Editorials
Exhumed & Exonerated: ‘Popcorn’ (1991)
Every decade has its ups and downs when it comes to cinema, no matter the genre. Horror fans love to loft on high the output of the ‘30s & ‘40s, the ‘70s & ‘80s, and the more recent decades. More often than not, however, the 1990s are labeled as the worst decade for the genre. Not only that, but ‘90s horror tends to be written off as a whole, beyond a handful of undisputed classics. The purpose of Exhumed & Exonerated: The ‘90s Horror Project, is to refute those accusations by highlighting numerous gems from the decade. Stone cold classics will be tackled in this column from time to time, but its main purpose will be to seek out lesser-known and/or less-loved titles that I think deserve more attention and respect from fans. Let the mayhem begin!
POPCORN
Directed by Mark Herrier & Alan Ormsby (uncredited)
Screenplay by Mitchell Smith & Tod Hackett
Produced by Ashok Amritraj, Howard Hurst, Torben Johnke, Sophie Hurst, and Bob Clark (uncredited)
Starring Jill Schoelen, Tom Villard, Dee Wallace Stone, Derek Rydall, Tony Roberts, Malcolm Danare, Kelly Jo Minter, and Ray Walston
Released on February 1, 1991
The early ‘90s (and late ‘80s) saw quite a few self-reflective horror films come along. Naturally the postmodernist tendencies kicked into high-gear after Wes Craven’s Scream was released in late 1996, but the desire of filmmakers in the genre to examine the past was already well under way by then. Both Wes Craven’s New Nightmare and John Carpenter’s In the Mouth of Madness tapped into this obsession with self-examination, as did Fred Dekker’s The Monster Squad years earlier. While most of these are well-known within horror-loving circles, one such applicable film that doesn’t get nearly enough love is Popcorn.
Directed by Porky’s trilogy star Mark Herrier and an uncredited Alan Ormsby (Deranged), Popcorn follows a group of film students who decide to put on a William Castle-style horror movie marathon to raise money for their film program and hopefully fund some of their student projects as well. I conjure the name of Castle simply because they have chosen three (fake) films to show during their all-night fundraiser that all appear to help from the 1950s/1960s and all have some sort of gimmick.
“Mosquito” is an atomic creature feature not unlike those made by Jack Arnold and William Alland, complete with a big mosquito puppet that they have rigged to swing down from the theater ceiling. “The Attack of the Amazing Electrified Man” sees an AIP-style feature about a simple-minded death row inmate transformed into a shocking (literally!) terror, with The Tingler-style electric buzzers on the seats for added audience goosing. Finally, there is the Japanese film “The Stench”, released in “Odorama”, where the students use gas capsule to flood the theater with foul smells on cue to accompany the feature. It’s supposed to be a big, raucous night of ballyhoo and is sure to be a success…
…were it not for the murderous maniac with a different set of plans for the event. You see, 15 years earlier, there was a fringe cult filmmaker named Lanyard Gates (Matt Falls) who was rather miffed that critics and audiences were scoffing at his work and the work of his group. In retaliation, he filmed a horror short and shot all but the finale, which he decided he would enact live on stage at the premiere. Unfortunately, his finale involved him attempting to murder his wife and daughter on stage. While he succeeded in killing his wife, his sister-in-law (Dee Wallace Stone) burst in, shot him, saved the little girl, and set fire to the theater, thereby burning all of Gates’ demented followers alive inside.
In preparation for this marathon, our students enlist the help of movie memorabilia maestro Dr. Mnesyne (Ray Walston) to supply the old school gags and an assortment of costumes and decorations to spruce up their location with. Contained within those crates is “The Possessor”, Gates’ aforementioned experimental horror film. The students watch it and laugh it off, tossing it back into the box and moving on with their preparations.
So what’s the connection? Our mysterious killer is hellbent on finishing the Gates film during the marathon, complete with an uninterrupted recreation of the murderous live final act. There are some further twists, turns, and revelations, but what we basically have here is a postmodernist slasher that, in many ways, must have been on Kevin Williamson’s mind when he first sat down to write Scream (or Scary Movie, as it was originally titled), as well as the opening sequence of Scream 2. Hell, we even have a cast of characters here who are as obsessed with movies as their eventual attacker is!
While the core narrative and characters are entertaining, thankfully including the disguise-changing villain himself, a lot of the fun comes from the movies-within-the-movie themselves. These segments were directed by Alan Ormsby (who was fired from directing the whole feature) and, coupled with the fact that the film’s FX were supervised by uncredited producer Bob Clark (Black Christmas), it makes this all an unofficial reunion of talent from the makers of Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things, Deathdream, and Deranged. Each of these faux films matches the style and tone of the era they are attempting to evoke almost perfectly, making the entire set-up more genuine than a lot of films that pull similar routines.
