Popcorn - WTF?!

So my buddy and I were scanning for a silly fun horror movie to enjoy. Thanks to my new Netflix on demand we stumbled on the 1991 low budget tasty treat called Popcorn. This 1991 93 minute thriller tells the story of a bunch of film loving kids deciding to throw their own all night B movie horror fest. The fun goes bad when a killer from the past does damage in a bloody & campy one victim after another entr'acte that will have you saying WTF!?

Our goofy fun begins with the heroine Maggie (1989 Phantom of the Opera’s Jill Schoelen) waking up from a vivid and horrible dream. Instead of an ultimate freak out she

records the highlights on her trusty tape recorder. Here we learn she’s writing a screen play from the images in her dreams.

When Maggie finally gets to class we meet her fellow film students and their teacher , Mr. Davis (played by veteran Broadway star Tony Roberts). In the class is the gamut of your typical students; the jock, the handicapped kid; the saucy blonde; the African American street chick and more. A vapid discussion of the world’s best films takes place ranging from classic film greats to Police Academy 5. The volley is brought to a halt when Mr. Davis announces the semester project; an all night B-movie horror fest that will have kids paying a whole $10 per ticket to experience 3 great B-movies in all their movie gimmick glory.

The class journeys over to explore their location, the beautiful "Dreamland Theatre." They meet experienced showman Dr. Mnesyne (My Favorite Martian’s Ray Walston) who leaves trunks of fabulous costumes and props as well as a mysterious can of film. The group agrees to screen the film.

Mostly all of them seem humored by the visions of eyeballs and bloody mouths called The Possessor, except for Maggie who quickly learns that her film she’s dreaming already exists. We then learn his film was shown 15 years ago but never completed and the film maker killed his family onstage while showing it but the theatre burned down before the screening could complete. WHEW! Confused? I hope not. It seems The Possessor is now back to finish the film with more slayings along with the ride. Maggie’s Mom (Dee Wallace Stone) seems supportive but disbelieving of her daughter’s stories until she intercept’s a phone call from The Possessor vowing revenge on her daughter. It’s nice to see Stone at the height of her horror movie maven career. She does her best acting later in the film being wheeled around on a dolly in a body cast by the villain. After many of our main characters get “offed” one-by-one (ironically in ways relating to the films the kids are screening (ala electrocution, giant mosquito bites, etc.)), the film ends with a twist that I can honestly say, I was not expecting. Tom Villard (We Got It Made/My Girl) plays a hauntingly f-ed up Freddy Krueger ala Jim Carrey type.

Although there were many many WTF moments in this film I have to admit... I really liked it. It was fun and corny (I can’t resist!) but certainly entertaining and when I wasn’t LMAO, I was genuinely scared. I love the many many homages to 1950’s and 1960’s horror films. The Mosquito, The Stench, The Electrified Man; the 3 films the kids screened that night had great 50’s recreations of all the William Castle-type looks and feels, complete with wired seats (like in The Tingler) and cable tracked creatures (like in House on Haunted Hill), as well as a busy prop dept. bevy of special film extras’ movie glasses (like in 13 Ghosts)! Kudos to the enthusiastic & wonderful extras in the audience who seemed to be really having a great time while “watching” the film classics in the movie.

Now, you viewers of the ACTUAL movie (Popcorn, that is) may be asking yourself some pretty important WTF questions. Like, “Why are they going to all this trouble sprucing it up if the theater’s getting torn down in a few weeks? What’s up with Dee Wallace Stone’s abduction scene complete with self-propelled marquee letters flying off onto her face? Why is the romantic hunky male lead so incessantly accident prone? Why do all the kids listen to so much reggae music? Why is the band in the film only playing Ossie D And Stevie G’s upbeat Reggae music?” and, “How, during the films climactic blackout scene, can the band onstage be playing electric instruments?”

This movie is a definite blend of Matinee meets William Castle meets Nightmare on Elm Street. Ties to the Freddy Krueger franchise included the film’s director Mark Herrier who also worked on the Nightmare on Elm Street TV series and actress Kelly Jo Minter who starred in Nightmare on Elm Street Part 3. Herrier, best known up until then as Billy in the Porky’s movie series, made this his directing debut after replacing writer/director Alan Ormsby only 3 short weeks in to production. The film boast no less than 9 producers, 2 Directors, 2 writers & an awesome late 80‘s original score thanks to composer Paul Zaza (Porky’s/A Christmas Story). In the art department and special effects category no less than 41 visual effects artists and Artistic Directed by John Myhre now famous for his production designs on films like X-Men, Chicago, Dreamgirls, and Nine.

Popcorn was originally titled Phantom of the Cinema then changed to callback a bit later cut from the film. In Germany it was titled Skinner, which is also apropos to the film’s plot line. (When you see it you’ll know what I mean). It made a miserable 4.2 million and took close to 14 months after film completion to be released in theaters. It finally hit DVD in 2001.

As a member of the Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation, I think one of the most compelling things about this film is the character of the ACTUAL movie theatre where Popcorn was filmed. A majority of the film was shot in Jamaica. This helps to answer at least two of my WTF questions! The "Dreamland Theatre" shown in the film is actually 1912 built Ward Theatre in Kingston, Jamaica. After excessive damage done to the building by Caribbean hurricanes as well as preservation by neglect, the Ward still stands in Kingston today. It is deep in the middle of a multi million dollar restoration project set to be “re-unveiled” in December 2012, on its 100th birthday.

Pics & more info on the restoration can be found here - http://www.wardtheatrefoundation.com/album.php?album=Need%20Your%20Help

WTF Quotes and Taglines from Popcorn:

“I Look like a fucking snow-cone!”

“The Possessor. Fifteen years ago, he murdered his family on stage and burned down the theater. Tonight... he's back for an encore!”

“Buy a bag, go home in a box.”