Popcorn Frights Announces Their Wave of 2025 Programming
This summer, the Popcorn Frights Film Festival returns for its 11th edition, and it’s bigger, bloodier, and bolder than ever. From August 7 to August 17, the festival will takeover South Florida, unleashing a massive program of the best in genre cinema. Today, the festival has revealed its highly anticipated First Wave lineup—featuring 19 film premieres and 9 special presentations that bring together horror royalty, cult icons, and scream queens for a cinematic experience with the volume cranked all the way up.
The festival will kick off with an Opening Night World Premiere Double-Bill from fan-favorite filmmaker and two-time Popcorn Frights award-winner Brandon Christensen. He has not one, but two films coming to Shudder and the festival gets a first look at his tales of terror, Bodycam and Night of the Reaper.
Popcorn Frights is also rolling out the red carpet for horror royalty with the arrival of Barbara Crampton, who’s headlining the festival’s special “Straight Outta Crampton” triple-bill screamfest (which will include Re-Animator, From Beyond, and the new film Teacher’s Pet). But she’s not the only celebrity guest making an appearance at this year’s festival. Cult icon Lloyd Kaufman will crash the festival for the premire of Mr. Melvin, as well as a Troma-themed horror trivia night.
The horror legends keep coming as scream queen Linnea Quigley comes to fest to present a triple-bill straight from the fiery depths of 80s horror, made possible by the generous support of Flick Direct. She’ll appear in person to present her most legendary roles, including the yuletide slasher Silent Night, Deadly Night, the splatterific cult gem Night of the Demons, and the 40th Anniversary 4K restoration of The Return of the Living Dead.
A second wave of Popcorn Frights 2025 titles, with more than two dozen additional feature film premieres for in-theater and virtual programming, will be announced next week.
Individual tickets and All-Access Badges for the in-theater experience—hosted at Savor Cinema Fort Lauderdale and Cinema Paradiso Hollywood—are now available. Virtual All-Access Passes can also be purchased for streaming access to the full digital lineup. To order an In-Theater All-Access VIP Badge, click here. To order a Virtual All-Access Pass, click here.
Submissions for this year’s festival are still open via Film Freeway through the final deadline of July 18. Shorts, features, documentaries, animation, film, and video — all are welcome and can be submitted at on Film Freeway.
Now, check out the full first wave lineup for this year’s Popcorn Frights below!
Popcorn Frights In-Person Feature Film Lineup
Bodycam (dir. Brandon Christensen)
World Premiere
During a routine domestic disturbance call, a tragic accident thrusts two police officers into a relentless nightmare that unveils the existence of a terrifying cult.
Night of the Reaper (dir. Brandon Christensen)
World Premiere
After a brutal murder of a teenage babysitter, college student Deena returns home for the weekend and takes on a babysitting job, while the local sheriff uncovers chilling evidence suggesting the killer may be planning a deadly sequel.
American Cryptids (dir. Erynn Dalton)
World Premiere
Starring Anne Bobby, Daniel Roebuck, and Lukas Hassel, this Florida-set folktale follows two feuding families—one human, one supernatural—whose failed truce sparks bloodshed, forcing the youngest generation to choose between breaking the cycle or succumbing to a fate of violence.
Blood Shine (dirs. Emily Bennett & Justin Brooks)
World Premiere
A religious zealot devoted to light rituals meets a horror filmmaker in NY, pulling him into a dreamlike maze of spirituality and transcendence.
Hacked (dir. Shane Brady)
South Florida Premiere
Inspired by true events, this gripping story begins in 2021 when an ordinary Florida couple is hacked and robbed of $20,000, unleashing the dark, imagined revenge they only wish they could have taken.
Mermaid (dir. Tyler Cornack)
Southeast US Premiere
At his lowest point, a drug-addicted Florida man discovers a wounded mermaid and, as word of his secret spreads, he’ll stop at nothing to protect her—featuring a sinister performance by Robert Patrick.
Teacher’s Pet (dir. Noam Kroll)
East Coast Premiere
Just days from heading to Yale, a brilliant high school senior is drawn into a dangerous game of cat and mouse when her obsessive new English teacher reveals a chilling past, igniting a gripping battle of wits and survival.
To All the Books (dir. Josh Malerman)
World Premiere
This raw and inspiring fly-on-the-wall documentary follows acclaimed novelist, filmmaker, and musician Josh Malerman—author of Bird Box and Emmy-winning music for Shameless—as he confronts the terror of the blank page and the unpredictable highs and lows of a wildly creative life.
Popcorn Frights Virtual Feature Film Lineup
Alan at Night (dir. Jesse Swenson)
Southeast US Premiere
An internet prankster documents the increasingly odd behavior of his new roommate, Alan.
