This summer, it’s bigger, bloodier, and bolder than ever as the 12th Annual Popcorn Frights Film Festival returns August 6-16 […]
This summer, it’s bigger, bloodier, and bolder than ever as the 12th Annual Popcorn Frights Film Festival returns August 6-16 for an electrifying 11-day takeover of South Florida. As the Southeast’s largest genre celebration, Popcorn Frights is unleashing its most thrilling program yet with the reveal of its highly anticipated First Wave lineup—featuring 14 film premieres and 7 special presentations + live immersive events that bring together horror royalty and live events for a cinematic experience with the volume cranked all the way up.
The festival will kick off with an Opening Night Zombie-Charged Double-Bill from master filmmaker Yeon Sang-ho (Train to Busan, Hellbound), who will present the premiere of Colony, the adrenaline-fueled zombie nightmare that shocked audiences at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Paired with the premiere is a celebration of the 10th anniversary of Train to Busan, as Yeon Sang-ho’s genre-defining masterpiece returns in a breathtaking new 4K restoration.
Popcorn Frights also rolls out the blood-red carpet for horror royalty with the arrival of legendary actor Stephen Lang (Don’t Breathe, Avatar). First, he’ll introduce the gloriously over-the-top, neon-soaked Miami cult classic Band of the Hand, the unapologetically explosive ‘80s action fever dream produced by Michael Mann (Heat, The Last of the Mohicans) and starring an all-star ensemble including Laurence Fishburne (The Matrix), Lauren Holly (Dumb and Dumber), and John Cameron Mitchell (Hedwig and the Angry Inch). Then steel your nerves for the 10th anniversary of Don’t Breathe, one of the most intense theatrical horror experiences of the last decade that transformed a simple home invasion into pure cinematic terror. Capping off the celebration is the premiere of , the latest film from his son, Noah Lang, making this a one-of-a-kind family affair celebrating two generations of fearless filmmaking.
Remains
But wait… there’s more! Prepare for a psychic showdown that will Blow. Your. Mind. as Popcorn Frights celebrates the 45th anniversary of David Cronenberg’s (The Fly, Videodrome) Scanners with legendary actor Michael Ironside (Scanners, Starship Troopers) in attendance. Come for the exploding heads. Stay for the mind-melting psychic combat. Leave questioning the limits of the human mind. Ironside also blasts into Popcorn Frights for the 4K restoration of Paul Verhoeven’s (RoboCop, Starship Troopers) sci-fi masterpiece Total Recall, where audiences can experience one of the greatest sci-fi action films ever made exactly as intended: louder, bigger, and with a crowd!
Things only get weirder from here. Dare to experience the Pope of Trash, the People’s Pervert, the Duke of Dirt, John Waters’ (Pink Flamingos, Hairspray) most gloriously grotesque film Polyester in sensational odorama for its 45th anniversary! Scratch. Sniff. Regret. Repeat. From stomach-turning stenches to hilariously specific suburban aromas, this is moviegoing that engages every sense. Yes—you’ll smell the filth. Yes—you’ll question your life choices. And yes—you’ll laugh anyway!
Then warm up those vocal cords, practice your best “Suddenly, Seymour,” and remember one golden rule: Whatever you do… don’t feed the plants! Popcorn Frights presents a monstrously fun 40th anniversary celebration of Little Shop of Horrors featuring a full interactive LIVE SHADOWCAST by Infinite Abyss Productions! Watch performers bring Seymour, Audrey, Orin Scrivello, and the insatiable Audrey II to life right before your eyes, transforming the beloved cult classic into a wildly interactive theatrical event.
Staying true to its South Florida roots, the festival’s beloved Florida Focus program once again shines a spotlight on homegrown horror with two made-in-Florida world premieres. First, sink your teeth into Gator Face, writer-director Padraig Reynolds’ (Open 24 Hours, Dark Light) ferocious Southern Gothic nightmare—a blood-soaked love letter to gritty ’70s horror shot deep in Florida’s unforgiving swamps using real alligators, jaw-dropping practical effects, and absolutely zero CGI or AI. Then discover Best Served Cold: How a Revenge Film Was Buried for Decades, the stranger-than-fiction story behind the long-lost cult revenge thriller The Farmer. Equal parts comedy, mystery, and trainwreck you can’t look away from, it’s the kind of unbelievable story that leaves audiences asking, “How is this real?” Somehow, every outrageous moment actually happened.
