The Loveland Frogman was first sighted by a traveling salesman driving along an unnamed road late at night in 1955. 15 years later, Loveland police officer Ray Shockey was driving on Riverside Drive near the Totes boot factory and the Little Miami River when an unidentified animal scurried across the road — like some kind of monkey — in front of him. Two weeks after this sighting, another Loveland police officer, Mark Matthews, reported seeing an unidentified animal crouched along the road in the same vicinity. Matthews hunted down and shot the animal, recovered the body and put it in his trunk to show Officer Shockey. It turned out to be a large tailless iguana, which isn’t reported often.

What is true is that the town of Loveland, Ohio has adopted the Loveland Frogman as their mascot and even has a town festival.

In Frogman, the debut film of director and co-writer (with John Karsko) Anthony Cousins, a young man named Dallas (Nathan Tymoshuk) somehow captures a photo of the frogman on a family vacation. He then spends the rest of his life trying to prove that his photo is real.

He brings his friend Scotty (Benny Barrett) and Amy (Chelsey Grant) with him to Loveland as he becomes increasingly tunnel visioned into this quest. They go into town and The Legend of Boggy Creek-style meet the locals and hear stories about the frogman. Each of the three leads are great in their roles, believable and more than cannon fodder as in so many found footage movies.

What takes it beyond the basic of found footage is how audacious it gets, as there’s an entire Lovecraftian end of the world cult — a frogman sex cult! — out in the woods praising its name. It makes the whole movie pay off and the end even has some emotion.

I usually dislike found footage films, but wow — Frogman is good.

Frogman was part of the Popcorn Frights Film Festival. To learn more, visit the official site. To keep track of what movies I’ve watched from this Popcorn Frights, check out this Letterboxd list.

The cast of a film arrives to the movie’s wrap party, but someone has dressed up as the slasher from the film and begins to stage their own kill scenes. One by one, the cast is killed off until the true nature of the evening is revealed.

This movie takes a page out of Scream by having a cameo by Cerina Vincent who is talking to her manager, played by Tom Savini, before she’s killed before the rest of the cast buy The Mistress, the film’s slasher, just like in the movie she just made within the movie.

So who is the killer? Director Mason Maestro (Robert Donavan)? His wife Lily (Monique Parent)? The cast members — Carter (Ben Kaplan), Stoney (Steve J. Owens), Troy (Brandon Patricio), Lana (Sarah Poledna), Harper (Sarah French), Amber (Gigi Gustin) and Jamie (Adam Bucci) — or the producer (Frédéric von Anhalt)?

This film — directed by Marcel Walz — styles itself as a giallo and while it’s more of a slasher, it’s still rather enjoyable. It even has a shower scene out of nowhere. I imagine watching it with an audience will be a total blast.

That’s A Wrap was part of the Popcorn Frights Film Festival. To learn more, visit the official site. To keep track of what movies I’ve watched from this Popcorn Frights, check out this Letterboxd list.

Set over a 24-hour period in 1978 Florida, this movie has a man named Ted (Andrew Sykes) shoplifting and trying to get with someone, anyone and always getting shot down. Director and writer (with Eric Pereira and Brandon Slagle) Devanny Pinn buries the lead quite well, even if I knew who Ted was, knew what would happen next and have seen the story so many times. This is a very different take and if you want to be surprised, well, stop reading.

One night, Ted goes out drinking, following some sorority girls, but he gets too drunk, he comes on too strong and he gets thrown out. Yet he can still follow those girls home and instead of trying to pick them up, he becomes a destroyer, wiping them out one by one because he’s Ted Bundy and this is his story.

There’s a solid cast on hand — Jeremy London from Party of Five, Kathleen Kinmont from Halloween 4, Lisa Wilcox from Nightmare On Elm Street 4 and 5 and Eileen Dietz from The Exorcist amongst other talented actors.

Unlike so many true crime stories, this puts you in the world of the victims, letting you get to know them before the inevitable. It’s very effective and quite disquieting, as the violence doesn’t let up.

The Black Mass is part of the Popcorn Frights Film Festival. You can get a virtual pass to watch the festival from August 10 to 20. To learn more, visit the official site. To keep track of what movies I’ve watched from this Popcorn Frights, check out this Letterboxd list.

Fred Williamson has made more than twenty movies as part of his Po’ Boy production company, often directing or co-directing — like this film, he had help making the movie from Alain Zaloum and a script by Michael Thomas Montgomery — the movies. This is the first and not the last of these movies that I’ve seen.

