| VINCE'S MOVIE REVIEWS |
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| You just know that if you throw a theatre full of teenagers togather, trouble can not be far away. I saw this
film because the title intrigued me, POPCORN. I was wondering whether it was going to be about poisoned
popcorn. I was wrong. I enjoyed this little horror flick that used a lot of the 1950 gimmicks while the horror movies
were on screen, you know, tingling seats, shocking seats, large props flying over head, neat stuff like that. Alright here is the quick rundown on the plot. College student Maggie (Jill Schoelen) has a recurring nightmare in which a creepy bearded man calls out to "Sarah,". She awakens and decides to see if she can work it into a script for her college filmmaking course. Mr. Davis (Tony Roberts), the teacher accepts an idea from student Toby (Tom Villard) to stage a horror-movie marathon, to make money for the cash strapped class. Using 1950s films with gimmicks (3-D, smells, flying props, electric shock in the seats et cetra) they hope to excite the students and get their cash. The class agrees, and find a beautiful old theater to host their benefit. Dr. Mnesyne (Ray Walston), is a a collector of movie memorabilia, who booby traps the theater with many gimmicks. Dr. Mnesyne also has an old reel of film that mirrors part of Maggie's dream. The teacher, Mr. Davis recognizes the film as "Possessor," the last work of Lanyard Gates, a bad 1960s avant-gardist film maker, who premiered it with a special ending--he murdered his family, live onstage, then he dies in the theater during a fire. Maggie asks her mother Suzanne (Dee Wallace Stone) if she knows anything about this tragedy, her mother says no. However, later that night, Suzanne gets a phone call, apparently from Lanyard, and is asked to go to the theater. She goes, hmm do you think something happens. The benefit is a sellout, and the patrons arrive in costumes. The fun begins, a giant mechanical mosquito flies on a wire over the audience, but the bug turns around and impales Mr Davis, (oops there goes the teacher) with its stinger. One of the girls goes backstage and finds Mr. Davis, and kisses him, but his prosthetic mask peels off, oh, oh,do you think it's the killer. Okay from here things move quick and the body count mounts as one is attacked from behind and electrocuted by his shock-effects machine. Eventually, the killer, is confronted. but what is his secret. I can not tell you everything, you know. This is a complex plot, and there's much more. Each of the screened movies--"The Possessor," "Mosquito," "Electrified Man" and "The Stench"--satirizes a type of old horror film. The interrelationships among the different characters get more and more elaborate and confusing as the film goes on. This does make the movie much more entertaining than the usual simplistic slasher flick. POPCORN seems to have, maybe, a bit too much, so pay attention. The acting in the film varies greatly and even the title has nothing to do with the story, although it does give the movie a great selling line: "Buy it in a bag. Go home in a box." This film is fun to watch if you are into horror films. |
| YOUR MOVIE REVIEWS | POPCORN |
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