Popcorn (1991 film)
| Popcorn | |
|---|---|
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| Directed by |
Mark Herrier Alan Ormsby (uncredited) |
| Produced by |
Ashok Amritraj Howard Hurst Torben Johnke Sophie Hurst Bob Clark (uncredited) |
| Written by |
Mitchell Smith (story) Tod Hackett (screenplay) |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Paul Zaza |
| Cinematography | Ronnie Taylor |
| Edited by | Stan Cole |
| Distributed by | Studio Three Film Corporation |
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Release date
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Running time
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97 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $4,205,000 (USA) |
Popcorn is a 1991 American comedy horror film directed by Mark Herrier and written by Alan Ormsby.
College film student and aspiring film writer Maggie Butler (Jill Schoelen) has been having recurring dreams of a young girl named Sarah who is caught in a fire and being chased by a strange man who is trying to kill her. She records what she remembers on an audio tape and plans on making the story into a film. Maggie lives with her mother Suzanne (Dee Wallace Stone), who has been receiving strange, demonic prank calls recently. On her way to class, a boy she has been seeing named Mark (Derek Rydall) embraces her and tries to get her go to his place. Maggie shuns his advances, explaining that she can't be distracted from writing her script.
The fledgling new film department at the university has had trouble gaining recognition, so classmate Toby D'Amato (Tom Villard) has an idea to put on an all-night Horror-thon to raise funds for the department to have a permanent editing space. They set up shop in the defunct Dreamland theater, an old live theater and cinema that is to be razed in three weeks. Professor Davis (Tony Roberts) is concerned about the time constraints, but Toby has enlisted the help of Dr. Mnesyne (Ray Walston), an owner of a film memorabilia shop who has the appropriate gimmicks for the films chosen for the festival. There are three main films within a film.Mosquito is a 3D film, The Attack of the Amazing Electrified Man was released with an accompanying "Shock-o-Scope" gimmick (electrical "buzzers" in seats), and The Stench is a Japanese film released in Odorama.
As they go through Dr. Mnesyne's trunks of equipment, they find a short cult film called Possessor, that greatly resembles Maggie's dreams. Davis informs them that back in the 1960s the film's creator, Lanyard Gates, went on to kill his own family on stage in the live final scene of the film before setting the theater on fire, trapping the audience inside. Maggie soon becomes obsessed with the film and trying to figure out why she has been dreaming about it. When she asks her mother if she has heard of Gates or Possessor, Suzanne becomes uncomfortable; she urges Maggie to quit the festival and wants them to go away together. After Maggie goes to bed, Suzanne receives another prank call from someone she believes to be Gates. He tells her to meet him at Dreamland so they can talk and advises her to bring a gun.
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