It’s summer in South Florida and the heat is on. We’re all looking for ways to stop sweltering and cool down. Good news. There’s a festival in Broward, that’s guaranteed to make your blood run cold. Deco made it up to the Gateway Theatre to get the diabolical details.
Get ready to have your mind blown at Fort Lauderdale’s “Popcorn Frights”.
Igor Shteyrenberg: “The largest genre festival in all of the state of Florida.”
That genre is horror, and there’s more than enough to go around.
Igor Shteyrenberg: “Popcorn Frights is always a screaming good time, but this year, we’ve leveled up, and we’re gonna be offering our fans the most badass, the most exciting one of our largest lineups we’ve ever had.”
Topping the list will be an early, special presentation of the Ewan McGregor-Anne Hathaway thriller “The End of Oak Street”.
Igor Shteyrenberg: “It is a cosmic nightmare film with dinosaurs and multiverses and everything that goes bump in the night.”
South Florida is always well-represented at “Popcorn Frights”. “Band of the Hand”, a cult classic shot in the Magic City, is on the bill.
Igor Shteyrenberg: “This was a film that was produced by Michael Mann during his Miami Vice days in the 80s.”
Homegrown filmmakers get their chance to shine here. One example — the documentary, “Best Served Cold: How a Revenge Film Was Buried for Decades”.
Eric Zaldivar: “It’s about a lost, then found, then suppressed, and then finally leaked Columbia Pictures movie, a revenge thriller called ‘The Farmer.'”
The Miami-born director — and his film — are back where they belong.
Eric Zaldivar: “So I’m very, very pleased that its premiere can be here in Fort Lauderdale.”
On the other end of the spectrum is the scary comedy, “Horror Insurance”. This deep dive into the dangers of monsters and insurance agents was shot in Sunrise.
To say this short film was a labor of love is the understatement of the year.
Chris Pinto: “We shot this movie at my house with a $95 budget. It’s a bunch of friends that got together, all talented people in the industry, and made a movie.”
You don’t need a big budget to get a big kick from being part of “Popcorn Frights”.
Chris Pinto: “It’s just so much fun and so exciting to say that I have a movie showing on a big screen in the Gateway Theatre.”
Popcorn Frights starts Aug. 6.
FOR MORE INFO:
Popcorn Frights Film Festival
4200 Biscayne Blvd, Miami, FL 33137
Website
Venue:
Savor Cinema
503 SE 6th St
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301
Classic Gateway Theater
1820 E Sunrise Blvd
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33304
Copyright 2026 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.