Horror Flick of the Week: Popcorn (1991)

This one took more than one attempt to watch, because it opens with a trippy dream sequence. Narration and dream sequences are two film devices I tend to struggle with, as they are fairly lazy attempts to tell a story without properly showing it. Then, just a couple of weeks ago, I tried again. Why? Because just look at that poster! There's no way in hell a movie could have a poster like this and not turn out to be awesome!

This time I made it. After the dream sequence, which I can appreciate now is a clear not to Giallo, the movie got so much better. College students get one special night to take what could possibly be one of the most incredible movie theaters in history and host a horror film marathon. William Castle style. Gigantic props flying around, smell-o-vision, shockers in the seats, and everything in-between. Popcorn is a bit of a love story to classic horror, despite the main actress's at times grating voice (despite this, Jill Schoelen was, and is, a lovely person). It doesn't stop there, however, as strange memories plague her character throughout the film, and bizarre murders begin to take place. Madness? Ghosts? A killer stalking the night? I guess you'll have to find out for yourself.

Vintage Comics: Beyond - The Phantom Puppet and The Mummy's Curse (Pages 19-27)

Okay, so I've seen a lot of puppet movies and read a lot of puppet stories. They usually don't go much further than the puppet murdering other people, the puppet being all in the ventriloquist's head, or the puppet being shifted off to another owner. This one took a cool turn by actually having the puppet onstage in legitimate plays with other real actors. Anyway, it's a pretty cool twist. I wonder why it hasn't been done again...


On another note, if you find the text on the last two pages is just too small, being an actual written story, let me know, and I'll transcribe it in another post.