Mack Derringer (Williamson) and Lenny (Gary Busey) are ex-NFL players who have become Miami private detectives. In this film, Mack is going to have to protect his ex-wife Maxine (Vanity) when a man named Billy — never trust prank callers named Billy — starts stalking her through the phone sex line that she operates.

With help from Jake (Peter Fonda), hindrance from Detective Ted Coleman (Robert Forester) and support from his mother (Isabel Sanford), Mack finds the bad guys. At least he thinks they are. But come on. When your name is Santiago and you’re played by Henry Silva, chances are you’re the bad guy. As for Billy, well, he’s Sam J. Jones, so the jury is out.

Also known as Dangerous Action and Night Caller, it’s kind of messy, but you know, it also has this cast — I forgot Stella Stevens is in it! — and it starts with Williamson and Busey joking around on a golf course. Where else are you going to get that? And the information — Too Kool — is Brother Marquis from 2 Live Crew! Was Uncle Luke busy?

Everything is neon. Even if it’s not perfect, it’s perfect.

But if you’re making a cop movie about phone sex lines, how is “900 Number” by 45 King not on the soundtrack?

You can watch this on Tubi.

South Beach played as part of the Popcorn Frights Film Festival. They even did a walking tour of South Beach and had live comedians for this movie. To learn more, visit the official site. To keep track of what movies I’ve watched from this Popcorn Frights, check out this Letterboxd list.

Director and writer Pirie Martin has created a black and white nightmare that was one of the more unique films I’ve seen lately. Cliff Van Aarle (Derryn Amoroso) is a crime scene cleaner who suffers from auditory hallucinations. That’s exactly what you want wrong with you when you’re mopping up a headless body, right?

Cliff needs more money to take care of his comatose sister’s medical bills, so he goes deeper into the case, which deals with a dealer named Joubini (James McClusky-Garcia) and his new bath of hallucinogenic drugs. Did Cliff get dosed? Or are there really zombies everywhere now?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGahE7ziWTA

There’s also a vigilante named LoneWolf and the idea that maybe both Cliff and his sister were experimented on by their father. Martin has created the kind of world that needs more exploration than just one movie and I was enthralled by the time I spent within the world that he created.

It’s a film noir mixed with horror and even some comic book elements, but all of it works. This feels like the kind of movie that when the eventual sequel comes out and is a big deal, you can tell people that you were there from the beginning.

Psychosis is part of the Popcorn Frights Film Festival. You can get a virtual pass to watch the festival from August 10 to 20. To learn more, visit the official site. To keep track of what movies I’ve watched from this Popcorn Frights, check out this Letterboxd list.

After narrowly surviving a violent mugging thanks to the help of a drifter, Travis Wilkes invites the man back to the home where he lives with his girlfriend. Somehow, he’s gone from nearly dying to transforming his home into a night of terror and revenge. 

Holt is also an actor, appearing in You’re Next, Time’s Up, V/H/S 2 and Party Bus. He was able to put together a great cast for this, including  Felissa Rose, Mark Patton, Chaney Morrow (Haunt), Wes Robinson (Blair Witch) and more.

The idea of a home invasion being one where the criminal is invited into your life is a strong one. You can see how Travis got into this predicament, as any of us could have done the same. Now, the question of whether or not he and his girlfriend will survive? You’re going to have to watch the movie to learn the answer to that.

Watchdog is part of the Popcorn Frights Film Festival. You can get a virtual pass to watch the festival from August 10 to 20. To learn more, visit the official site. To keep track of what movies I’ve watched from this Popcorn Frights, check out this Letterboxd list.

Directed by Michael Stevantoni and Strack Azar, The Banality is about a feral child who is adopted by a young couple. Known as “Feral Boy,” Father Moss (Sherman Augustus) introduces the child to the couple and for eleven years, all is well, before the once feral child is killed in a hit and run accident.

Can the religious man with faith issues find his way back to God after the senseless death? Why would God even bring “Feral Boy” into their lives if He was going to cruelly take him away? Are the dreams both asleep and waking that the priest is having direct him to the mystery of how the child was in the woods alone all these years and who killed him?

A full-length version of the 2019 short film, The Banality is also known as Death Letter Blues. This isn’t a horror film in the traditional sense but instead a more slice of Southern life told well. I’m looking forward to this getting a wider release because I think it’s going to knock people out.

