Popcorn Frights 2024 Award Winners: ‘Strange Darling’ Wins Best Feature Prize, ‘Old Wounds’ Earns Inaugural Award

Popcorn Frights Film Festival announced its juried and audience awards that were selected from a packed lineup of 131 films — a program encompassing 48 features and 83 shorts hailing from 20 different countries, spanning nine distinct categories, that reached 12,700 fans.

From the press release: “This year, the jury panel, comprised of national media figures and local filmmakers, selected J.T. Mollner’s terrifying cat-and-mouse thriller Strange Darling for the Jury Prize for Best Feature Film. In accepting the award, J.T. Mollner stated, ‘Wow. This is such an honor. Sincere thanks to Popcorn Frights, the jury, and all the horror fans we made this film for who came out to support. Getting this news was such a pleasant surprise.’

“The Scariest Feature Film Prize was awarded to Cody Ashford’s chilling tale Drive Back, an inventive twist on the slasher genre that had its world premiere at the festival. To further highlight emerging talent, Popcorn Frights introduced the New Nightmare Prize, honoring filmmakers making their feature film debuts. This year’s recipient was Steven Hugh Nelson for his found footage thriller Old Wounds, which also world premiered at the festival to widespread acclaim. In accepting the award, Steven shared: ‘We’re so incredibly grateful to receive the New Nightmare Prize for our micro-budget debut feature. The team behind Popcorn Frights truly champions independent horror filmmaking, and we couldn’t be more excited for their love and support. We hope that our film inspires other creatives and proves that you don’t need many resources to express yourself.’

“The Jury Prize for Best Short Film was awarded to The Sound of Fear by Aidan Rea Payne, selected from 83 films competing across nine shorts blocks. The Scariest Short Film Prize was claimed by Will Lee for Her House, a sinister haunted house tale that turns a simple story into something truly special. Claiming the title of Popcorn Frights’ Audience Award for Best Feature Film was Ross Partridge’s Birthrite, a timely maternal horror tale. The Audience Award for Best Short Film went to PJ Magerko-Liquorice animated horror delight Brim Broome Boulevard.”