The latest edition of the Popcorn Frights Film Festival draws to a close, putting a cap on endless movie premieres, repertory screening, and horror celebrations.

Our first roundup of Popcorn Frights 2023 capsule reviews included horror musicals and experimental genre-benders. The fest didn’t slow down in the back half, either.

Here’s a round-up of some of Popcorn Frights’ second half feature offerings, from slashers to found footage cryptid horror.

Don’t Look Away

Poor Frankie (Kelly Bastard) happens to be at the wrong place at the worst possible time. Frankie’s drive home gets derailed when a criminal fleeing from a truck hijacking gone wrong runs out in front of her car. Seeing the culprit, a lone mannequin uncrated from the truck, sends her into shock. So much so that she begins seeing the mannequin everywhere. Frankie’s friends and unsupportive boyfriend Steve (Colm Hill) chalk it up to residual trauma from the event until they start seeing it too, and the death toll rises.

Director Michael Bafaro, who co-wrote the script with Michael Mitton, wisely skirts around the trickiest obstacle in a movie centered around a killer mannequin by bypassing it altogether. The central mannequin antagonist remains immobile on screen, resulting in a lethal horror twist on the “red light, green light” game. While that ultimately works in the narrative’s favor, it hinders Don’t Look Away in terms of scares. That much of the acting is as stiff as its villain doesn’t help, though the concept presents plenty of potential, and Bafaro does coax out energy through some of the chase sequences.

That’s A Wrap

True to its title, That’s a Wrap nestles a slasher within a slasher at a wrap party. When the cast and crew assemble at the studio to celebrate the production, someone decides to bring the giallo to life by staging murders of their own, disguised as the film’s killer.

Director Marcel Walz (Pretty Boy) injects a standard slasher formula with commentary on the nature of show business. A heavy reliance on vivid gel lighting adds glitz and glamour to an increasingly bloody affair with sleazy giallo underpinnings. While it’s too lean on characterization to establish rooting interest, its indictments of ageism and double standards add fascinating depth and energy to an otherwise paint-by-numbers affair. Cameos by horror stalwarts Tom Savini, Cerina Vincent, and Adam Green also add personality.

Wintertide

Director John Barnard’s grim horror feature, co-written with Carrie-May Siggins, presents a dystopian world where the sun hasn’t risen in a long time, plunging it into an eternal dark winter. Most of its residents are either zombie-like roamers, turned by depression, or those desperate to find a means to stop it. Beth (Niamh Carolan) is among those studying the lethargic infected. However, her precarious grasp of reality slips when she realizes there might be a connection between her nightmares and the infection.

Carolan is up to the task of carrying an existential horror film; much of the film rests on Beth’s mounting moral quandary as she slowly realizes how much her dreams spill over into the waking world. Emphasis on slowly, as Wintertide favors a sluggish pace to contemplate the dire state of the world and morality behind Beth’s actions. The central metaphor, reflective of the pandemic, can be a bit heavy-handed, made more glaring by how undefined the narrative gets. In other words, Wintertide favors slow burn atmosphere and mood over story.

The Black Mass

Horror mainstay Devanny Pinn makes her feature directorial debut with an incisive, discomforting slice of true crime horror. Set in Florida in the late ‘70s, The Black Mass chronicles the 24 hours in which a killer stalks and gruesomely attacks a college sorority house.

Working from a screenplay co-written with Eric Pereira and Brandon Slagle, Pinn casts an unflinching eye here. Enough subtle clues paint a stark portrait of a disturbed mind based in reality, complete with boundary-pushing hallucinogenic sequences and a deranged climax that doesn’t hold back on the violence. It’s grim in its depictions, with Pinn using the camera to force its viewers to watch heinous acts, a harrowing confrontation that dares viewers to reckon with the grisly obsession with true crime. While Pinn’s messaging is admirable, too much time is spent with the faceless foe over his victims, pushing her brutal horror feature a bit too far into exploitation territory. But the scathing intent behind it and a fearless approach is commendable.

Frogman

Director Anthony Cousins takes on the cryptic Frogman via found footage in his feature directorial debut, co-written with John Karsko. In it, a trio of friends embarks on one final filmmaking hoorah before life takes them in separate directions. But in their bid to make one last attempt to capture the elusive cryptid Frogman on camera, they find far more than they ever bargained for.

Frogman adheres to the standard found footage blueprint and tropes, drawing heavily from The Blair Witch Project and Willow Creek as the trio starts by interviewing Loveland, Ohio, locals about their town’s cryptid mascot. Friction between the friends gets brought to the surface as they get closer to the truth. While Cousins’ debut doesn’t offer any narrative surprises and makes strange style choices for the camera, it makes up for it with impressive creature effects. The more the humans invade the Frogman’s turf, the more delightfully weird and gnarly things get. It’s an SFX showcase with delightfully deranged mythology that makes this one worth the price of admission.