Popcorn Frights returns to theaters this year, (along with a virtual screening program for hybrid access), and they’ve just announced the first wave of programming for the in-theater festival. Five feature-film World Premieres will headline the five-day in-theater event: David Bruckner’s The Night House, Superhost starring Gracie Gillam and Barbara Crampton, Pretty Boy, Take Back The Night, and Ditched. There will also be a program celebrating Florida horror and a special presentation of Friday The 13th Part VI – Jason Lives, to commemorate the fact that this year’s festival will in fact take place on Friday the 13th.
The festival runs August 12-19, 2021. Both in-person and virtual badges are now on sale, with a portion of proceeds going toward those impacted by the building collapse in Surfside, Florida. Read on for the press release below:
Popcorn Frights will open with the Florida Premiere of Searchlight Pictures’ hotly-anticipated supernatural thriller THE NIGHT HOUSE, the new nightmare from The Ritual director David Bruckner starring Rebecca Hall (Godzilla vs. Kong). Running August 12-15, the five-day in-theater program is headlined by five feature-film World Premieres, including the wickedly twisted chamber piece SUPERHOST starring Gracie Gillam and Barbara Crampton, the psycho slasher PRETTY BOY, the riotously cathartic revenger TAKE BACK THE NIGHT, and the gritty atmospheric thriller DITCHED.
The festival will also celebrate Florida horror with a dedicated program spotlighting the cream of Florida’s homegrown crop. Included in this special showcase is the World Premiere of THE WELDER, a gnarly thriller shot entirely in the Florida Everglades; Mickey Keating’s new southern gothic horror story OFFSEASON, a ghoulish, tense and utterly fantastical tale set in a Florida beach town and starring The House of the Devil’s Jocelin Donahu; and the HOMEGROWN: 100% PURE FRESH SQUEEZED FLORIDA HORROR short film competition featuring the World Premieres of AMERICAN CRYPTID, AMERICAN DIABLO, IT COMES FROM OUTSIDE, and WHAT CAN BE BROKEN SHALL BE BROKEN, and the regional premieres of DEMONICA, TECH SAVVY, and TOO FAR.
Other highlights in the feature film program include the Southeast US Premieres of the nihilistically unhinged WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING starring Pat Healy, Vinessa Shaw, and Sierra McCormick; Jim Cummings’ brutal dark comedy THE BETA TEST; as well as the premiere of the hallucinatory animated thriller CRYPTOZOO.
Nothing says spooky quite like Friday the 13th, and for the first time, Popcorn Frights falls on this glorious day. To honor the fearful day, it will host a special 35th Anniversary Presentation of FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VI – JASON LIVES, which will feature several exciting surprises and giveaways to be announced at a later date.
