Popcorn Frights Unleashes Third Wave Lineup!

The 11th Popcorn Frights Film Festival will be a hybrid experience presenting

both in-theater and virtual film offerings from August 7-17, 2025

Bullet Time directed by Eddie Alcazar

July 29, 2025 // – Sound the alarms, board up your windows, and hold onto your eyeballs—Popcorn Frights is turning up the volume, unveiling its Third Wave lineup, headlined by the U.S. premiere of BULLET TIME, a brain-scorching, eye-melting animated short from Popcorn Frights alum Eddie Alcazar (DIVINITY).

Kicking off August 7 and running through the 17th, this year’s 11-day hybrid horrorpalooza will showcase 74 bold, boundary-pushing, badass short films—including 15 world premieres—across seven curated short film blocks available in-theater and streaming nationwide. Whether you’re watching in the dark of a theater or cowering under the covers at home, rest assured, this year’s short film slate promises a genre-defying rollercoaster of chaos, chills, and cinematic creativity.

From the darkest corners of genre cinema across 20 countries, Popcorn Frights welcomes both returning short filmmakers and daring new voices who are redefining horror on their own gloriously gruesome terms. From haunted social media séances to surreal animated freakouts and gut-punch psychological thrillers, these films drag you through every dimension of dread.

 

Among the world premieres igniting the screen are M.R. Ellis’ TOKYO ISN’T HOME, Ryan Kukec’s AS PALE AS DEATH, Rafael De Leon’s VOWELS, Shaun Munro’s UNDERTONE, Sam Schlenker’s SEANCE FOR THE ‘GRAM, Jordan Sommerlad & Cory Stonebrook’s YOU HAVE HER EYES, Bartley Taylor’s KILTER, Jordan Wipel’s OBEY!, and Emily Bennett’s AFFIRMATION—her second world premiere at the fest, alongside her feature film BLOOD SHINE. Other notable entries include Andrew Bowser’s FRANKENBABES FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE and Academy Award-winner Joel Harlow’s THE SPECTER OF CHRISTMAS featuring Paul Giamatti.

Fan-favorite alumni return with a vengeance, bringing a fresh round of nightmare fuel including Rebecca Berrih’s SLOW, Bryan M. Ferguson’s PUMPKIN GUTS, Chris McInroy’s SKEETER, Ramon Menon’s VIRGIN, Jackson Stewart’s STEREO-VISION starring Jacqueline Donahue, David Yorke’s NERVOUS ELLIE, and Popcorn Frights veterans Anthony Cousins (THE LAST THING SHE SAW) and Tony Morales (THE VISITOR), each making their fourth festival appearance.

True to its twisted roots, Popcorn Frights continues to champion Florida’s horror underground with its signature “Homegrown: 100% Pure Fresh Squeezed Florida Horror” program—a showcase of blood, sweat, and screams from the Sunshine State’s finest. This year’s lineup includes a potent batch of world premieres like Jessica Bachman’s DARK WATER RISING, Sylvia Caminer’s ALPACA, Kansas McWhirter’s PHANTOM PAIN, Andrew Kiaroscuo’s THAT ASS, Colin Treneff’s IT LOVES ME SO, Lucca Vieira’s SHIFT and Michael Wright’s NEUROPSYCHOSIS.

By the numbers, Popcorn Frights’ 2025 edition is already a record-setter, boasting a staggering 134 film premieres—60 features and 74 shorts—including 21 world premieres. It’s the Festival’s largest and most electrifying lineup to date, a ferocious celebration of horror, innovation, and the genre’s most exciting emerging and established storytellers. 

So, dim the lights, crank the volume, and prepare to face what lurks beyond the screen. The scream-fest of the summer awaits!

Individual tickets and All-Access Badges for the in-theater experience—hosted at Savor Cinema Fort Lauderdale and Cinema Paradiso Hollywood—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. 

The eleventh edition of the Popcorn Frights Film Festival is made possible with the support of its generous sponsors, including AGFA, Blue Underground, Fangoria, Flick Direct, Kino Cult, MVD, Paramount Scares, Radiance Films, Troma, and its loyal fans. For more info about Popcorn

Frights, visit PopcornFrights.com

SHORT FILM LINEUP

Bullet Time directed by Eddie Alcazar

Animation Domination

The endless possibilities of genre animation are on dazzling display in this retina-reeling, round-the-world showcase of some of the medium’s most innovative, boundary-pushing, and mind-enhancing short films:

As I Was a Tree, dir. Jalal Maghout (Germany-Syrian Arab Republic); Bullet Time, dir. Eddie Alcazar (USA, U.S. Premiere); Burned Cans for Aluminum Children, dir. Rob Kleinschmidt (USA); Cosmic Crash, dir. James Smith (Germany); Diaboli, dir. Shaddy Safadi (USA); Dolores, dir. Cecilia Andalón Delgadillo (Mexico); Flatastic, dir. Alice Saey (France-Netherlands); La Voix des Sirenes, dir. Gianluigi Toccafondo (Italy); Luz Diabla, dirs. Gervasio Canda, Paula Boffo & Patricio Plaza (Argentina-Canada); Next Show in 90 Minutes, dir. John T. Hill (USA); Worm, dirs. Mattis Dovier & Yoann Dovier (France)

