Popcorn Frights Festival 2025 Round-up
We’ve already looked ten films recently screened as part of 2025’s Popcorn Frights Film Festival. You can find our non-spoiler reviews by clicking on the following links:
The Mother, the Menacer, and Me
We’ve already covered several of the narrative films the festival had available this year. You can find those reviews with these links: Alan at Night, Crossword, Head Like a Hole, House of Ashes, In the Mouth, Itch!, The Misadventures of Vince and Hick, The Only Ones, Psyche, Tie Die, Tomorrow I Die and Universe25.
We still have a few more movies to give a quick look. Specifically, a number of documentary films that Popcorn Frights lined up for this year. As you can see…it was a busy year for the festival. Including these four documentaries:
The Dark Fantastic
Directed by Lg White
Written LG White
Starring Simon Boswell, Dario Argento, Clive Barker, Lamberto Bava, Iggy Pop, Alejandro Jodorowsky and Nick Willing
Plot Summary – The Dark Fantastic is a psychedelic dive into the mind and work of renowned film composer Simon Boswell. This immersive journey explores Boswell’s innovative approach to music and his impact on cinema.
I didn’t know what to expect from The Dark Fantastic. I wasn’t familiar with Simon Boswell’s work and, frankly, wasn’t that into the idea of watching people sit in chairs talking about it. Thankfully (for me), that isn’t what The Dark Fantastic is. Instead, we are treated to some (pardon the pun) fantastic musical performances from Boswell’s film score catalog. A band with an orchestra section gives us a full concert worth of material.
In between the songs…Simon Boswell talks about where the songs came from. His association with movies like Lord of Illusions, Phenomena and Shallow Grave are discussed before we hear a selection from their scores. He talks about the inspiration for the pieces and his discussions with the filmmakers. It’s all makes for an enjoyable viewing experience.
The one downside is that, for the second time at this year’s Popcorn Frights, I had to see Richard Stanley due to his association with Boswell through an early 90s film project. He’s the main focus of Shadowland which you’ll read about further down this article. Other than that annoyance…The Dark Fantastic exceeding any expectations I had for a music documentary. It’s far more Talking Heads than talking heads.
Exorcismo
Directed by Alberto Sedano
Written by Alberto Sedano
Narrated by Iggy Pop
Plot Summary – Following Franco’s death in 1975, Spanish cinema saw censorship relax, leading to its full abolition in 1977. The “S” rating (1978-1983) flagged films with sexual, violent, or political content–becoming a hit in a newly liberated society.
I can say with full confidence that Exorcismo: The Transgressive Legacy of Clasificada ‘S’ is a great documentary. I know that because I was completely engrossed in what it had to say despite being able to understand more than half of it. Literally. The copy I watched didn’t have English speaking captions hard coded into it. Many of the talking heads (and nearly all of the included film clips) used a language I do not speak. Is that on me for choosing French over Spanish in high school? Maybe a little. But I can’t speak French either so I doubt it would have done much good.
I could still follow the story here…aided by Iggy Pop’s narration and a number of English-speaking talking heads. And that story…if fascinating. As someone who loves films…absolutely fascinating. The gist of Exorcismo‘s story involves political changes in Spain during the mid-70s that led to a massive relaxing of the country’s censorship laws. The film shows us how film production was handled before the change (sometimes with side-by-side comparisons of gratuitous footage sent for worldwide consumption and the PG-style take on the same scenes included for domestic release). It’s all very cool.
It gets even cooler when the laws are relaxed and Spanish cinema is allowed to flourish with creativity and unfettered expression. There’s a lot of clips here that involve gore effects and nudity…many from movies that look incredible even without subtitles. While I was only able to understand maybe 40% of what was said in Exorcismo…I was able to feel what it had to say. It fostered a greater appreciation for Spanish cinema and lined up a host of movies I want to check out. Imagine what it could do for you if you get a copy that allows you to understand all of it? Definitely one for lovers of cinema to seek out.
Predators
Directed by David Osit
Starring Chris Hansen
Plot Summary – Exploring the controversial NBC series that caught potential child predators in sting operations, leading to arrests, and its eventual cancellation.
