven suburban millennials play the "Game of Death," they soon get caught up in its high stakes, which are literally life or death. Confronted with a grim choice–kill or be killed–the friends gruesomely realize that none of them are safe.
IT STAINS THE SANDS RED
Directed by Colin Minihan
US | 92 minutes | 2017FLORIDA PREMIERE. In the throes of a zombie apocalypse, a troubled woman from Las Vegas with a dark past finds herself stranded in the desert with a lone and ravenous zombie on her tail.
MAYHEM
Directed by Joe Lynch US | 86 minutes | 2017FLORIDA PREMIERE. What happens when people lose all their inhibitions? This blood-soaked gonzo thriller offers a glimpse as a virus that erases impulse control breaks out at a law office, where a disgruntled employee and a dissatisfied client go looking for some justice.
PSYCHOPATHS
Directed by Mickey Keating
US | 85 minutes | 2017FLORIDA PREMIERE. When an unidentified madman is sent to the electric chair, it triggers a sort of Mischief Night for a group of serial killers out in an entire city. An escaped mental patient, a beautiful seductress, a strangler who preys on unsuspecting women, and an enigmatic masked contract killer run amok in Mickey Keating's new slasherfest.
STILL/BORN
Directed by Brandon Christensen
US | 84 minutes | 2017FLORIDA PREMIERE. When Mary loses one of her twins during childbirth she feels a devastating loss that spirals her into madness. She begins to suspect a sinister force is after her surviving child that will stop at nothing to take it from her.
TRAGEDY GIRLS
Directed by Tyler Macintyre
Canada-US | 96 minutes | 2017FLORIDA PREMIERE. Budding social-media stars Sadie and McKayla are desperate for greater fame. But big ambitions require big plans, and the two think they've hit on a good one: force a serial killer to tutor them in his craft so they can become horror legends.
HOMEGROWN: 100% PURE FRESH SQUEEZED FLORIDA HORROR
PRIMAL SCREAM
Directed by Rodney Ascher US | 30 minutes | 2017FLORIDA PREMIERE. Acclaimed filmmaker Rodney Ascher (Room 237, The Nightmare) has created a singular hybrid of documentary and horror that explores how pop culture can scar you for life.
BUZZCUT
Directed by Jon Rhoads & Mike Marrero
US | 9 minutes | 2017MIAMI PREMIERE. Jane is out to get a buzzcut and ends up dealing with apocalyptic matters of a special kind while trying to fix the haircut her barber botched so that she can get laid before she dies.
IT BEGAN WITHOUT WARNING
Directed by Jessica Curtright & Santiago C. Tapia
US | 6 minutes | 2017FLORIDA PREMIERE. A body horror-tinged tale that crawls.
THE MIDNIGHT SERVICE
Directed by Brett Potter & Dean Colin Marcial
US | 10 minutes | 2017FLORIDA PREMIERE. A true-crime home invasion episode about an urban legend, notorious criminal, occult pop culture, and first-hand account of the unknown.
PANDEMONIUM
Directed by Luis Mendez US | 15 minutes | 2017FLORIDA PREMIERE. As a catastrophic epidemic devastates the world, a man survivor fights to save his daughter from the mysterious virus that has already consumed his wife.
TICKET SALES:
Festival Premiere Badges are on sale for a limited time for $120 per person and $180 for couples. Single screening tickets will be available June 26. To purchase badges and view the Festival schedule visit www.popcornfrights.comLOCATION:
All films will screen at the O Cinema Wynwood (90 NW 29th Street, Miami, FL 33127).MORE INFORMATION:
Follow the Popcorn Frights Film Festival on Facebook (/popcornfrights), Twitter (@popcornfrights), or Instagram (@popcornfrights) for updates with the latest information about the Festival. Join the conversation using the hashtag #popcornfrights on social media.## #
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.
Raised on a steady diet of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Derek has been fascinated with fear since he first saw ForeverWare being used on an episode of Eerie, Indiana.
When he’s not writing about horror as the Senior News Reporter for Daily Dead, Derek can be found daydreaming about the Santa Carla Boardwalk from The Lost Boys or reading Stephen King and Brian Keene novels.
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