“Mosquito” absolutely plays out like a William Alland feature in the vein of Tarantula or The Deadly Mantis. “Electrified Man” skews more towards early AIP fare like I Was A Teenage Werewolf and War of the Colossal Beast. “The Stench” lands more in early color Toho territory, evoking the non-kaiju efforts of Ishiro Honda. As for “The Possessor”, it contains more of a ‘60s Euro-horror vibe, evoking psychedelic experimental cinema and the works of Italian maestro Mario Bava. These different flares all give it an extra appeal for any horror fan obsessed with or interested in the genre’s history.
Judging the film based on its look is a bit hard at this time, as the only copies of it one can find these days are the old VHS release and the now-OOP DVD from the ‘00s, which itself looks like a high-end VHS copy. As a result, I’ll refrain from commenting on its overall visual atmosphere, at least until Synapse finishes the HD restoration that they are apparently working on as we speak. Fingers crossed that it sees release sometime within the next year or so, as I suspect this film will look pretty damn good once it has been spruced up. Popcorn certainly deserves it.
The tone and style of the film evokes mid-to-late ‘80s cinema, almost to the point where if I didn’t know it hailed from 1991, I would have automatically assumed it was made around 1987 or so. The acting also holds to this vibe, especially considering some of the cast members. In addition to aforementioned genre vets Dee Wallace Stone (The Howling, Cujo) and Ray Walston (“My Favorite Martian”, there are quite a few familiar faces. Jill Schoelen (The Stepfather, Phantom of the Opera ’89) is our final girl, Maggie. Tom Villiard (One Crazy Summer) plays her goofy fellow film student pal Toby and Derek Rydall (Phantom of the Mall: Eric’s Revenge) is her on again-off again boyfriend, Mark. We are also treated to Tony Roberts (Annie Hall, Amityville 3-D) as their professor and Malcolm Danare (Christine, The Curse) and Kelly Jo Minter (Summer School, A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child) as two of the other students.
Popcorn isn’t a forgotten classic, but it is definitely an under-loved gem. From its ‘80s vibe to its fun concept to its wide assortment of bonafide horror talent, it’s a lot of fun and probably a great film to pop in and munch down on some popped corn with a few like-minded friends. Whether you decide to wait for Synapse’s promised Blu-ray or you track down on your own before then, chances are you’ll be entertained by this offbeat slasher and its homages to ‘50s & ‘60s genre cinema. It starts off a bit rocky, but once it gets going, it’s a fun ride.
Up Next: Wishmaster (1997)
Previously On…
Species | Mute Witness | Popcorn | Wishmaster | Alien 3 | Cast A Deadly Spell
Disturbing Behavior | The Sect | The Addams Family
Twice a month Joe Lipsett will dissect a new Amityville Horror film to explore how the “franchise” has evolved in increasingly ludicrous directions. This is “The Amityville IP.”
A bizarre recurring issue with the Amityville “franchise” is that the films tend to be needlessly complicated. Back in the day, the first sequels moved away from the original film’s religious-themed haunted house storyline in favor of streamlined, easily digestible concepts such as “haunted lamp” or “haunted mirror.”
As the budgets plummeted and indie filmmakers capitalized on the brand’s notoriety, it seems the wrong lessons were learned. Runtimes have ballooned past the 90-minute mark and the narratives are often saggy and unfocused.
Both issues are clearly on display in Amityville Karen (2022), a film that starts off rough, but promising, and ends with a confused whimper.
The promise is embodied by the tinge of self-awareness in Julie Anne Prescott (The Amityville Harvest)’s screenplay, namely the nods to John Waters’ classic 1994 satire, Serial Mom. In that film, Beverly Sutphin (an iconic Kathleen Turner) is a bored, white suburban woman who punished individuals who didn’t adhere to her rigid definition of social norms. What is “Karen” but a contemporary equivalent?
In director/actor Shawn C. Phillips’ film, Karen (Lauren Francesca) is perpetually outraged. In her introductory scenes, she makes derogatory comments about immigrants, calls a female neighbor a whore, and nearly runs over a family blocking her driveway. She’s a broad, albeit familiar persona; in many ways, she’s less of a character than a caricature (the living embodiment of the name/meme).
These early scenes also establish a fairly straightforward plot. Karen is a code enforcement officer with plans to shut down a local winery she has deemed disgusting. They’re preparing for a big wine tasting event, which Karen plans to ruin, but when she steals a bottle of cursed Amityville wine, it activates her murderous rage and goes on a killing spree.
Simple enough, right?
Unfortunately, Amityville Karen spins out of control almost immediately. At nearly every opportunity, Prescott’s screenplay eschews narrative cohesion and simplicity in favour of overly complicated developments and extraneous characters.
