Popcorn Frights Announces WICKED WEEKEND Virtual Event for Halloween Weekend
Josh Millican
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Hang on to your popcorn, boils and ghouls…
Popcorn Frights is celebrating this spooky season with a Wicked Weekend virtual event taking place all through Halloween weekend, from October 29th-November 1st, featuring 21 film premieres, conversations, panels, and other special surprises. Come and escape into Halloween with us, it’s our favorite time of year!
Highlights from the film line-up include the World Premiere of Lionsgate’s Smiley Face Killers, written by Bret Easton Ellis and directed by Tim Hunter who reunites with his River’s Edge star Crispin Glover.
Synopsis:
As a strange wave of mysterious drownings of male college students plagues the California coast, Jake Graham struggles to keep his life together at school. Finding himself stalked by a hooded figure driving an unmarked van, Jake fears he may become the next victim in the killers’ horrific spree.
Paramount’s supernatural thriller Spell starring Omari Hardwick (Zach Snyder’s Army of the Dead); and the North American Premieres of Babysitter Must Die, The Retreat, Held, They Reach, as well as Tales of the Uncanny, an in-depth documentary about anthology horror that features interviews with Joe Dante, Mick Garris, Roger Corman, Richard Stanley, Ernest Dickerson, Eli Roth, and Tom Savini, among others.
Other films slated to premiere at the four-day virtual event include the Florida Premieres of the hair-raising chiller The Vigil, The Oak Room starring RJ Mitte (Breaking Bad), and the gory horror extravaganzas Butchers, Spare Parts, Thirst, Cyst, and Benny Loves You. To mark the season of fear, on all Hallows Eve, there will be a special presentation of the Halloween set chillers, Bad Candy and For the Sake of Vicious. Wicked Weekend will also host the Florida Premiere of the finally completed, long-lost horror sequel Grizzly II: Revenge starring George Clooney, Laura Dern, Charlie Sheen, and a killer bear.
Related Article: Trailer: Trashed Toy Seeks Revenge in Horror-Comedy BENNY LOVES YOU
In addition to its film-lineup, Wicked Weekend will feature several off-film events as part of its Talking Horror program, including the Tracking Terror panel with acclaimed musicians Graham Reznick and Steve Moore, and a conversation with Tibor Takács about his cult classic The Gate, which starred Stephen Dorff in his film debut.
Access to film screenings will be geo-locked to Florida with Wicked Weekend All-Access Passes on sale for $66.60, and individual tickets at $6.66. The Talking Horror program will be available for free to the public. Film selections will be available to access beginning 10:00am EST October 29, and access ends 11:45pm EST the night of November 1st. This year’s Popcorn Frights Wicked Weekend functions as a charitable event benefiting local arthouses that have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
When you can’t go to the movies, bring the movies to you! Let’s save Halloween!
Popcorn Frights Wicked Weekend is made possible with the support of Lionsgate, Raven Banner, Uncork’d, Dread Presents, Epic Pictures.
FEATURE FILMS
A Ghost Waits
Florida Premiere
United Kingdom | 2020 | Dir. Adam Stovall
When a handyman is asked to audit a house following the previous tenants’ abrupt departure, he finds a ghost who is not quite as scary as she initially appears. As a relationship develops between the two of them, we find that the ghost is just as insecure and lost as the rest of us.
Anonymous Animals
Florida Premiere
France | 2020 | Dir. Baptiste Rouveure
The balance of power between man and animal is reversed in this scathing evolutionary flip that questions the place of animals in our societies.
Babysitter Must Die
North American Premiere
USA | 2020 | Dir. Kohl Glass
When a former girl scout faces a life or death test, will she have what it takes to survive?
Bad Candy
Florida Premiere
USA | 2020 | Dir. Scott B. Hansen
You might need to check your chocolate bars for razor blades as there are just as many tricks as there are treats in this pumpkin-spiced late-night anthology starring Gremlins’ Zach Galligan and Slipknot’s Corey Taylor.
Benny Loves You
Florida Premiere
United Kingdom | 2019 | Dir. Karl Holt
His parents’ unexpected death forces a 30-year-old to grow up overnight, and one part of this rite of passage is getting rid of Benny, the teddy bear that’s been by his side since he was a little boy. It’s a move that can only end in death.
Butchers
Florida Premiere
Canada | 2020 | Dir. Adrian Langley
A family of sadistic butchers lives deep in the backcountry. From the dead of winter to the dog days of summer, anyone who crosses their path is dead meat.
The Columnist
Florida Premiere
Netherlands | 2019 | Dir. Ivo van Aart
Hell hath no fury like someone insulted on social media in this bloody and hilarious revenge tale that dares to confront bullies in the most delightfully dark ways.
