Movies
Popcorn Frights Teams Up with The Horror Collective for Free Horror Weekend This August
Popcorn Frights, the largest genre film event in Southeast US delivering the best horror, sci-fi, fantasy and badass genre cinema to South Florida, has announced a partnership Entertainment Squad’s genre label, The Horror Collective, to host a free theatrical experience for film fans this August.
From August 18-20, 2023, “The Horror Collective Screening Room” located at the O Cinema South Beach, right across the street from the world-famous Ocean Drive boulevard in the heart of Miami Beach, will feature brand new film premieres selected from across the world as well as Popcorn Frights’ shorts blocks celebrating up-and-coming filmmakers.
“The Horror Collective Screening Room” will provide free entry for all fans to experience Popcorn Frights’ film premieres and industry sessions in the heart of Miami Beach.
The Horror Collective representatives will be in attendance during the Festival and will host and moderate panel discussions and industry sessions for visiting and local filmmakers.
“We are glad to extend the partnership with Popcorn Frights and create opportunities for the local filmmaking community,” said Shaked Berenson, Entertainment Squad’s CEO.
“Popcorn Frights is a staple of established and upcoming gems. The best of the genre showcased by awesome people who are passionate and in love with horror. Not to be missed,” added The Horror Collective’s Jonny Grant.
Popcorn Frights will continue its partnership with the genre streaming platform ALTER, which will consider all the short films premiering at the Festival for distribution on the online platform. In 2022, ALTER acquired 17 films out of Popcorn Frights’ lineup, including Return to Sender produced by Jamie Lee Curtis, as well as Popcorn Frights’ prize winners “Kickstart My Heart” (Popcorn Frights Jury Prize for Best Short Film) and “Ringworms” (Popcorn Frights Audience Award for Best Short Film).
Submissions to the ninth annual Popcorn Frights Film Festival are still open via Film Freeway with the final deadline set for July 10. Shorts, features, documentaries, animation, film and video — all are welcome and can be submitted here.
Celebrated as one of “The World’s 50 Best Genre Festivals” by MovieMaker Magazine and recognized by FilmFreeway as one of the “Top 100 Best Reviewed Festivals,” Popcorn Frights’ ninth edition kicks off August 10-20, 2023, with more than 10,000 filmgoers and industry professionals expected to attend its summer week of wicked films, events, and parties. In addition to the “The Horror Collective Screening Room” at the O Cinema South Beach, this year Popcorn Frights also returns to the landmark Savor Cinema in downtown Fort Lauderdale, a state-of-the-art theater which was originally built as a Methodist Church in the 1940s.
Before updating the video nasty Faces of Death, director Daniel Goldhaber and writer Isa Mazzei explored the dangers of online life in tech-thriller Cam, their feature debut that was acquired by Netflix in 2018 after making waves on the festival circuit.
At the end of last year, the Netflix exclusive quietly departed from the streaming platform, left without another streaming home.
It’s not an isolated story; Mike Flanagan’s Hush also left streaming entirely for a period until it was finally picked up on both physical media and other streaming services.
While the tech-thriller currently isn’t available to watch on Netflix, Tubi, Hulu, or any other platforms, that’s not a problem for Cam thanks to a very cool move by Goldhaber: the director has made his breakout film accessible to watch online for free via his website.
As his site notes: “CAM is unfortunately not currently available to view on any platforms, so you can watch it here if you like :).“
No subscriptions or fees necessary, just hit play.
Cam follows Alice (Madeline Brewer), who works as an online cam girl obsessed with her ranking on the cam site. The higher her ranking goes, the more it draws unwanted attention, and Alice soon finds herself replaced on her own show with a doppelganger.
Written by Mazzei, a former camgirl, it uses the horror thriller premise to examine the life of a sex worker; Alice’s career ambition is directly at odds with the shame it brings to her family, and how she tries to spare them from it by keeping them in the dark. It only compounds her danger when the doppelganger enters the equation in Goldhaber’s engaging thriller.
For a deep dive into the treacherous world of Cam, listen to Horror Queers’ episode on it now.
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