Fantastic Fest 2025 Exclusive Interview: Brooke H. Cellars on The Cramps: A Period Piece

Filmmaker Brooke H. Cellars brings bold camp and personal horror to The Cramps: A Period Piece, world premiering at Fantastic Fest 2025.

Fantastic Fest thrives on discovery. In between the bloody midnight madness, the gut-punch dramas, and the global premieres, there’s always a filmmaker who stops you in your tracks. This year, that voice belongs to Brooke H. Cellars, whose The Cramps: A Period Piece makes its world premiere in Austin. A kaleidoscopic mix of camp, theater-kid chaos, and 16mm surrealism, the film transforms personal pain into an audacious creature feature about endometriosis, identity, and community.

I sat down with Brooke ahead of the premiere to talk about thespian energy, shooting on real film, and building a cast that leans into sass and spectacle.

On the origins of The Cramps

Brooke H. Cellars:

“The aesthetic came from my short Violet Butterfield: Makeup Artist for the Dead, which we shot on 16mm. I wanted to build on that Twilight Zone-style dreamscape—something ambiguous, surreal, colorful, and ridiculous. But I also wanted to tell my true life horror story. Living with endometriosis felt like a creature eating me from the inside. I wanted to merge that body-horror reality with the energy of a 1950s creature feature.”

Theater kids, Spike Lee, and camp classics

When I told Brooke I saw Carrie, Grease, Little Shop of Horrors, and even Spike Lee’s School Daze in her film, she laughed and nodded.

Cellars:

“Those touchstones were definitely intentional. Carrie is one of my core inspirations. I love the dynamics in Grease, and Little Shop is always a model for mixing camp with horror. When people see those influences come through, I know I did my job.”

Why shoot on 35mm?

Cellars:

“My DP Levi Porter has shot everything with me. He convinced me on Violet Butterfield to try film, and I fell in love with the process. There’s no monitor—you rehearse like a play, trust your actors, and shoot in two or three takes. On The Cramps, we expanded that discipline. Film stock is limited. You can’t waste it. That urgency makes the set feel alive.”

Building the salon as a character

The salon in The Cramps isn’t just a setting—it thrums with chaos, comedy, and color.

Cellars:

“I didn’t grow up in salons—I cut my own hair. So the inspiration came from movies: Hairspray, Serial Mom, Steel Magnolias. Those films showed me how salons could be stages for drama and comedy. I wanted to create my own version of that—a place that’s wild, alive, and theatrical.”

Casting the tribe

Cellars:

“Some roles I wrote specifically for friends like Martini and Michelle. Others, like Jared Bankens, came from auditions and even a live fundraising table read in New Orleans. We wanted casting to feel organic—like building a real tribe. The cast leaned into the sass and made it electric.”

What Brooke hopes audiences take away

Cellars:

“I want people to connect with the story about endometriosis, to talk about it more openly. But I also want them to walk out quoting the film, cosplaying the characters, telling their friends, watching it again and again. Movies should make you want to watch more movies.”

Final thoughts

The Cramps: A Period Piece is exactly the kind of film Fantastic Fest was built for—personal, bold, and defiantly weird. It’s campy, theatrical, and rooted in something deeply real. And in Brooke H. Cellars, horror has found another fearless new voice.

Stay tuned for our full coverage from Austin, including interviews with the cast and more deep dives into the world of The Cramps.