Today’s Feature: Midnight Madness: The Making of Popcorn (2017) – Popcorn (1991)

As I’m sure you’ve noticed, we’re big horror fans here at Dissecting Fiction. Since its inception, the horror movie has cut a narrative straight through the core of film and popular culture. Look at the horror films of any given era, and you’ll see a dark reflection of that culture. There are many cult favorites throughout the history of horror that have transcended their roots and become modern legends. Popcorn is not one of those films, in fact, I’ve run into many horror fans who have never heard of it. That’s a shame.

I can’t help but think that Popcorn‘s relative lack of notoriety has something to do with when it was released. Debuting in 1991, the film missed the prime of the horror boom by a few years and, though some significant films would be released around that same time, fatigue from the slasher era was already setting in. Now, it should be made clear that Popcorn is NOT a pure slasher film. It actually has much more in common with the Tales from the Crypt-esque style that actually was quite popular at the time. It utilizes parody to bring substantial humor into the mix and the villain, though targeting the young cast, has even stranger motivations than typical. It also has a pretty killer (sorry) soundtrack, both in pop music and score. I guess you should go ahead and watch the trailer though. As cool as it is out of context, it doesn’t quite portray the film for what it is. I think promotion like this may have turned the movie’s true audience away before they even gave it a chance.

Midnight Madness, another great documentary from Red Shirt Pictures, tells the tale of a horror legend that could have been. As with all of their documentaries, this one is well researched, nicely populated with behind the scenes material and utilizes expertly placed clips from the film. The documentary also features nearly all of the living cast, including the iconic Dee Wallace. Though not one of her bigger hits, Wallace seems eager to speak about the film, citing the camaraderie among the cast. The documentary also features insight from credited director Mark Herrier, though lacks an interview from screenwriter and uncredited director Alan Orsmby (Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things). Ormsby’s departure is just one of the film’s production issues, with the lead changing after his departure and some, uh, heavy oversight from one of the film’s producers. All of these problems are addressed in the documentary, and shed light on why the film may not have had all of the support it probably should have. Most importantly, it answers why there was a really solid reggae group in Middle America. That’s been bothering me since the first time I saw it.

Midnight Madness: The Making of Popcorn is available on Synapse Films’ excellent Popcorn: Special Edition Blu-Ray. Though Synapse does not get the attention that some of their contemporaries do, this is another top-shelf release from the company.