Worth: $9.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Maca Suarez, Aldana Ruberto, Sofia Rossi, Anahi Politi, Flor Moreno
Intro:
... just bucket-loads of spew and splatter.
This gritty indie horror flick from Argentina begins with promise. First, there’s a teenage boy (Diego Prinz) sitting at his computer. Newspaper clippings, pinned to the wall behind him, refer to a missing scientist – the boy’s father. Next the teen is in his father’s laboratory, trying to boot up a strange machine. There’s an explosion. The world has changed. The boy’s father appears – the scientist is now, apparently, a zombie…
Cut to a nightclub. PussyCake – an all-women band with a punk attitude – are onstage. Soon they’re on the road, heading to a gig that could land them a recording deal. Frontwoman Elle Cake (Maca Suarez) and drummer Sara Cake (Aldana Ruberto) are lovers and the band is, generally, unified. It’s one-for-all and all-for-one in PussyCake.
En route to the all-important gig, the van breaks down. They continue on foot, still in their stage costumes, and arrive to find the venue – and the seaside town – apparently deserted. Simon (Amanda Nara), their record company connection, is uncontactable.
So far, it’s fast-paced and intriguing, and it should be interesting to see how the stories of the band and the missing scientist intersect … except it’s not. There’s little explanation and it’s not long before the arthouse horror falls into banal, gory cliche.
Predictable and repetitive, instead of ramping up the thrills and keeping you on the edge of your seat, it’s just extremely gruesome for the sake of it. Horror director Pablo Pares co-wrote the story that the script is based on, and he’s crafted a fine looking film, with excellent acting and an eerie apocalyptic atmosphere. The make-up, too, is incredibly well done (the zombie punk is a sight to behold). But it’s not enough.
While it should be commended for its strong female lead characters, the script by Maxi Ferzzola gets skimpier by the minute and the storytelling is simply thrown aside. This could have been so much better. Ultimately, PussyCake is just bucket-loads of spew and splatter.