As a male, I’ve never had the misfortune of going through menstrual cramps, and for that I am incredibly grateful because it seems like absolute bloody (no pun intended) hell and I am going without experiencing that pain every month for 25-30-odd years or however long it would choose to plague me. However, if you’re going to make a campy horror comedy about said pain, even if I personally cannot relate to the pain and torture of said body complications, I am certainly going to be seated and interested in what sort of cathartic chaotic chaos gets unfolded. Filmmaker Brooke H. Cellars (Violet Butterfield: Makeup Artist for the Dead) certainly does not disappoint in that regard with Cramps! A Period Piece, having its Louisiana premiere during The Overlook Film Festival 2026, but it’s campiness and, albeit short, running time, has it almost overstay its welcome with its slightly bare-boned plot and execution.
Lauren Kitchen as Agnes Applewhite in Brooke H. Cellars’ CRAMPS! A PERIOD PIECE. Photo Credit: Warped Witch Cinema. Photo courtesy of EG PR.
Cramps! A Period Piece focuses on Agnes Applewhite (Laura Kitchen) who’s a young woman experiencing rather debilitating menstrual cramps that are affecting her everyday life. She is trying to do anything she can to get through them, but it’s a struggle — these are some truly monstrous cramps. While dealing with her new-found pain, she is stuck living at home dealing with her incredibly nosy and uptight mother, and her sister who wants to insert herself into everything and report back to mother, think Hairspray (1988) meets Disney’s Recess (1997 – 2001) and her mother and sister are Ms. Finster and Randall. Agnes works at switchboard until she decides she needs something marginally more exciting than that and gets a job at the local hair dresser as a shampoo girl. She has to hide it from her family as they do not approve of the new venture and want Agnes to stay at the switchboard. The salon she now works at, Harebrained, is owned by Miss Laverne (Martini Bear) and her co-workers now consist of a sweet Satanist, Teddy (Wicken Taylor), and the assistant, Holiday (Micelle Malentina) and even gets particularly close with Falcon (Gabriel Steven Perez), who she ends up seeing romantically. So, after all of this, the change from the switchboard, being with people she can feel comfortable with and discussing her issues, and getting a boyfriend, what can possibly go wrong? Considering Cramps! A Period Piece wants to be campy and is even framed and positioned as a John Waters vehicle (Pink Flamingo; Hairspray), the horror turn when the cramps manifest as a monster is certainly a welcomed unexpected change of pace.
The problem when trying to emulate a John Waters-style movie is that you’re trying to emulate a John Waters-style movie; there is only one John Waters and there will only ever be one John Waters. So if you’re trying to make a movie that wants to be an homage to his style and characterizations, etc., it needs to be its own creation, as well. While Cellars certainly breaks into more of her own style with the horror elements, and the cramps manifesting themselves as a creature, there isn’t enough of that for this to feel like its own film and anything more than a love letter to Waters. While there is nothing wrong with writing and cultivating a script that is an homage, it just leaves something more to be desired with the end product, and, unfortunately, Cramps! A Period Piece leaves a little too much to be desired. Its campiness and horror elements prove to be a good time, just not a great time.
L-R: Misty Richard as Nurse Lemon and Jared Bankens as Dr. Feckless in Brooke H. Cellars’ CRAMPS! A PERIOD PIECE. Photo Credit: Warped Witch Cinema. Photo courtesy of The Overlook Film Festival.
While Cramps! A Period Piece is campy, the performances, as well, are just that. Once the audience realizes they’re in for a campy movie and not something more serious and focused, the performances fall right into place. Laura Kitchen is great as Agnes in the role of being overwhelmed by pain and literal monsters caused by it, her new job, balancing hiding it from her family, and her new found friends and love interest. Martini Bear (Violet Butterfield: Makeup Artist for the Dead) is also hilariously poignant in their role, provides a lot of laugh-out-loud moments, and is the supporting backing of the film. Wicken Taylor (Violet Butterfield: Makeup Artist for the Dead), Michelle Malentina (Stowaway), and Gabriel Steven Perez (Titans: Homecoming) all round out the cast to bring forth this stylized John Waters-inspired monster movie.
Screened during The Overlook Film Festival 2026.
For more information, head to the official The Overlook Film Festival Cramps! A Period Piece webpage.
Final Score: 3 out of 5.
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Categories: In Theaters, Reviews
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