Popcorn (1991)

Popcorn is an American horror film from 1991 directed by Mark Herrier and written by Alan Ormsby. The film revolves around a “Horror-thon” in an abandoned theater, when a mysterious murderer begins killing off the teenagers. The film focuses on a college film student Maggie Butler (Jill Schoelen) who has had recurring dreams about a young girl named Sarah who is being chased by a killer while being stuck in a house fire. Taking notes from her dreams, she plans to make a movie out of her dreams. Recently her mother Suzanne (Dee Wallace), who she lives with, has been receiving strange and threatening phone calls. A friend of the Professor, Toby D’Amato (Tom Villard) a film school student has a plan to throw an all-night “Horror-thon” to raise money for their department. They set up the “Horror-thon” at a now defunct Dreamland theater, an old building that’s about to be demolished in three weeks. Professor Davis (Tony Roberts) head of the film department is concerned about time constraints and has hired an expert on film memorabilia, Dr. Mnesyne (Ray Walston) who chooses the horror props for the festival. While setting up the props, they begin to see a mysterious figure roaming the theater.  The figure turns out to be Toby, who fifteen years-ago was badly burned as a child in a theater, after a showing of a horror movie with his mother, who was killed in the fire.  Now, he still holds a grudge against Suzanne and Maggie for being responsible for his mother’s death. He has deranged thoughts and now plans to exact his revenge on them by re-enacting the film he witnessed with his mother. As he acts out his revenge with murder scenes from the movie, he kidnaps Maggie and Suzanne, eventually finding out that the final cuts of the film end up destroying his plans. The film is thrilling, exciting and has a bit of comedy entwined within the film which made this film a cult classic among many as the film has gone out of print. The film is still very hard to find and expensive to purchase, but for its original plot and ideas coming from the horror culture, this film is a must own for your own horror collection. It still can be found in limited listings on eBay and for purchase on Amazon released by Elite Entertainment on DVD which is now discontinued. A domestic version of the film is planned to be released by Synapse Films on BluRay soon which will make this a well sought release.

Subspecies (1991)

Subspecies is one of my favorite vampire flicks by Ted Nicholaou and Charles Band from Full Moon Entertainment who team up together to create a suspenseful and dark vampire story featuring Angus Scrimm and Anders Hove. The film begins with two traveling scholar girls, Michelle and Lillian, who team up with Mara, a local girl from native Transylvania, to conduct research on Romanian culture. With a shortage of hostels in Prejnar they find shelter in a historic fortress built from the ancient ruins of Pledmar where the Turks ambushed Romania in the fourteenth century (the historic Pledmar Fortress). Rumor has it that the Fortress itself was where the peasants from Vlad Tepes’ army barricaded themselves inside against the Turks. When food ran out they ventured from the fortress to find dead Turks with blood on their throats, in an apparent vampire attack. The main villain in this excellent vampire flick is Radu (Anders Hove) the evil one. His father (Angus Scrimm), the head vampire, has a precious stone called “The Blood Stone” and it is said to contain the blood of all the Saints. Eternal life and longevity belong to those who drink from the Blood Stone and prevents them from biting the other residents of Pledmar, as if being a vampire wasn’t enough! Radu kills his father in a jealous rage when they argue over the role of a vampire should be. There is beautiful scenery of the Romanian woods where the ground is covered with dead leaves and empty branches in the deep dark woods of mystical Romania. The girls tour the woods and come to the fortress where Lillian wants a picture of her standing in front of the fortress door as a souvenir. They investigate a little further by prying open the door where Radu has been sleeping. Radu awakens to see an arm and he takes a fresh bite. The girls were frightened by what could have bitten Lillian and dusk soon arrives. Radu now has had his first taste of blood from the girl and becomes infatuated with turning them all into vampires. While traveling back through the woods they spot Radu creeping in a tree branch (favorite moment) and they run right into Stefan, he brother, who also studies at the Pledmar Fortress. Lillian, the girl who was bitten by Radu, soon becomes ill and strange occurrences begin to happen. This is the first of a four part series and one of the best. Surely a must see vampire film. Get it now on Blu-Ray, DVD or Stream it instantly on Amazon Prime.