I’d put off watching The Barn for so long; it just seemed like a rather silly for silly sake Troma-esque mining of the wonderous golden age of the slasher. Man, I was wrong. This movie completely rocks on every level and is way, way better than I had no idea it could have been.

The Halloween ban is now lifted in Helen’s Valley and the sorority girls of Gamma Tau Psi place Michelle (Lexi Dripps) — once the final girl, destined to be the final girl again — in charge of their haunted house. Yet she still hasn’t come to terms with what happened in the first movie and believes that she survived what was only a ritualistic attack that killed all her friends.

Working with her best friend Heather (Sable Griedel), they start planning the haunt and decide to use it to memorialize the still missing Sam (Mitchell Musolino) and Josh (Will Stout). While the story of the first movie has become only an urban legend, the truth is that The Boogeyman, Hollow Jack and the Candy Corn Scarecrow are back. And if you don’t know their story, Drive-In Joe (Joe Bob Briggs!) will handle the exposition.

There’s also a battle to outlaw Halloween again, led by Sara Barnhart (Linnea Quigley) and battled by DJ Dr. Rock (Ari Lehman). They’re not the only great cameos. Lloyd Kaufmann is the town’s mayor, Diana Prince plays a nurse, Doug Bradley plays Sam’s father, Mister Lobo shows up and even Ben Dietels from Neon Brainiacs is in it!

Director and writer Justin M. Seaman has created a movie that lives up to 90s DTV horror and can also stand on its own. I had an absolute blast watching this movie. See it in a theater — or a drive-in! — if you can or with as many people as you can. It’s filled with goofy monsters — including two new ones — as well as inventive kills and all kinds of gore.

I watched The Barn Part II at Popcorn Frights. You can order DVDs and blu rays here and learn more at the official Facebook page.

Eugene (Vinicius Coelho) lies down after a long day of big decisions: he’s going to blow the whistle on some corporate crimes the very next day. But when he gets in bed and under the covers, something else is there with him, an oily black form with eyes that stare into his soul.

For 77 minutes, this dark shadow and the lawyer are trapped in the bed together, quick cuts and strange images intertwining as night terror becomes real.

Director, writer, editor, composer and set designer Alexis Bruchon has assembled a test of your nerves; if you’ve experienced sleep paralysis or waking nightmares, this might be too much for you. It’s a full-length film with no dialogue and only action between the natural and the supernatural. It’s definitely worth you taking a look.

I watched The Eyes Below at Popcorn Frights and will update this post when this movie is streaming and not playing festivals.

This film follows the journey of Dylan Brady, who is played for most of the film by director and writer Shane Brady (Ballers, Dr. Sleep) and Owen Atlas when he is young, a man who is struggling to achieve his first year of sobriety.

It goes deep, not just showing his journey, but how his extended family deals with him, which is all caused by the death of his father (John D’Aquino) when he was young. As Christmas approaches and he’s cut off from his family — they had to finally give him the tough love that it took to make him reach out for help — and must go through this next stage of his recovery alone.

June Carryl, who plays Dylan’s mother, is incredible in this, a woman striving to keep her adopted family together despite years of hardship. The love that she has for her son shines through even when it’s impossible to feel anything for him. Justin Benson and Aaron Moorehead, who made The Endless and Spring, also do great voice work as some of the characters that live inside Dylan’s head.

The rest of the strong cast includes Katelyn Nacon (The Walking Dead), Augie Duke (Spring), Brittney Escalante, Jim O’Heir (Parks and Recreation) and even NHL Hall of Famer Phil Esposito, who plays the future that Dylan could become. Hockey — and magic — have a major role in this movie, so seeing Esposito be the perfect older Dylan is a great idea.

Breathing Happy takes you on a journey that’s not always comfortable, but the filmmakers were committed to telling what this story is truly like, for good and bad.

Breathing Happy is playing at Popcorn Frights and will be available to watch virtually as part of the festival.

“Fanga” is the Icelandic for prisoner. And that’s what Belle is, as this is a new take on Beauty and the Beast, but one in which Belle remains trapped in toxic relationships. She’s the only person taking care of her family after the death of her mother. And now, to heal her father, she has become trapped by the Beast, who knows how to heal the sick older man with a rose.

Director and writer Max Gold has created a visually stunning film — credit also due to cinematographer Nico Navia — that updates a classic fairy tale that already has Le Bete and the Disney version burned into the minds of film lovers. It’s definitely a bold take, one that has every frame looking like a work of art, as well as a beast that remains truly horrifying.

I saw Fanga at Popcorn Frights. When there’s a way to watch it outside of fests, I will update this post.

EDITOR’S NOTE: We’ve watched this movie at several fests and consider this a MUST WATCH that you can see at Popcorn Frights today at 2 PM EST.

The Langoliers may be at the bottom of Stephen King adaptions, but if The Timekeepers of Eternity has any say in things, we’ve been misjudging Tom Holland’s 1995 TV miniseries.

Animator Aristotelis Maragkos has printed every frame of that movie and used collage animation to reconstruct, remix and retell the story in an entirely new way, compressing 180 minutes into 64 and taking Bronson Pinchot’s character of Craig Toomey and making him the lead character and not the villain.

This film takes something we’ve seen before and deliriously recreates it as something bold, brave and fresh.

Beyond just a film, now that The Langoliers has moved into the world of paper, it can make comic book-like movements where multiple characters and angles can appear at the same time while the emotions can come out as darker shapes and jagged lines emitted from the actors. Even the ending moves from King, changing the source material in a way that makes this movie its own piece of art nearly separate from where it was sourced.

In the original film, the CGI Langoliers have been selected on so many worst special effects lists, so imagine my joy when they appear to merely be torn chunks of paper that tear through the reality of this story.

Maragkos spent years making this, but trust me, it was beyond worth the effort.

After leaving New York after a mental breakdown, Jennifer (Jenna Lyng Adams) learns from her friend Sam (Alexandria DeBerry) that at least her business life is going well, as billionaire David (Dave Vacis) wants them to work on the design of his new product. He invites her to his private yacht, but that’s when she starts being confronted with visions of violence. Is she possessed? Is this how her anxiety shows itself? And is anyone safe from her?

Director Christian Schultz, who wrote the script with Peter Ambrosio, embraces the form of giallo that is not as much about black gloved killers. Instead, it’s the film in which a female protagonist doubts every single thing in her reality, as she’s an unreliable narrator to herself. Jennifer dreams of being stalked by a shadowy figure that never quite reveals itself; she often awakens to situations that she’s escalated but can’t control.

With just minutes left, a character says, “You look like you have a lot of questions. I’d like to provide you with some answers.” The answers that we get may not solve the mystery of this movie, but the idea that our perception of the world is at odds with what others experience is a universal one; this movie pushes that idea to the limit.

Presence is playing at Popcorn Frights. To watch it, buy tickets at their screening room.