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by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent
In honor of Halloween, Filmmaker Brooke H. Cellars aka “a horror-obsessed filmmaker known for blending dark humor and genre play since 2018” has just returned from a September world premier of she/her film “THE CRAMPS: A Period Piece” during the run at Fantastic Fest in Austin, TX, to give us this year’s Witch Watch List.
Cellars’ THE CRAMPS is shot in a Rosemary’s Baby color palette with that scary 60’s vibe that underscores the Great Wall of Tampons associated with coming-of-age in that era, especially regarding menstruation.
In this film, Agnes Applewhite lands a job at a campy beauty salon shaming her family, all while plagued by the internal monster known as menstrual cramps… however, her periods punctuate the line between reality and nightmare. Brooke H. Cellars is also known for VIOLET BUTTERFIELD: MAKEUP ARTIST FOR THE DEAD (a must-see).
What does this all mean you wonder?
First of all CRAMPS at the Fantastic Fest is where classics like SMILE, JOHN WICK, FRANKENWEENIE, MACHETE KILLS, RED DAWN, THERE WILL BE BLOOD, APOCALYPTO, ZOMBIELAND, RED, SPLIT, OVERLORD, APOSTLE, and THE NIGHT COMES FOR US also had their world premieres.
So Brooke joins past luminaries like Tim Burton, Nicolas Winding-Refn, Lilly and Lana Wachowski, Robert Rodriguez, Rian Johnson, Paul Thomas Anderson, Kevin Smith, Jon Favreau, George Romero, Darren Aronofsky, Mike Judge, and of course, M. Night Shyamalan. Cellars is in good artistic company.
That said, let’s unroll the parchment screen and enjoy the spell cast by Brooke H. Cellars THE CRAMPS
Top 10 Witchy Films
(in no particular order)
from Filmmaker Brooke H. Cellars (THE CRAMPS: A Period Piece)
The Witches (1990)
Director: Nicolas Roeg
Studio: Warner Bros
Why This Witch Twist Works Wonders: “The special fx for the grand high witch were top notch and as a former middle school teacher I’m with her.”
The Craft (1996)
Director: Andrew Fleming
Studio: Columbia Pictures
Why This Witch Twist Works Wonders: “I watched this for the first time with four of my girlfriends in 1997 at a slumber party. We each had a character assigned to us. My friends said I was Bonnie even though I wanted to be Nancy. Always the Nev never the Fairuza.”
The Blair Witch Project (1999)
Directors: Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez
Studio: Artisan Entertainment
Why This Witch Twist Works Wonders: “I went to see this in the movie theatre when there were rumors that it was actually real footage. It scared the living hell out of me going in with this in mind. I went to see it a second time with the realization it was made for film. I thought that was amazing and still do to this day.”
Return to Oz (1985)
Director: Walter Murch
Studio: Walt Disney Pictures
Why This Witch Twist Works Wonders: “To this day this is the coolest film I watched as a kid in the 80’s. The characters are priceless and Princess Mombi is my favorite head snatching witch of all time.”
The Spell (1977)
Director: Lee Philips
Studio: NBC Television
Why This Witch Twist Works Wonders: “Ostracized by her family and school, a bullied girl embraces her darkness for the purpose of revenge. As her mother tries to hide who she really is.”
Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)
Director: Tommy Lee Wallace
Studio: Universal Pictures
Why This Witch Twist Works Wonders: “Kids putting on Halloween masks and the masks eating them alive. Terrifying.”
Willow (1988)
Director: Ron Howard
Studio: Lucasfilm / Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Why This Witch Twist Works Wonders: “Witches, wizards, sorceresses, pecks, and brownies! This film has everything and 40 years later my brother and I still quote it all the time.”
Suspiria (1977)
Director: Dario Argento
Studio: Seda Spettacoli
Why This Witch Twist Works Wonders: “As a lover of production design. What a gorgeous film! One of my favorite, simple, unexpected, creepy scenes is the blind man walking his dog.”
Suspiria (2018)
Director: Luca Guadagnino
Studio: Amazon Studios
Why This Witch Twist Works Wonders: “Even though this is a remake, I see it as a film all on its own. Tilda is my forever spirit animal.”
Teen Witch (1989)
Director: Dorian Walker
Studio: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Why This Witch Twist Works Wonders: “I think when this film came out, every teen wished they received powers on their 16th birthday to make friends and their annoying little brothers do their bidding.”
Happy Witchy Watchy Halloween
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