The Editing (dir. Audouin Rascovsky)
Southeast US Premiere
Eccentric director John Von Kubrick disappears with the only footage of his latest film, forcing his two producers—who borrowed from the Japanese mafia to finance the project—into a desperate, life-or-death hunt to recover both him and the film.
El Instinto
US Premiere
Dir. Juan Albarracín
A brilliant architect crippled by agoraphobia and isolated for three years reluctantly accepts help from a prestigious dog trainer whose methods soon reveal a psychotic obsession.
Head Like a Hole
Southeast US Premiere
Dir. Stefan MacDonald-Labelle
In financial dire straits, a man accepts a strange, high-paying job where he must take up residence in a home and measure a hole in the wall of the basement to determine whether or not it’s growing in size.
House of Ashes
Florida Premiere
Dir. Izzy Lee
A grieving widow must survive psychological and supernatural horrors while under house arrest.
In the Mouth
Florida Premiere
Dir. Cory Santilli
A perpetual worrywart finds himself unable to leave his house after discovering a giant version of himself protruding from his front lawn.
Itch!
Southeast US Premiere
Dir. Bari Kang
Amid a deadly outbreak known as the ITCH, a widower and his estranged daughter seek refuge in a department store—only to discover that the true terror lies within.
Psyche
East Coast Premiere
Dir. Stephon Stewart
Adrift in limbo, a young woman and computer embark on a quest to uncover the meaning of life.
Tomorrow I Die
Southeast US Premiere
Dir. Nikol Cibulya
In this mystical-realist ghost story, a pregnant woman invites her brother and best friend to a family cabin, where she reveals a haunting premonition of her own death and must confront childhood traumas before embracing motherhood.
What the Tide Dragged In
World Premiere
Dir. Patricio Valladares
After their mother’s funeral, two sisters visit a remote beach to scatter her ashes, but when one is swept away by a current and later found behaving strangely, unsettling secrets begin to surface.
IN-THEATER RETRO LINEUP
A Quiet Place (dir. John Krasinski)
Live Commentary Special Presentation with writers Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, moderated by Josh Malerman
A family struggles for survival in a world invaded by blind alien creatures with ultra-sensitive hearing.
From Beyond (dir. Stuart Gordon)
Straight Outta Crampton Triple-Bill Event
A group of scientists creates the Resonator, a machine that reveals hidden dimensions beyond human perception—only to unleash horrifying life forms the moment the experiment succeeds.
Mr. Melvin (dir. Lloyd Kaufman)
Troma-Sized Festival Premiere
A never-before-seen reimagined cut of The Toxic Avenger sequel, fusing Part II and Part III into one epic two-hour resurrection.
Night of the Demons (dir. Kevin Tenney)
The Queen of Screams Triple-Bill Event
On Halloween night, ten teenagers throw a party in an abandoned funeral parlor, only to awaken an evil force that traps them inside and unleashes demonic spirits, turning their celebration into a living hell.
Nightmare Beach (dir. Kevin Tenney)
Special Outdoor Beach Presentation
After the execution of a motorcycle gang leader convicted of murder, a helmeted biker goes on a killing spree during spring break in Florida.
The Phantom of the Opera (dir. Rupert Julian)
A Tale of Two Phantoms Double-Bill Event; Centennial Anniversary, 2K Restoration
*Live Original Score Performance by Slavvy
A mad, disfigured composer seeks love with a lovely young opera singer.
Phantom of the Paradise (dir. Brian De Palma)
A Tale of Two Phantoms Double-Bill Event
*Swan Principal Archivist Ari Kahan expected in person
A disfigured composer sells his soul to ensure the woman he loves will sing his music, only to be betrayed by a sinister record tycoon who steals his work to launch his decadent rock palace, The Paradise.
Re-Animator (dir. Stuart Gordon)
Straight Outta Crampton Triple-Bill Event; 40th Anniversary, 4K Restoration
After an odd new medical student arrives on campus, a dedicated local and his girlfriend become involved in bizarre experiments centering around the re-animation of dead tissue.
The Return of the Living Dead (dir. Dir. Dan O’Bannon)
The Queen of Screams Triple-Bill Event; 40th Anniversary, 4K Restoration
When two bumbling employees at a medical supply warehouse accidentally release a deadly gas into the air, the vapors cause the dead to rise again as zombies.
Silent Night, Deadly Night (dir. Dir. Charles E. Sellier Jr.)
The Queen of Screams Triple-Bill Event
After witnessing his parents’ murder by a killer in a Santa suit as a child—and haunted by his grandfather’s warning that Santa punishes the naughty—18-year-old Billy leaves the orphanage and dons the red suit himself, unleashing a holiday spree of terror.
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