Popcorn Frights Film Festival Announces 2016 Lineup

Forget Halloween as the time to indulge in all sorts of horrific goodies. The Popcorn Frights Film Festival is back, and it's got bigger films, bigger ambitions, and a bigger lineup.

This year, the fest will take place in August instead of October. The second-annual Popcorn Frights will offer more than four times the features, along with an abundance of short films.

Presenting 16 feature and 17 short film premieres at O Cinema Wynwood over a week, Popcorn Frights will open with not one, but two features: Fear, Inc. and The Blackcoat’s Daughter. The former is Vincent Masciale’s love letter to horror, focusing on a horror junkie and his friends who sign up with a company that brings their customers’ greatest fears to life. The latter takes place at an all-girl school where Kiernan Shipka and Emma Roberts are bonded by a series of sinister events.

“We’re thrilled our Popcorn Frights Film Festival returns with a vengeance for its second year to bring the best and finest in international fear to the dark heart of Miami," says festival cofounders and codirectors Igor Shteyrenberg and Marc Ferman. "Bigger, bolder, bloodier, our program embraces everything outstanding about the horror genre as it aims to excite and unforgettably frighten audiences."

Kareem Tabsch, codirector of O Cinema, shares his excitement: “Since the beginning of cinema as an art form, filmmakers have made films that frighten and terrify their audience, proving that the suspense of a good scare can be as enjoyable and cathartic a cinematic experience as a laugh or a cry. O Cinema is delighted to be partnering with Popcorn Frights Film Festival to bring the best in horror and genre filmmaking to South Florida audiences.”
Aside from the opening-night flicks, some interesting choices are in store for South Florida audiences. There’s the gorgeous Évolution from filmmaker Lucile Hadzihalilovic, best known for her debut Innocence and her collaborations with Gaspar Noé; the Natasha Lyonne and Chloë Sevigny flick Antibirth, directed by Danny Perez, who brought us Animal Collective’s engrossing visual album ODDSAC; and the curiously titled YA-novel adaptation I Am Not a Serial Killer, starring Max Records and Christopher Lloyd.

The list doesn’t end there: The Mind’s Eye, Under the Shadow, Beyond the Gate, Abattoir, Carnage Park, Man Vs, The Devil’s Doll, Daylight’s End, Francesca, and The Barn complete the feature film lineup. But the short films are exciting too, with the John Carpenter-starring The Puppet Man in there, along with Portal to Hell, which features They Live's Roddy “Rowdy” Piper in his final performance, among many others.

Popcorn Frights Film Festival
August 12-18 at O Cinema Wynwood. 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 popcornfrights.com.