Want directed by Zalman Zuckerbraun

Homegrown 

100% Pure Fresh Squeezed Florida Horror Celebrating the cream of Florida’s homegrown crop:

Alpaca, dir. Sylvia Caminer (USA, World Premiere); Brick Boy, dir. Scott Vasey (USA); Dark Water Rising, dir. Jessica Bachman (USA, World Premiere); It Loves Me So, dir. Colin Dean Treneff (USA); Mimic, dir. Thomas Edward Hindy (USA); Neuropsychosis, dir. Michael Wright (USA, World Premiere); Phantom Pain, dir. Kansas McWhirter (USA, World Premiere); Shift, dir. Lucca Vieira (USA, World Premiere); Shore Gore, dir. Valentino Dors (USA); Swallows, dir. Queenie Zhang (USA, U.S. Premiere); That Ass, dir. Andrew Kiaroscuro (USA, World Premiere); Want, dir. Zalman Zuckerbraun (USA)

As Pale As Death directed by Ryan Kukec

International Midnighters

A celebration of some of the year’s most fantastic international short films from new emerging voices and established filmmakers:

As Pale As Death, dir. Ryan Kukec (Canada, World Premiere); Defile, dir. Brian Sepanzyk (Canada); Femme, dir. Nina Noël Raaijmakers (Netherlands); Help, I’m Alien Pregnant, dir. Thunderlips (New Zealand); Mirror, dir. Kathy Hu (China); Nervous Ellie, dir. David Yorke (United Kingdom); Pumpkin Guts, dir. Bryan M. Ferguson (United Kingdom); Reflections, dir. Julia Cassini (Brazil, U.S. Premiere); Snare, dir. Sam Blakeney-Edwards (United Kingdom); Terror Night, dir. Jakob Arevärn (Sweden); Undertone, dir. Shaun Munro (United Kingdom); The Visitor, dir. Tony Morales (Spain)

Frankenbabes from Beyond the Grave directed by Andrew Bowser

Midnighters

A celebration of new works from cinematic scaremongers that bring nightmares into waking hours with thrills, chills, and spills:

I

Baby Blues – Going Dark, dir. James P. Gleason (USA); Cruelty, dir. Sam Das (USA); Devil’s Prism, dir. Kika Magalhães (USA); Masks, dir. Andre LeBlanc (USA); Obey!, dir. Jordan Wippell (USA, World Premiere); Slow, dir. Rebecca Berrih (USA); Stereo-Vision, dir. Jackson Stewart (USA); There’s Something in My Eye, dir. Richard Louprasong (USA); Tokyo Isn’t Home, dir. M.R. Ellis (USA, World  Premiere); Vowels, dir. Rafael De Leon (USA, World Premiere); Will Helm, dir. Bobby Roe (USA)

II

Buzzkill, dir. Amanda Griswold (USA); Crawl Space, dir. Randy Scott Slavin

(USA); Princeton’s in the Mix, dir. Jonathan DiMaio (USA); Rabbit, dir. Nathan Catucci (USA); Rebrand, dir. Edoardo Ranaboldo (USA); Red Flag, dirs. Malin Barr & Cleo Handler (USA); REM, dir. Blair Bathory (USA); Up Close, dir. Lukas Hassel (USA); Virgin, dir. Ramone Menon (USA); The Widower, dir. Michael Buran (USA) 

III

Endzgiving, dir. Tina Carbone (USA); Frankenbabes from Beyond the Grave, dir. Andrew Bowser (USA); The Last Thing She Saw, dirs. Anthony Cousins & Rebecca Daugherty (USA); Séance for the ‘Gram, dir. Sam Schlenker (USA, World Premiere); Skeeter, dir. Chris McInroy (USA); The Specter of Christmas, dir. Joel Harlow (USA); They Came Home to Die, dir. Zeke Farrow (USA); Whitch, dir. Hoku Uchiyama (USA); Wild Animals, dir. David B. Jacobs (USA)

IV

Did You Remember the Cat, dir. Daniel Foster (USA); don’t.4get2smile, dir.  Stefano Alessandro Pennisi (USA); Kilter, dir. Bartley Taylor (USA); Look Closer, dir. Tyson Edwards (USA, U.S. Premiere); Never Let You Go, dir. Alex Domenici (USA); Pandora, Inc., dir. Joel Lueben (USA); Sewing Machine, dir. Tyler Hagen (USA); Turn It Off, dir. Senda Maud Bonnet (USA); You Have Her Eyes, dirs. Jordan Sommerlad & Cory Stonebrook (USA)