Cyst
Florida Premiere
USA | 2020 | Dir. Tyler Russell
In the 1960s a nurse’s last day is ruined when a doctor inadvertently creates a cyst monster that terrorizes the office. Consider this the ultimate Dr. Pimple Popper video, a goopy and gross-out body horror guaranteed to test your gag reflex!
For the Sake of Vicious
Florida Premiere
Canada | 2020 | Dir. Gabriel Carrer & Reese Eveneshen
An innocent nurse, a tortured maniac, and a suspicious hostage face off against a wave of violent intruders as they descend upon their place of refuge on Halloween night.
Grizzly II: Revenge
Florida Premiere
USA | 1983 | Dir. André Szöts
All hell breaks loose when a giant Grizzly, reacting to the slaughter of Grizzlies by poachers, attacks at a massive big-band rock concert in the National Park. Featuring Laura Dern, George Clooney, and Charlie Sheen.
Hail to the Deadites
Florida Premiere
Canada | 2020 | Steve Villeneuve
This crowd-pleasing documentary centers on the fans of the Evil Dead films and explores the classic franchise’s undying and ever-growing popularity.
Held
North American Premiere
USA | 2020 | Dirs. Travis Cluff & Chris Lofing
A couple’s ailing marriage is put to the test when they are held hostage in an isolated vacation rental by an unseen Voice that commands their every move.
The Oak Room
Florida Premiere
Canada | 2020 | Dir. Cody Calahan
A drifter returns home to the remote town where he was born during a raging snowstorm. While trying to settle an old debt with a grizzled bartender by telling him a story, the night’s events quickly spin into a dark tale of mistaken identities, double-crosses, and shocking violence.
The Retreat
North American Premiere
USA | 2020 | Dir. Bruce Wemple
A man finds himself alone and lost after a horrifying encounter with a monster during a backpacking trip into the Adirondack High Peaks. Now, he must fight for his life as he battles the evil Native American legend, The Wendigo.
Smiley Face Killers
World Premiere
USA | 2020 | Dir. Tim Hunter
Inspired by true events, this pulse-pounding serial killer tale reunites acclaimed director Tim Hunter with his River’s Edge star Crispin Glover.
Spare Parts
Florida Premiere
Canada | 2020 | Dir. Andrew Thomas Hunt
An all-girl punk band get lost on a random dirt road. A tow truck driver toes them to his junkyard. Everything seems normal until they wake up with weapons for limbs, and thrown into the fight of their lives.
Spell
Florida Premiere
USA | 2020 | Dir. Mark Tonderai
A man crash lands in rural Appalachia and awakens in the attic of a traditional Hoodoo practitioner. He desperately tries to break free from her dark magic and save his family from a sinister ritual before the rise of the blood moon.
Tales of the Uncanny
North American Premiere
USA | 2020 | Dir. David Gregory
The story of the evolution, challenges, and all-time Top 5 greatest anthologies and segments in horror cinema featuring a global roster of more than 60 horror writers, directors, and scholars that include Joe Dante, Mick Garris, Roger Corman, Richard Stanley, Ernest Dickerson, Tom Savini, Eli Roth, and Brian Yuzna. And many more!
Thirst
Florida Premiere
Iceland | 2019 | Dirs. Steinþór Hróar Steinþórsson & Gaukur Úlfarsson
A troubled woman befriends an elderly man who turns out to be a 1,000-year old, single and gay vampire who brings her brother to life, leading to terrible consequences.
They Reach
North American Premiere
USA | 2020 | Dir. Sylas Dall
It’s 1979, and a 13-year-old girl accidentally unleashes a demon from a vintage reel-to-reel player; she recruits her two best friends to fight the beast before it devours more souls in their small town.
The Vigil
Florida Premiere
USA | 2019 | Dir. Keith Thomas
A lapsed Orthodox Jewish man tasked with keeping watch over a dead member of his former community is faced with a malignant force in this distinctive, hair-raising chiller.
TALKING HORROR PROGRAM
Opening The Gate: Conversation with Tibor Takács
A conversation with Hungarian-Canadian director Tibor Takács about his 1987 horror cult classic The Gate, which marked the feature film debut for Stephen Dorff, as well as the film’s sequel, The Gate II: Trespassers, and the history and rise of Canadian genre cinema.
Tracking Terror: Conversation with Graham Reznick & Steve Moore
A panel hosted by TrueHorror featuring acclaimed musicians Graham Reznick & Steve Moore in conversation about the importance of sound and score in genre cinema.
For all further details please visit www.popcornfrights.com
Are you planning to (virtually) attend Popcorn Fright’s Wicked Weekend? Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram! You can also carry on the convo with me personally on Twitter @josh_millican.
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