ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Joseph Perry writes for the film websites Gruesome Magazine, The Scariest Things, Horror Fuel, The Good, the Bad and the Verdict and Diabolique Magazine; for the film magazines Phantom of the Movies’ VideoScope and Drive-In Asylum; and for the pop culture websites When It Was Cool and Uphill Both Ways. He is also one of the hosts of When It Was Cool’s exclusive Uphill Both Ways podcast and can occasionally be heard as a cohost on Gruesome Magazine’s Decades of Horror: The Classic Era podcast.

Synopsis from the 2025 Calgary Underground Film Festival site: A punk rock horror film where a girl turns into sweets — and everyone wants a taste. After a brutal assault by an ice cream man, punk girl Candy becomes host to a mutant baby. Her pregnancy accelerates at a horrifying rate, and as her body begins transforming into ice cream, those around her see her not as a person, but as something to be consumed. Fetishized by strangers, and betrayed by those she trusted, Candy fights to reclaim her body before she melts away completely. Fueled by a blistering punk rock soundtrack and dripping with grotesque body horror, this film oozes with raw feminist subtext. Blending midnight movie chaos with social satire, this wild exploitation film has it all—grindhouse grit, surreal shocks, and a heroine who refuses to be devoured.

It needs to be stated up front: Potential viewers of Canadian body horror/exploitation shocker Sugar Rot who wish to avoid films involving rape and other forms of sexual assault will want to steer clear of the film, as writer/director Becca Kozak subjects protagonist Candy (Chloë MacLeod) to numerous amounts of both. 

Kozak tackles social issues revolving around the exploitation and commercialization of women’s bodies, and she doesn’t hold back on pushing buttons and boundaries. There’s something here to offend almost everyone, and at the same time, there’s plenty of what exploitation film aficionados crave: nudity and sexual situations, over-the-top set pieces, and jaw-dropping practical gore effects, with plenty of goop and glop for good measure.

MacLeod gives an all-in performance in her lead role. Some of the situations in Sugar Rot are a bit on the nose, and that extends to character names, such as Candy’s punk-rocker boyfriend being named Sid (Drew Forster) — there’s even a Sid and Nancy reference, if you didn’t get the connection already — and a doctor named Herschell Gordon (Charles Lysne). Forster and Lysne join Michela Ross and Tyson Storozinski as the main supporting players, all of whom give the proper amount of camp and scenery chewing that their deliberately baroque characters require.

ery little is sacred and few targets are safe in Kozak’s debut feature. She had goals for this film and she reached for them, resulting in a colorful — in more ways than one — punk-fueled slice of cinematic anarchy. Sugar Rot will put you off of dessert while giving you food for thought.

SUGAR ROT screens as part of the 2025 Calgary Underground Film Festival, which runs April 17–27. For more information, visit https://www.calgaryundergroundfilm.org/