Take, for example, the wine tasting event. The film spends an entire day at the winery: first during the day as a band plays, then at a beer tasting (???) that night. Neither of these events are the much touted wine-tasting, however; that is actually a private party happening later at server Troy (James Duval)’s house.
Weirdly though, following Troy’s death, the party’s location is inexplicably moved to Karen’s house for the climax of the film, but the whole event plays like an afterthought and features a litany of characters we have never met before.
This is a recurring issue throughout Amityville Karen, which frequently introduces random characters for a scene or two. Karen is typically absent from these scenes, which makes them feel superfluous and unimportant. When the actress is on screen, the film has an anchor and a narrative drive. The scenes without her, on the other hand, feel bloated and directionless (blame editor Will Collazo Jr., who allows these moments to play out interminably).
Compounding the issue is that the majority of the actors are non-professionals and these scenes play like poorly performed improv. The result is long, dull stretches that features bad actors talking over each other, repeating the same dialogue, and generally doing nothing to advance the narrative or develop the characters.
While Karen is one-note and histrionic throughout the film, at least there’s a game willingness to Francesca’s performance. It feels appropriately campy, though as the film progresses, it becomes less and less clear if Amityville Karen is actually in on the joke.
Like Amityville Cop before it, there are legit moments of self-awareness (the Serial Mom references), but it’s never certain how much of this is intentional. Take, for example, Karen’s glaringly obvious wig: it unconvincingly fails to conceal Francesca’s dark hair in the back, but is that on purpose or is it a technical error?
Ultimately there’s very little to recommend about Amityville Karen. Despite the game performance by its lead and the gentle homages to Serial Mom’s prank call and white shoes after Labor Day jokes, the never-ending improv scenes by non-professional actors, the bloated screenplay, and the jittery direction by Phillips doom the production.
Clocking in at an insufferable 100 minutes, Amityville Karen ranks among the worst of the “franchise,” coming in just above Phillips’ other entry, Amityville Hex.
The Amityville IP Awards go to…
- Favorite Subplot: In the afternoon event, there’s a self-proclaimed “hot boy summer” band consisting of burly, bare-chested men who play instruments that don’t make sound (for real, there’s no audio of their music). There’s also a scheming manager who is skimming money off the top, but that’s not as funny.
- Least Favorite Subplot: For reasons that don’t make any sense, the winery is also hosting a beer tasting which means there are multiple scenes of bartender Alex (Phillips) hoping to bring in women, mistakenly conflating a pint of beer with a “flight,” and goading never before seen characters to chug. One of them describes the beer as such: “It looks like a vampire menstruating in a cup” (it’s a gold-colored IPA for the record, so…no).
- Amityville Connection: The rationale for Karen’s killing spree is attributed to Amityville wine, whose crop was planted on cursed land. This is explained by vino groupie Annie (Jennifer Nangle) to band groupie Bianca (Lilith Stabs). It’s a lot of nonsense, but it is kind of fun when Annie claims to “taste the damnation in every sip.”
- Neverending Story: The film ends with an exhaustive FIVE MINUTE montage of Phillips’ friends posing as reporters in front of terrible green screen discussing the “killer Karen” story. My kingdom for Amityville’s regular reporter Peter Sommers (John R. Walker) to return!
- Best Line 1: Winery owner Dallas (Derek K. Long), describing Karen: “She’s like a walking constipation with a hemorrhoid”
- Best Line 2: Karen, when a half-naked, bleeding woman emerges from her closet: “Is this a dream? This dream is offensive! Stop being naked!”
- Best Line 3: Troy, upset that Karen may cancel the wine tasting at his house: “I sanded that deck for days. You don’t just sand a deck for days and then let someone shit on it!”
- Worst Death: Karen kills a Pool Boy (Dustin Clingan) after pushing his head under water for literally 1 second, then screeches “This is for putting leaves on my plants!”
- Least Clear Death(s): The bodies of a phone salesman and a barista are seen in Karen’s closet and bathroom, though how she killed them are completely unclear
- Best Death: Troy is stabbed in the back of the neck with a bottle opener, which Karen proceeds to crank
- Wannabe Lynch: After drinking the wine, Karen is confronted in her home by Barnaby (Carl Solomon) who makes her sign a crude, hand drawn blood contract and informs her that her belly is “pregnant from the juices of his grapes.” Phillips films Barnaby like a cross between the unhoused man in Mulholland Drive and the Mystery Man in Lost Highway. It’s interesting, even if the character makes absolutely no sense.
- Single Image Summary: At one point, a random man emerges from the shower in a towel and excitedly poops himself. This sequence perfectly encapsulates the experience of watching Amityville Karen.
- Pray for Joe: Many of these folks will be back in Amityville Shark House and Amityville Webcam, so we’re not out of the woods yet…
Next time: let’s hope Christmas comes early with 2022’s Amityville Christmas Vacation. It was the winner of Fangoria’s Best Amityville award, after all!
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