I never watched To Catch a Predator when it was on. A few minutes into Predators, a documentary focused on the program, I remembered why. It opens with a scene from the show…which even having avoided it my entire life I am familiar with due to pop culture. An adult who thinks he’s about to hook up with a child finds himself confronted by Chris Hansen and a team of cameramen. You can’t help but feel disgusted by the scene. You understand why the segments were a hit, something that Predators covers in its first act. Interviews with the decoy actors (adults who looked and sounded much younger used to lure the adults) give us a behind the scenes look at how the sausage was made.
The attention turns from the phenomenon and success of the show to moral and legal questions about creating it in the first place. It’s initially a tough angle to connect with. Trapping these people has to be an only positive thing, right? Well…Predators brings up a lot of reasons that it isn’t quite that simple. Entertainers playing law enforcement makes for some difficult prosecutions due to questions around infringing on the suspect’s rights. Predators interviews the head of the investigation into the show…and he explains why something that seemed so positive didn’t quite work like you believed it did. When a suspect fails to turn up for an entrapment…the crew decides to take the story straight to their home. After he kills himself instead of coming peacefully…the end of To Catch a Predator arrives pretty swiftly.
But the story doesn’t end there. Predators dives into the copycat shows influenced by To Catch a Predator. We follow an amateur predator hunter team and see how their operation works. They’re completely in over their heads…but they’re sure they are doing the right thing. Predators isn’t so sure. When Hansen’s new show destroys an 18 year old’s life over something legal in his home state (think high school senior dating a freshman) questions over what the motivation for this has been all along.
Cops taking order from entertainers to get on TV. Zero accountability for what happens after the camera stops rolling. Predators concerns itself with finding an answer to that question. An interview with Hansen himself lets us know how proud he is of the good his team has done. It’s an easy opinion to come to. And, as Predators unfolds, an increasingly difficult one to find so cut and dry. Predators is an engrossing look at a pop culture phenomenon that fights for the right side…questioning whether it does so with its heart in the right place…wondering if it’s accomplished any of the things it says it has.
Shadowland
Directed by Otso Tiainen
Written by Kalle Kinnunen and Otso Tiainen
Starring Richard Stanley
Plot Summary – Leave your troubled past behind and get a fresh start in the hidden enclave nestled in the French Pyrenees, where magic and witchcraft are woven into daily life. This remote region attracts a motley crew of people – including priestess Anaiya, sorcerer Uranie and chaos magician Iranon – who eschew modernity and try to transform from their former troubled personae, embracing the local occult-tinged faith. Former Hollywood filmmaker Richard Stanley finds himself in the region, too, after losing everything in the film industry, self-manifesting as a spiritual leader in the community. When shocking allegations of Stanley’s past domestic abuse are brought into light, his local admirers must confront the true nature of their beloved chosen home. Is the region truly transformative or have they been ruthlessly manipulated by a false prophet?
About halfway through Shadowland I wondered if this was going to be a puff piece for this strange region of friendly cultists. The only thing that gave me hope (and concern) that it would become something else was the presence of director Richard Stanley. I was aware that Stanley had been accused of abuse by multiple women. It makes the first half of Shadowland a weird experience. It’s a well-made doc about an interesting subject…but the Stanley of it all served as a distraction. Especially when it focuses on how the region has been such a positive experience for him following his falling out in Hollywood after the debacle that was The Island of Dr. Moreau.
When the documentary takes the time to celebrate Stanley’s return to directing with 2018’s The Color Out of Space…I became worried. When the allegations are brought up and the movie gives Stanley a platform to deny, defend himself and denigrate his accusers…I became angry. Thankfully, Shadowland doesn’t turn out to be soft on him at all. It turns its attention to the allegations…painting Stanley in a much worse light.
It even gives one of his accusers a voice in the project (text at the end of the film informs us that they interviewed more…but they chose not to appear). The colorful characters in the region are shown to have a pretty level head about Stanley…believing him to be revealed as a phony who doesn’t represent what they stand for. I guess Shadowland does end up being a puff piece about the enclave…just not in the way it probably set out to.
