Mo Moshaty

Brooke H. Cellars’ debut The Cramps: A Period Piece crashes into Fantastic Fest 2025 like a glitter bomb full of blood clots. Shot on 35mm and dripping in retro kitsch, it takes menstruation (so often dismissed as “just cramps” or brushed aside as “manageable”) and weaponizes it into full-blown body horror. This is cinema flipping the bird at every doctor, parent, or partner who ever said, “I think you’re exaggerating.”

The story follows Agnes Applewhite (Lauren Kitchen), a timid young woman suffocated by her sanctimonious mother (Brooklyn Woods) and repressed sister Liberty (Harlie Madison). Her escape arrives in the form of Laverne Lancaster (Martini Bear), a salon owner whose glitter-soaked space becomes both refuge and stage. But the more Agnes blossoms, the worse her cramps become, until they manifest violently, grotesquely, leaving a very real body count.

Cellars draws on her own experience with endometriosis, using tonal whiplash as a weapon. At times it’s John Waters camp, slapstick one-liners, grotesque salon antics, pastel nightmares that had me howling. At others it veers into Cronenberg territory, where bodies betray and medical tools look like torture devices. What distinguishes Cellars is the undercurrent of heart: this isn’t just camp spectacle but a raw portrait of identity, shame, and the fight to belong when your body refuses to play nice.

The ensemble cast leans fully into the chaos. Martini Bear radiates charisma as Laverne, equal parts mentor and ringmaster. Wicken Taylor is a scene-stealer as Teddy, a satanist drenched head-to-toe in pink. Michelle Malentina’s Holiday, the hapless hairdresser dragging her own trauma behind her, gives the film cracked humanity. And Levi Porter and Vincent Stalba look plucked straight out of Pink Flamingos, their presence a gleeful nod to Waters’ filth-queen lineage.

Visually, the film is a riot. Pastel salons clash with smeared lipstick gore, and the 35mm grain makes every grotesque flourish feel tactile. One minute you’re laughing at a blood clot gag, the next recoiling at full-bodied horror. Not every shift lands, but the intent is fearless.

Messy, loud, and defiantly absurd, The Cramps: A Period Piece is more than a camp curiosity, it’s a scream against silence. By turning menstrual pain into monstrous spectacle, Cellars reclaims what society insists should stay hidden.

The Cramps: A Period Piece premiered at Fantastic Fest 2025.

Beneath the slapstick and blood clots lies the undercurrent of heart: a raw study of shame, identity, and belonging in a body that won’t cooperate.