The spooks at Synapse Films, known for resurrecting obscure and out-of-print cult films, have scared up a real gem for slasher fans this Spring: POPCORN. One of many postmodern movies released during the 90s that riffed on a slasher genre made popular by icons like Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers, Popcorn revolves around a group of students hosting a horror movie marathon who inadvertently get caught up in the murderous schemes of a psycho killer. Actually…there’s a little more to the plot than that, including some surprisingly authentic nods to the genre like 50s-era atomic terrors and foreign fright-busters, but you get the gist.
Long since out-of-print and relatively hard to come by outside of finding a bootleg copy, this marks the first official re-issue of the film in over a decade and Synapse seems to be sparing no expense to make this 3000 unit Limited Edition Steelbook release special for fans with “shock-o-rific” features that include:
- All Region Encoded/Playable Worldwide!
- All-New 2K Scan of an Archival 35mm Interpositive
- All-New Blu-ray 7.1 Surround Sound Mix Supervised by Synapse Films (Original 2.0 Stereo Mix Included)
- All-New 5.1 Surround Mix for DVD
- Audio Commentary with Director Mark Herrier, Stars Jill Schoelen, Malcolm Danare, and Special Makeup Effects Artist Mat Falls
- Midnight Madness: The Making of “Popcorn” featuring interviews with Director Mark Herrier, Stars Jill Schoelen, Derek Rydall, Dee Wallace, Malcolm Danare, Ivette Soler, and Elliott Hurst, Special Makeup Effects Artist Mat Falls, Composer Paul Zaza, and Distributor Executive Jonathan Wolf (55 mins, HD)
- Electric Memories – An Interview with Actor Bruce Glover
- Original Theatrical Trailer, Television Trailer and TV Spots
- Still Gallery
- Liner Notes and Cover Copy from Michael Gingold
- English Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
- Cover art by Justin Osbourn/Slasher Design
While the $45.95 price tag may turn off all by the diehard dreadnought, it’s encouraging to know that movies like this still have a little life left in them—here’s hoping we see a scaled down release if this initial re-issue is successful. This release will be available exclusively through the Synapse Films website. Projected street date is March 7, 2017.
