# Popcorn (1991 film)
**Popcorn** is a 1991 American-Canadian horror comedy directed by Mark Herrier, in which a masked killer stalks film students staging an all-night horror-movie marathon in a soon-to-be-demolished theater. It stars [Jill Schoelen](https://www.edgepedia.org/jill-schoelen), Tom Villard, and [Dee Wallace](https://www.edgepedia.org/dee-wallace), and it is built around spoofs of 1950s-style exploitation films shown as films within the film.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/59008-POPCORN) • [2](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102690/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | 1 February 1991 (United States), rated R; 93 minutes per the AFI Catalog[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/59008-POPCORN) |
| Director | Mark Herrier, who completed the film after Alan Ormsby quit mid-production; Bob Clark also directed uncredited[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/59008-POPCORN) |
| Writers | Screenplay by Alan Ormsby, credited on screen as "Tod Hackett," from Mitchell Smith's original story[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/59008-POPCORN) • [3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-02-01-ca-185-story.html) |
| Filming | Principal photography 15 October to 12 December 1989 in Kingston, Jamaica, with the Ward Theatre as headquarters and the "Dreamland Theatre" set[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/59008-POPCORN) |
| Budget and gross | A $9.5 million production; domestic gross of $4,205,000, opening at $2,563,365[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/59008-POPCORN) • [4](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0102690/credits/) |
| Reception | Rotten Tomatoes 43% from 23 critics; Metascore 51; IMDb 5.9/10 from about 7,200 ratings[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/popcorn_1990) • [6](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102690/criticreviews/) • [2](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102690/) |
| Lead cast | Jill Schoelen as Maggie, Tom Villard as Toby, Dee Wallace Stone as Suzanne, with Tony Roberts and Ray Walston in supporting roles[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/59008-POPCORN) |
## Spoilers
### Premise
The story follows a group of film students who stage a "Horror-A-Thon," an all-night horror festival at the [Dreamland](https://www.edgepedia.org/dreamland), a rundown movie palace facing the wrecker's ball, to raise money for their university film department.[3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-02-01-ca-185-story.html) The festival presents vintage-style features with old-fashioned showmanship gimmicks, including *Mosquito* and *Attack of the Amazing Electrified Man*.[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/popcorn_1990) These films within the film are spoofs of 1950s horror pictures.[7](https://www.deseret.com/1991/2/8/20088406/film-review-popcorn/)
The central character is Maggie (Jill Schoelen), a screenwriting student troubled by recurring nightmares, which she records in the hope of turning them into a screenplay. At the theater she finds a reel of a film called *Possessor* that resembles her dreams, and a masked killer begins murdering attendees.[8](https://www.combustiblecelluloid.com/dvds/popcorn.shtml) Maggie believes the killer may be Lanyard Gates, a filmmaker who killed his family live on stage fifteen years earlier.[9](https://www.tvguide.com/movies/popcorn/cast/2030011706/) Kevin Thomas of the *Los Angeles Times* quoted one of the film's stars describing it as "'Phantom of the Opera' meets 'Ten Little Indians' in a horror movie festival," and noted its borrowings from showman [William Castle](https://www.edgepedia.org/william-castle)'s gimmicks and a motif from [Georges Franju](https://www.edgepedia.org/georges-franju)'s *Eyes Without a Face*.[3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-02-01-ca-185-story.html)
## Production
**A troubled shoot.** [Bob Clark](https://www.edgepedia.org/bob-clark), the director of *Black Christmas*, requested no onscreen credit and hired Alan Ormsby to rewrite and direct Mitchell Smith's original screenplay. Ormsby quit halfway through the seven-week production schedule, reportedly over "a creative disagreement" with an executive producer; Clark filled the void until Mark Herrier, an actor known for the *Porky's* trilogy, was hired to complete the film.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/59008-POPCORN) • [10](https://bloody-disgusting.com/editorials/3388084/exhumed-exonerated-popcorn-1991/) A contemporary account attributed the change to Ormsby being too detail-oriented about the fake horror movies shown in the film.[11](https://www.netflixmovies.com/popcorn-1991)
[Principal photography](https://www.edgepedia.org/principal-photography) began on 15 October 1989 in [Kingston, Jamaica](https://www.edgepedia.org/kingston-jamaica). The production chart originally listed [Amy O'Neill](https://www.edgepedia.org/amy-oneill) as the female lead, but she was replaced the following month by Jill Schoelen.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/59008-POPCORN) Although the story is set in Southern California, the producers filmed in Jamaica because labor costs were one-fifth of their US equivalent. Through executive producer Karl Hendrickson, the company acquired Kingston's Ward Theatre as its headquarters and as the "Dreamland Theatre" set, and post-production followed in Toronto.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/59008-POPCORN) The film was the first of several planned co-productions between Canada's Movie Partners and Jamaica's Century Films.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/59008-POPCORN)
