The Popcorn Frights Film Festival is currently underway, both in-person and virtually, unleashing a variety of premieres and events.
Now at the halfway point, the programming still has plenty of horror to come.
Here’s a round-up of some of Popcorn Frights’ feature offerings so far, from musical horror comedies to experimental mindbenders.
Big Easy Queens
Rivalries, betrayal, murder, sisterhood, and musical glamour ensue in the horror-tinged Big Easy Queens from director Erynn Dalton and writer Robert Leleux. Made in Florida but set in New Orleans, the film follows French Quarter mob queen Minnie Bouvèé (Eric Swanson) and her rivalry with nemesis Poodles Makenzie (Jennifer McClain). Their bitter feud for Big Easy domination escalates when Minnie’s estranged sister Mimi (Benajmin Shaevitz) resurfaces, and the body count rises, though Poodles may not be to blame.
What Big Easy Queen lacks in budget, it makes up for in dazzling musical numbers and charming camaraderie between queens. Exterior shots look rough, but Dalton smartly keeps most of the action relegated to interior set pieces, from Minnie’s speakeasy to backyards destined for murder. Voodoo, zombies, and blood flow in a briskly paced 80-minute runtime that culminates in an affecting conclusion that is befitting of its loveable characters.
Eldritch, USA
Music and Lovecraft collide in the horror-comedy musical Eldritch, USA. Siblings Rich (Andy Phinney) and Geoff Brewer (Graham Weldin) barely get along. Not only is Rich the far more popular brother at their workplace, but he’s their parents’ favorite son, too. Their eternal sibling rivalry leads to a horrific accident that sees Geoff seeking out a cult to undo his mistake. But books of the dead are never meant to be opened, and Rich’s return from the dead is only the start of Geoff’s problems.
Co-directors Ryan Smith and Tyler Foreman, working from a script by Smith, embrace a whimsical tone for their horror comedy prone to breaking out in song and dance. Phinney imbues Rich with the proper smugness and entitlement that starkly contrasts with Weldin’s sweet but browbeaten protagonist. Not all of the subplots or melded subgenres mesh well, and the almost two-hour runtime feels stretched thin for this straightforward story. But Smith and Foreman stage the musical numbers with an infectiously humorous energy that’s winsome.
Ghosts of the Void
Writer/Director Jason Miller’s feature debut presents a scathing critique of the American Dream or, more accurately, the fragility of it. Spouses Jen (Tedra Millan) and Tyler (Michael Reagan) get introduced at the outset as recently homeless and living out of their car. Frustration and exhaustion leave Jen on edge, which quickly becomes exacerbated by the fractures exposed in her marriage. That’s before the arrival of hostile masked assailants.
Miller’s confident direction ensures a handsomely shot debut, though one that devastates. Flashbacks intercut throughout chronicle the couple’s course from wedded bliss to shattered dreams and homelessness, driving home the precarious nature of financial stability. The emphasis on characterization in this slow burn means the horror encroaches slowly, favoring the psychological until one downer finale that continues through the credits. Miller seeks to challenge perceptions and dangles hope through Jen, though don’t look for escapism in this bleak, reality-based horror entry.
Puzzle Box
There’s an underlying twist and purpose to writer/director Jack Dignon’s found footage horror feature for sisters Kait (Kaitlyn Boyé) and Olivia (Laneikka Denne). They’ve rented an Airbnb at a remote, rural location with the intent for Kait to rehabilitate her addiction while Olivia documents her journey. But something’s deeply off about the place, and that’s before they even step foot inside. Kait’s path to recovery comes with mind-bending nightmares.
All the found footage techniques and tropes are on full display in this shaky cam effort that struggles to introduce the dynamics between sisters and establish rooting interest organically. It’s compounded by the arrival of a screaming specter (Cassandre Girard), whose shrill, relentless attacks grate rather than terrify. The conceit behind the banshee-like Screaming Woman struggles with its execution; the repetitiveness of the ineffectual screeching scares wears thin quickly, and the reveal amounts to a saccharine whimper.
Psychosis
Writer/Director Pirie Martin’s audacious feature debut ambitiously defies easy categorization as it blends techniques and genres alike. The grainy, high-contrast black-and-white feature with an atypical aspect ratio introduces Cliff Van Aarle (Derryn Amoroso), a criminal fixer with a psychological condition that entails a cacophony of multiple voices competing for attention in his head. When he’s hired by two amateur drug dealers claiming they were attacked by zombies, Cliff finds himself embroiled in a strange conspiracy involving the enigmatic drug lord Joubini.
The noir horror thriller operates with an idiosyncratic tone befitting its oddball protagonist, whose condition often works as an asset rather than a hindrance. Martin weaves in aural and visual clues, including methodically conservative splashes of color and psychedelic sequences that might trigger those with photosensitivity. It’s the precise type of unconventional visual storytelling that evokes extreme reactions; you’re on board with this unique Pi meets Six String Samurai type of eccentric cinematic storytelling, or you’ll find it off-putting. But it’s so daring in form and mythology that it’s hard not to be impressed.