Popcorn (1991)

One of the worst movies I've ever seen

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

Absolutely Fantastic

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

A group of film students organise an all-night horror marathon at an old movie theatre to raise funds. Trouble is, there is a maniac in the house who starts a killing spree this night.Popcorn came in at the tail-end of the first slasher wave. The genre had been treading water for years, meaning that new entries at this time had to try and find new original angles to base their slasher antics around in order to keep people interested. Popcorn takes a more comical approach, without going out-and-out for laughs entirely at the expense of its horror. It does admittedly have some fairly original ideas, namely the way the films-within-the film are integrated into the story. Those movies are a series of 50's/60's B-flicks with ludicrous gimmicks of the exact same type that William Castle was famous for producing. 'Mosquito' has a giant model insect that flies over the auditorium, 'The Amazing Electrified Man' has audience members receiving shocks from electrified seats and 'The Stench' has a selection of odours. Except, of course, these gimmicks are in fact used by the maniac to kill people in the theatre! In theory, this all sounds quite good but unfortunately I found Popcorn as a whole somewhat lacking and uninvolving. Despite its reasonable set-up it essentially goes through the motions and you are left not remembering an awful lot about it by the end. Although it was admittedly somewhat unexpected to see regular Woody Allen actor Tony Roberts appear in a role as a popular teacher. It's quite a contrast going from starring in the all-time classic Annie Hall to being impaled by a giant puppet mosquito in Popcorn!

Disfigured killer is on the loose at a local cinema during a triple-feature of old (mock) William Castle-type horror films. The audience thinks it is all part of the act, and they love it. When a giant mechanical mosquito slides down wires over the audience, the crowd cheers. When giant mechanical mosquito impales crewman in the balcony during the showing of mock-shlock film Mosquito, they cheer again, believing it to be one a hell of a performance. When buzzers go off underneath the audience's seats, giving them mild shocks, the laughs continue! When disfigured killer stops the film to act out the final scene, in which the leading lady is killed right in front of the audience, they think that the presenters are going all out, giving this cinema one hell of a send-off, during its final weekend before closing! If only they knew .....The first two thirds is a good horror/ comedy, a fun mixture of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Phantom of the Opera, and William Castle's gimmick films of the 1950s and '60s, with great costumes and elaborate sets, but the final 30 minutes is a bit too freaky, as the film changes tone dramatically. The real villain, when finally revealed, is too gruesome and disgusting, after the lightweight start. Film rebounds, however, in the rousing, operatic (and slightly drawn-out) climax, but ultimately let down by the fact that there is no hero to this film, the villain is defeated basically by accident. Jill Shoelen is not the heroine, her character needed to be saved, Derek Rydall's character is a bumbling clod, hardly hero material.Filmed in 1989 but not released until 1991, allegedly due to some behind-the-scenes difficulties, this should have been a classic horror film making fun of other horror films, similar to what the overrated Scream did several years later, but better. This has more style and creativity than just showing people getting hacked into pieces, it has a sense of humour and style about it which helps it overcome its few detriments. The three mock horror films shown during this film, Mosquito (In 3D Project-O-Vision) The Attack of the Amazing Electrified Man (in Shock-O-Scope) and The Stench (but NOT in Aromarama) might have made a funny spin-off movie anthology.

Although it takes a while to get going, POPCORN proves to be a warm and affectionate little slasher movie made along the same lines as Joe Dante's Matinée – i.e. a celebration of the world of the B-movie in its cinematic form. Indeed, the ghost of William Castle seems to be watching over this movies, both in the presence of the cheesy films shown by the fictional cinema and in the bizarre antics of the film students, determined to give their audience an interactive experience!It's all about the gimmicks and the celebration of the weird, so much so that the actual slasher plot comes second. It's a slight shame, because the story isn't bad, even if it is remarkably familiar: there's an evil killer from the past returning to affect the heroine in the present, and his calling card is that he uses prosthetic masks to disguise himself as anyone and anything. The subsequent kills aren't particularly gory, but they are well staged with an element of Grand Guignol that becomes especially apparent during the over-the-top climax.POPCORN was made in Jamaica doubling for small-town America, which gives it even more of an offbeat vibe – and the reggae soundtrack is great. The acting is nothing to write home about (THE HOWLING's Dee Wallace-Stone is the only actress of note in a minor part), but when the story and screenplay are so obviously written by genuine fans of old-time horror shows – well, this becomes a film impossible to dislike.

This not to bad at all, all got to do enjoy this movie sit down with Popcorn and watch popcorn.A Group of teens plan an all-night horror film festival from movies that were made in 50's that was made in 3D and all the seats seem to have electrical shockers on them.Maggie seem to having these nightmare about man who lost in life in fire in the same place few years ago, after he was being casted into a movie made by Maggie.Now Maggie think that man is back from the dead and then she find out her friends are dying one by one by this man.This is really good (very) cheesy horror movie, you need to be a really cheesy mood to watch this movie, or you will really hate it! I had fun watching this movie so i going to give this movie 5 out of 10