[Review] Popcorn (1991)

Unfortunately lost to the sands of time, or at least by streaming platforms, the 1991 slasher extravaganza Popcorn is a meditation on horror film history and all the gimmicks that accompany it. Though the film is currently only available to watch by way of a brave soul uploading it to YouTube, it is worth its 90 minute run time and, in my humble opinion, should be recognized as the triumph in camp and meta-film commentary that it is.

Popcorn opens on teen filmmaker and cinephile Maggie (Jill Schoelen) having a dream about a mysterious man calling out for a girl named “Sarah.” Her name is not revealed yet, so the audience is made to believe this man is coming after her, when in reality Sarah is someone else Maggie does not know. Maggie makes breakfast before school, explaining her own film’s concept to her mother, who we will come to find out later is not actually her mother. It should be noted that the acting in this film is not very good across the board, though this is something that I’m not really concerned about, as it definitely adds to the campiness of it all. 

The remainder of the film follows Maggie’s high school film club as they run a horror movie marathon that includes fun gimmicks for the audience, each gimmick related to a different film. This marketing tactic was actually used by cinemas during the 1960s-1970s to encourage people to attend horror pictures. While prepping for the evening, the group of teens stumble upon a film called Possessor and screen it for themselves. During the film’s original screening, a man named Lanyard (yes, LANYARD) had murdered his own family on stage in front of the screen. In present day, upon watching the film with her club, Maggie notices that it has the same plot as the dreams she has been having. With this in mind and the team officially spooked, they put the film away and begin to construct their gimmicks which include a mechanical human sized mosquito, a bad odor that fills the whole theater, and small electric shock generators that are installed under the seats.

Each gimmick is then used by Popcorn’s villain, the film club’s own Toby, to slash each of the movie’s victims. Given that this movie pre-dates the Scream franchise, the use of film history in this particular way is extremely clever and reinvents what exactly constitutes a slasher. None of the victims are killed with a traditional single weapon, but each gimmick gives the villain the opportunity to think outside the box with his evil plans. 

There are spoilers ahead, so proceed with caution!

In the end, it is revealed that Maggie is actually named Sarah and who she knew as her mother growing up was actually her aunt. Maggie’s real father is Lanyard, the man who killed the rest of his family and set fire to the theater. Maggie’s aunt saved her by killing Lanyard and Toby is revealed to be the son of a woman who was part of Lanyard’s film cult who died in the fire. Toby’s face is disfigured in the fire, so throughout the evening, as he kills off each member of his own film club, he makes a mask of their face to impersonate them. As you can tell: this plot is incredibly complicated, and only gets increasingly so; however, it is genuinely well thought-out and connected. This is incredibly impressive given the complexities of the backstory and film history involved.

The climax of the film culminates in Toby kidnapping Maggie and her aunt, using them as props in order to re-enact the original Possessor film. The scene is performed for the audience as a shadowcast with Possessor screened behind them. The crowd, hyped up on the previous film gimmicks, cheers them on, not realizing that Maggie’s calls for help are real. 

This end scene perfectly encapsulates the film’s main themes: questioning what is real and what is a performance. Everyone in the movie is hiding their true identity and backstory, whether they are aware of it or not. Given that the characters are all filmmakers, the film forces them to confront how much of themselves and their trauma they are willing to give up and sacrifice for their art. Art is literally imitating life, and life is imitating that same art, blurring the lines between entertainment and the raw consumption of someone else’s suffering.

None of these questions are really answered, but Maggie and her aunt do defeat Toby, so we at least know that we should not re-enact murder for entertainment. The ambiguity of the film’s refusal to take a solid stance on any of the questions or thoughts it poses really makes it stand out as a film that is more interesting than a generic camp slasher. While the kills are silly, and the performances could be much stronger, the depth of Popcorn’s story solidifies it in my mind as an underrated meta-classic. Strut your way over to Youtube, put on a mask replicating the face of a peer, and buckle in for some thoughtful fun!

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