Continuing its tradition of championing bold new voices, Popcorn Frights showcases a thrilling slate of premieres from festival alumni turned breakout feature filmmakers. Russell Goldman’s Sender boasts an extraordinary cast led by Britt Lower (Severance) alongside Rhea Seehorn (Pluribus, Better Call Saul), joined by horror favorite David Dastmalchian (Late Night with the Devil, The Suicide Squad) and legendary scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis (Halloween) in one of the year’s most inventive and deeply unsettling psychological thrillers. Meanwhile, after winning Popcorn Frights’ Scariest Short Film Award, writer-director Caleb Phillips returns with his gripping feature debut Imposters, a nerve-rattling psychological nightmare driven by relentless suspense and emotional devastation.
The festival also hosts the world premiere of Marrow, starring genre favorites Michael Ironside (Scanners) and Danielle Harris (Halloween 4, Hatchet), a razor-sharp descent into viral obsession, internet fame, and the horrors lurking behind every screen. And proving Halloween never dies, Hereditary breakout Milly Shapiro stars in Hallowarrior as a Halloween-obsessed survivor navigating the ashes of the apocalypse—a ferocious love letter to horror’s favorite holiday where every day is Halloween, even after the end of the world.
And for horror fans across the country, Popcorn Frights’ acclaimed virtual program returns with more than 20 streaming films, headlined by the U.S. premiere of the darkly comic supernatural road trip Armageddon Road, the visceral Kiwi body-horror nightmare Broken Beak, the blood-soaked anthology If It Bleeds featuring Doug Jones (The Shape of Water), Dee Wallace (E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Cujo), Krsy Fox (Terrifier 3), and Catherine Corcoran (Terrifier), the nerve-rattling thriller Incubation, the haunting psychological chiller Mary Kwon, Mary Kwon, the emotionally devastating nightmare Variations of Violence, and the monstrous thriller Woozy starring Emile Hirsch (Into the Wild)—each pushing the genre envelope in thrilling new directions and designed to blow your genre-loving mind.
A second wave of Popcorn Frights 2026 titles with more than two dozen additional feature film premieres for in-theater and virtual programming will be announced next week.
Individual tickets and All-Access Badges for the in-theater experience—hosted at Savor Cinema in Fort Lauderdale and Classic Gateway Theater—are now available. Virtual All-Access Passes can also be purchased for streaming access to the full digital lineup. To order an In-Theater All-Access VIP Badge, click here, to order a Virtual All-Access Pass, click here.
Submissions for this year’s festival are still open via FilmFreeway through the final deadline of July 12. Shorts, features, documentaries, animation, film, and video—all are welcome and can be submitted at: https://filmfreeway.com/popcornfrights
In-Theater Feature Film Lineup
Colony
Opening Night Double-Bill Florida Premiere South Korea | 2026 | 122 Min. | Dir. Yeon Sang-ho (Train to Busan, Hellbound)
A professor attends a biotech conference, only to witness it spiral into catastrophe when a rapidly mutating virus is unleashed. As the outbreak spreads and the infected begin to transform, authorities seal off the entire facility.
Train to Busan
Opening Night Double-Bill 10th Anniversary Presentation South Korea | 2016 | 118 Min. | Dir. Yeon Sang-ho (Hellbound, Peninsula)
While a zombie virus breaks out in South Korea, passengers struggle to survive on the train from Seoul to Busan.
Best Served Cold: How a Revenge Film Was Buried for Decades
World Premiere United States | 2026 | 106 Min. | Dir. Eric Zaldivar
A documentary tracing the stranger-than-fiction saga of The Farmer (1977), a forgotten independent revenge thriller that vanished into obscurity only to become one of the most sought-after cult films of the 21st century.
Gator Face
World Premiere United States | 2026 | 80 Min. | Dir. Padraig Reynolds (Open 24 Hours, Dark Light)
A Florida vacation becomes a blood-soaked fight for survival when a group of friends are hunted through the swamps by a savage cult that feeds its victims to ravenous alligators in the name of an ancient reptilian god.
Hallowarrior
Florida Premiere United States | 2026 | 80 Min. | Dir. Ben Sottak
Desperate for companionship on a post-apocalyptic Halloween night, the Last Girl on Earth gets more than she bargained for when something far more sinister arrives on her doorstep.
Imposters
Southeast U.S. Premiere United States | 2026 | 102 Min. | Dir. Caleb Phillips
After a couple’s baby is taken, the desperate mother learns of a way to get their baby back. However, her husband begins to suspect that what she brought back isn’t their son.
Marrow
World Premiere United States | 2026 | 96 Min. | Dir. Mitch McLeod
A true crime vodcast host declining in popularity receives the career opportunity of a lifetime when a mysterious stranger invites her into its dangerous world.
