Private Project

Cramps! A Period Piece

A blossoming young woman, Agnes Applewhite, gets a job as a shampoo girl at lively beauty salon, which goes against the wishes of her traditional family which includes her sanctimonious mother and tightly wound sister. As she begins this newfound journey, she starts to deal with debilitating menstrual cramps which blurs the line between reality and nightmare.

  • Brooke H Cellars
    Director
    Violet Butterfield: Makeup Artist for the DEa
  • Brooke H Cellars
    Writer
    Violet Butterfield: Makeup Artist for the Dead
  • Brooke H Cellars
    Producer
    Violet Butterfield: Makeup Artist for the Dead
  • Madeleine Yawn
    Producer
    Violet Butterfield: Makeup Artist for the Dead
  • Wicken Taylor
    Producer
    Violet Butterfield: Makeup Artist for the Dead
  • Michelle Malentina
    Producer
    Violet Butterfield: Makeup Artist for the Dead
  • Vincent Stalba
    Producer
    Blood of the Dinosaurs, F'ckn Nuts
  • Lauren Kitchen
    Key Cast
    "Agnes Applewhite"
  • Brooklyn Woods
    Key Cast
    "Mother Applewhite"
  • Harlie Madison
    Key Cast
    "Liberty Applewhite"
  • Martini Bear
    Key Cast
    "Laverne Lancaster"
    Violet Butterfield: Makeup Artist for the Dead
  • Wicken Taylor
    Key Cast
    "Teddy Teaberry"
    Violet Butterfield: Makeup Artist for the Dead
  • Michelle Malentina
    Key Cast
    "Holiday Hitchcocker"
    Violet Butterfield: Makeup Artist for the Dead
  • Project Type:
    Feature
  • Genres:
    Horror, comedy, fantasy
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 29 minutes 8 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    June 13, 2025
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    35mm
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
  • Fantastic Fest
    Austin, Tx
    United States
    World Premiere
Director Biography - Brooke H Cellars

Brooke H. Cellars (she/they) is a multifaceted filmmaker serving as the writer, director, producer, and editor. She has directed 8 short films since 2018. Her adoration for all things horror started when she was a kid. Her father was a children’s book writer and starting early on has been writing stories that were always horror themed. Her first screenplay, which she turned into a short film called ‘The Chills’, won Best Screenplay at Houston Horror Fest in 2020. Her most recent short film ‘Violet Butterfield: Makeup Artist for the Dead’ has screened in over 30 film festivals worldwide and has won multiple awards including the Abby Normal Award at Portland Horror Fest, the Audience Award at Final Girls Berlin, and both the Jury and Audience awards at Overlook Film Festival.

In addition to her creative endeavors, she has been actively involved in nurturing the filmmaking community in Lafayette, Louisiana. In 2021, She founded the Warped Witch Film Festival, the first horror/genre film festival in her hometown. She's also curated events such as The Horrors of Being a Woman film showcase and the LGBTQ+ film festival, Pride Acadiana Queer Film Festival and most recently was invited back to the Overlook Film Festival this time as part of the panel of short film jurors.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

In making Cramps, I set out to tell a story that is both deeply personal and resonates with many different audiences. I wanted to create a cinematic love slash hate letter to the unspoken battles those with uteruses endure. Inspired by my own experiences with endometriosis, I wanted to explore the pain that so many live with and suffer in silence. The kind of pain that is physical, emotional, and seemingly invisible to the outside world. Conversations around menstruation, reproductive health, and chronic pain are still cloaked in shame or dismissed entirely and yet they shape the daily reality of many.
As a lifelong horror lover, I’ve always been a magnet to the genre's ability to express the inexpressible. But horror is just one of my many cinematic loves. With this film, I wanted to blend elements from across the genre spectrum infusing horror with beauty, discomfort with color, and fear with empathy. I aimed to create something uniquely mine. A beautifully weird, emotionally vivid world that embraces contradiction.
We live in an age of constant spectacle, where shock often outweighs substance. But I’m less interested in jolting my audience and more excited by the idea of surprising them! Sometimes with emotion, sometimes with tenderness, even within moments of darkness. If horror can scream, it can also whisper. Horror can unsettle you, but I also believe it can give you the warm hug you need.
Ultimately, this is a story about resilience. About the strength it takes to survive in a world that would rather you stay quiet. And it is my hope that audiences will see something of themselves reflected in it and maybe even feel a little more seen because of it.