## Release and marketing
The film premiered at the United Artists Marina Del Rey Theatre on 30 June 1990, screening between performances of *Total Recall*. In October 1990 the newly formed Studio Three Film Corporation acquired the $9.5 million production as its first domestic release, planning about 1,100 theaters on 18 January 1991 with at least $6 million in marketing funds; the opening settled at 1 February 1991.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/59008-POPCORN)
Studio Three's campaign used exit polls and focus groups, which showed the film appealing to young women, a result the executives attributed to the absence of onscreen gore; they responded with advertising of "a lighter attitude." Promotions included a free bag of popcorn for customers renting two or more horror films, trailers weighted toward MTV, and campus screenings at sixty North American colleges.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/59008-POPCORN) The film was screened at the 1992 São Paulo Film Festival in Brazil as *Phantom of the Cinema* (*O Fantasma do Cinema*).[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/59008-POPCORN)
## Reception
Popcorn opened to mixed reviews.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/59008-POPCORN) On Rotten Tomatoes it holds a 43% Tomatometer from 23 critics and a 42% audience score.[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/popcorn_1990) Its Metascore is 51.[6](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102690/criticreviews/) Kevin Thomas of the *Los Angeles Times* called it "a nifty tribute to its genre" and "such fun for lovers of schlock";[3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-02-01-ca-185-story.html) • [6](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102690/criticreviews/) Owen Gleiberman of *Entertainment Weekly* called it "a very nifty black-comic horror movie, one of the rare entries in the genre with some genuine wit and affection," and Vincent Canby of *The New York Times* described it as "less mindless than most in that it is both funny and gross."[6](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102690/criticreviews/) Chris Hicks of the *Deseret News* was negative, writing that the film is "so amateurish in its development, with pseudo-hip dialogue that drops movie references every few lines, it winds up being neither scary nor funny."[7](https://www.deseret.com/1991/2/8/20088406/film-review-popcorn/)
At the box office it earned $2,563,365 in its domestic opening and $4,205,000 overall.[4](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0102690/credits/)
## Later reputation and home media
Rotten Tomatoes lists a DVD release on 14 November 2004, and Synapse Films later issued a Blu-ray.[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/popcorn_1990) • [10](https://bloody-disgusting.com/editorials/3388084/exhumed-exonerated-popcorn-1991/) Retrospective coverage has treated it as an early example of meta-horror and a tribute to William Castle-style showmanship; [Bloody Disgusting](https://www.edgepedia.org/bloody-disgusting)'s retrospective called it "an under-loved gem" whose tone evokes mid-to-late 1980s cinema, and the American Genre Film Archive, which licenses it for theatrical booking, describes it as "a glorious tribute to the cinema antics of William Castle and a thrilling slasher satire all its own."[8](https://www.combustiblecelluloid.com/dvds/popcorn.shtml) • [10](https://bloody-disgusting.com/editorials/3388084/exhumed-exonerated-popcorn-1991/) • [12](https://www.americangenrefilm.com/theatrical-film-catalog/popcorn/)
## References
1. [Popcorn (1991), AFI Catalog of Feature Films](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/59008-POPCORN)
2. [Popcorn (1991), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102690/)
3. [Kevin Thomas, "'Popcorn': A Nifty Tribute to Its Genre," Los Angeles Times, 1 February 1991](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-02-01-ca-185-story.html)
4. [Popcorn (1991), Box Office Mojo](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0102690/credits/)
5. [Popcorn, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/popcorn_1990)
6. [Popcorn (1991), Metacritic reviews via IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102690/criticreviews/)
7. [Chris Hicks, "Film review: Popcorn," Deseret News, 8 February 1991](https://www.deseret.com/1991/2/8/20088406/film-review-popcorn/)
8. [Jeffrey M. Anderson, "Popcorn (1991)," Combustible Celluloid](https://www.combustiblecelluloid.com/dvds/popcorn.shtml)
9. [Popcorn, Full Cast & Crew, TV Guide](https://www.tvguide.com/movies/popcorn/cast/2030011706/)
10. ["Exhumed & Exonerated: 'Popcorn' (1991)," Bloody Disgusting](https://bloody-disgusting.com/editorials/3388084/exhumed-exonerated-popcorn-1991/)
11. [Popcorn (1991) on Netflix, facts and trivia, NetflixMovies.com](https://www.netflixmovies.com/popcorn-1991)
12. [Popcorn, American Genre Film Archive](https://www.americangenrefilm.com/theatrical-film-catalog/popcorn/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Horror films (individual works) › Comedy horror films › 20th-century comedy horror films*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license