The Banality is part of the Popcorn Frights Film Festival. You can get a virtual pass to watch the festival from August 10 to 20. To learn more, visit the official site. To keep track of what movies I’ve watched from this Popcorn Frights, check out this Letterboxd list.

After mutilating and murdering a family, George Tatum has been jailed for years. Now, he has been given the opportunity to be reprogrammed and returned to society. That said — he still has nightmares of his childhood and a trip to a Times Square peep show unlocks flashbacks that make him a killer all over again.

En route to Florida — where his ex-wife, daughters and son live, George follows a woman home and kills her. Meanwhile, his doctors have no clue that he’s left the city.

Imagine his wife’s surprise when she starts getting all manner of threats over the phone. All she wants to do is carry on with her new boyfriend, Bob. She has enough to deal with, as her son C.J. is the worst of all horror movie kids. He often plays pranks that go way past the line of good taste, like covering himself in ketchup and pretending to be dead. So when the kid says that a man is following him, everyone thinks he’s just up to his normal young serial killer in training mischief.

After killing some of C.J.’s fellow students, George breaks into their house and kills the babysitter while mom is at a party. But C.J. calmly and cooly deals with it — he shoots his father with a revolver while dad has a flashback of catching his dad engaging in BDSM games with his mistress before he decided to kill them both with an axe.

The movie closes with C.J. sitting in a police car, mugging for the camera, while his mother returns to see her ex-husband’s body being removed from the house. How does C.J. know the camera is there? Has he learned how to break the fourth wall? Will he soon be able to hear his own theme song, much like Michael Myers? And when I’m asking questions, isn’t the full title, Nightmares in a Damaged Brain, way better than just Nightmare?

Director Romano Scavolini started his career in porn, which might explain the incredibly casual nudity in the film and its devotion to giving the viewer exactly what they want from a slasher. It knows exactly why you’re here and gives you what you need. He stated about the film that he wanted to tell a story that has roots in reality and not just fantasy. A story of no hope, because mankind is at the mercy of its own demons. And, perhaps most importantly, a story where a young boy is unable to deal with the fact that his parents might just happen to be down with BDSM.

According to Matthew Edwards’ Twisted Visions: Interviews with Cult Horror Filmmakers, Scavolini claimed that prior to receiving distribution through 21st Century Film Corporation, Warner Bros. and Universal Pictures had both wanted to buy the film, but only if the gore was cut down. Scavonli refused, feeling that “the strongest scenes had to remain uncut because the film should be a scandalous event.” Yeah, I’m gonna call bullshit.

This is a scummy, down and dirty affair. C.J. is an annoying kid, but who can blame him, He has the worst parents possible — one’s a serial killer and the other would rather party on down with Bob than deal with the wretched fruits of her ex-husband’s loins. Remember those 20/20 exposes on how horrible slasher movies were? This is one that lives up to those warnings.

Nightmare is part of the Popcorn Frights Film Festival. You can get a virtual pass to watch the festival from August 10 to 20. To learn more, visit the official site. To keep track of what movies I’ve watched from this Popcorn Frights, check out this Letterboxd list.

Gwen (Samantha Westervelt) and James (Amanda Drexton, who co-directed this with Michael A. Drexton and co-wrote this with him and Westervelt) are going nowhere and doing nothing but still have to get to a baby shower for Gwen’s sister where the only gift left on the registry is Baby’s First Wellness Kit, complete with essential oils and tarot cards.

Except it’s $150.

And they have nowhere near that kind of money.

The journey to get the money will take them through Los Angeles and into the heart of glittery darkness. Gwen wants to show her family that she can be a success — or at least not a major foul up — and arrive with the gift. But when there are cult leaders (Corey Feldman),  a thrift store called Twin Sneaks, Reggie Watts, the liberation of succulents, a cockroach gathering and a shrine to Nicholas Cage. And oh yeah, neon smoke farts that will revolutionize the online sex industry.

Gwen and James feel like the kind of people who have been friends forever and might be holy terrors when you see them in a bar or they show up at your party, but when everyone is telling stories about them, they realize that they kind of love them afterward even if in being in their orbit can be a hurricane.

I’m a sucker for comedies where friends are oblivious to the world and defeat it just by being themselves.

Sour Party is part of the Popcorn Frights Film Festival. You can get a virtual pass to watch the festival from August 10 to 20. To learn more, visit the official site. To keep track of what movies I’ve watched from this Popcorn Frights, check out this Letterboxd list.