Sender
South Florida Premiere United States | 2026 | 94 Min. | Dir. Russell Goldman (The Last Apartment)
After receiving a series of packages containing unnervingly personal items, a woman tumbles down a paranoid rabbit hole to find her mysterious sender.
Virtual Feature Film Lineup
Armageddon Road
U.S. Premiere Canada | 2026 | 85 Min. | Dir. Karen Lam (The Curse of Willow Song, Bring It On: Cheer or Die)
A hopeless romantic with big dreams is hired to chauffeur a mob boss’ girlfriend for a night. He’s blissfully unaware that his passenger has died and is now possessed by one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
Broken Beak
Southeast U.S. Premiere New Zealand-USA | 2026 | 90 Min. | Dir. Christian Carroll
After the murder of her uncle, an activist Māori photographer returns to New Zealand to claim her inheritance. There she has visions of a monster called Broken Beak, and as more family members die, she is compelled to vengeful action.
If It Bleeds
Florida Premiere USA | 2026 | 97 Min. | Dir. Matthew Hersh
A young and ambitious news reporter and her skilled cameraman delve into a series of gruesome murders that unfold throughout a chaotic and violent day.
Incubation
Florida Premiere USA | 2026 | 91 Min. | Dirs. Victor Fink & Joshua Land
A teenager raised in pandemic isolation must fight to save his family when a violent stranger invades their cabin.
Mary Kwon Mary Kwon
Southeast U.S. Premiere United States | 2026 | 94 Min. | Dir. Josh Park
A poet travels to her childhood home in the woods, hoping to uncover the cause of her mother’s disappearance in the same house. Two visitors unexpectedly drop by.
Variations of Violence
Florida Premiere United States | 2026 | 71 Min. | Dir. Zachary Nichols
Consumed by the distant violence he witnesses daily, a military drone pilot drifts toward self-destruction, leaving his sister to face the intimate cost of war fought far away.
Woozy
Southeast U.S. Premiere United States | 2026 | 89 Min. | Dir. Joey Bicicchi
A man’s structured life to cope with mental health issues unravels when a horrifying apparition called Woozy starts tormenting him, forcing him to confront his fears.
In-Theater Retro Lineup
Band of the Hand
40th Anniversary Presentation United States | 1986 | 109 Min. | Dir. Paul Michael Glaser (The Running Man)
Five juvenile lost causes are sent to the Florida Everglades where a war veteran tries to reform them using survival tactics. Their new skills and resolve are tested when a Miami drug lord targets them for trying to clean up their neighborhood.
Don’t Breathe
10th Anniversary Presentation United States | 2016 | 88 Min. | Dir. Fede Álvarez (Evil Dead, Alien: Romulus)
Three delinquents break into the house of a war veteran who is blind to steal his money. However, they discover that the man is not as defenseless as he seems.
Little Shop of Horrors
40th Anniversary Presentation with Live Shadowcast United States | 1986 | 103 Min. | Dir. Frank Oz (The Dark Crystal, What About Bob?)
A nerdy florist finds his chance for success and romance with the help of a giant man-eating plant who demands to be fed.
Polyester
45th Anniversary Presentation in Odorama, 4K Restoration United States | 1981 | 86 Min. | Dir. John Waters (Pink Flamingos, Hairspray)
A suburban homemaker’s world falls apart when she finds that her pornographer husband is serially unfaithful to her, her daughter is pregnant, and her son is suspected of being the foot-fetishist who’s been breaking local women’s feet.
Scanners
45th Anniversary Presentation, 4K Restoration Canada | 1981 | 103 Min. | Dir. David Cronenberg (The Fly, Videodrome)
A scientist trains a man with an advanced telepathic ability called “scanning” to stop a dangerous Scanner with extraordinary psychic powers from waging war against non-Scanners.
Total Recall
4K Restoration USA | 1990 | 113 Min. | Dir. Paul Verhoeven (RoboCop, Starship Troopers)
When a man goes in to have virtual vacation memories of the planet Mars implanted in his mind, an unexpected and harrowing series of events forces him to go to the planet for real—or is he?
Popcorn Frights Film Festival is the ultimate summer celebration of the art of horror, showcasing the finest contemporary genre cinema from around the world. As the largest genre film festival in the Southeast U.S., this eleven-day event takes pride in premiering works from both emerging and established filmmakers. By offering a platform for these artists, the festival aims to provide an immersive experience that highlights the captivating power of storytelling through genre film.
