Florida’s seven-night Popcorn Frights Film Festival has officially wrapped and is celebrating a record audience attendance as well as the knowledge that it brought over 50 World, North American, US, and Florida premieres to the public! As part of the festival, jury members and audiences alike voted on their favorite picks from the lineup and the winners have been announced.

The Audience Award for Feature Film winner is John McPhail’s Anna and the Apocalypse, the zombie horror/comedy musical.

“As a director you always want to win the Audience Award, these are the people I’ve made the film for. To get that pat on the back is pretty special in particular when you’re up against so many amazing films like Tigers are Not Afraid, The Farm, and Boogeyman Pop. Thanks to everyone who voted for us and who came out and saw the film, this is our first Audience Award and it will always be special to us,” said director John McPhail.

The Audience Award for Short Film went to We Summoned A Demon from writer/director Chris McInroy, who stated, “I’m so honored that We Summoned A Demon won the Audience Award for Best Short! Popcorn Frights is truly an amazing festival to experience. They have some of the best audiences out there. Everyone is there for the love of horror. The audience is so engaged and there to have fun and appreciate films and filmmakers. And the programmers and staff are the same way. I had such a great time. Thanks for having me!”

The runners-up for the Audience Awards include Wolfman’s Got Nards, directed by Andre Gower, for Feature Film, and The Sermon, directed by Dean Puckett, for Short Film.

The Jury Prize for Best Film went to Issa López’s Tigers Are Not Afraid. She proclaimed, “Popcorn Frights Film Festival has grown to become a beautiful hub for horror films on the East Coast, bringing together a recurring family and, every year, new adepts to the uncanny, the weird, and the eerie. I’m moved and honored that our tiny movie touched its audiences, and that its Jury decided to award us; the selection was outstanding this year! Horror rules! Long live to the chills in the darkness of a theatre full of horror lovers!”

The Jury Prize for Best Short Film was Coyote, directed by Lorenz Wunderle, while Joko Anwar’s Satan’s Slaves received the Scariest Film Award by the Jury.

“Popcorn Frights Film Festival’s fourth edition was a success beyond our expectations, shattering attendance records and thrilling our audience with astonishing genre films and experiences. We’re proud to have inspired our South Florida community to celebrate the best in international genre cinema with such passion and enthusiasm all for the love of horror. On behalf of the Popcorn Frights team, we congratulate Anna and the Apocalypse and We Summoned A Demon for their Audience Award wins, Tigers Are Not Afraid and Coyote for their Jury Prizes, and Satan’s Slaves for its Scariest Film Award. We hope film lovers worldwide get to experience these brilliantly bold films — it’s the most fun they’ll ever have being scared,” said Igor Shteyrenberg & Marc Ferman, Co-Founders & Co-Directors of the Popcorn Frights Film Festival.