SGM Month of Halloween Horror Movie for October 10

"Popcorn" (1990)

Themes: Disfigured killer; trapped victims; movie-in-a-movie; secrets that come back to haunt
Synopsis (from the back of the box): Maggie is a film student who’s been dutifully recording her nightmares – hairy hippie with dagger, trussed maiden on altar, terrified child fleeing through flames – only to see them unfold on screen when a ‘60’s cult film, “The Possessor,” is discovered by fellow students preparing for a fund-raising horrorthon at an abandoned art deco theater called Dreamland. It seems that “The Possessor’s” director was a madman who killed his wife onstage and then burned down the theater after locking the audience inside. Maybe he died in the fire … maybe he didn’t. And just maybe … he’s back. That’s the central mystery, one that becomes crucial as Maggie’s fellow film students start fading to black before their time.

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Man, I love this film! The threadbare skeleton of a plot being incidental, there’s more going on in this film than just mere stalker fare, namely, the films-within-the-film.

As the synopsis points out, ostensibly the film is about a girl who has dreams about a cult leader who died in the late ‘60s; now, he may or may not be back to terrorize the community out of vengeance. The antagonist of the film takes to stalking our heroine at a midnight movie festival that she and her fellow film classmates are running for a fundraiser. The films are, as described in the film, some of the lamest B-films from the ‘50s, although they were saddled in their day with gimmicks that William Castle would either be proud of or ashamed of. Those films are:

“Mosquito” – A man gets bitten by a radioactive mosquito and subsequently turns into a mosquito and begins sucking his way across the countryside. This mock film was based on those nature-gone-wild films, like “Kingdom of the Spiders” and “The Deadly Mantis,” as well as those transformation monster movies like “The Fly” and “Wasp Woman.”

“Attack of the Amazing Electrified Man” – A death row inmate is subjected to weird experiments that make him a superhuman invulnerable engine of destruction. Based on Lon Chaney Jr. vehicles “Man-Made Monster” and “The Indestructible Man,” and the gimmick used in “Popcorn” is a direct rip from “The Tingler’s” electrified theater seats.

“The Stench” – A radioactive monster terrorizes Japan, and its attacks are preceded by an unholy smell that kills surrounding bystanders. Based largely on most kaiju films of the “Godzilla” variety, although I would place this closer to the “Gamera” family.

The dialogue and mise-en-scene of these films capture the feel and ambiance of the classic film era on which their based. Honestly, without these, “Popcorn” is just a ham-handed slasher flick with no soul. Especially when the killer is revealed in the final reel and it all falls apart in the end.

Rating: 2 3/4 count