Candy (Chloe Macleod) used to be a good girl until the ice cream man delivered to her work and violently took her into the back room, injecting her with something this film never explains, an illness that makes her so sweet that her body becomes cake that everyone wants to devour. How strange that the sickness isn’t venereal disease; it’s a child that makes every secretion taste like dessert, and that no man wants to help her abort it. Instead, they want more of her, from her boyfriend Sid (Drew Forster) to Dr. Herschell Gordon (Charles Lysne)

Directed, written, edited and co-produced by Beca Kozak, this is body horror in a scumbag film made to upset people for a reason. And that’s fascinating, a film that takes bits of The Stuff, rape revenge films, John Waters and the name-checked Herschell Gordon Lewis to present a movie where a woman cuts into the cake that is her stomach to slice away the thing inside her as no one will help her. She must deliver this child, she must become the doll that Dr. Gordon wants, she must endure the plastic surgery ads that promise mothers that they can quickly become sexy again. The only reason people wish to consume her is to enjoy her, and like any good dessert, she’s melting and has a limited shelf life. That’s a great metaphor — better than calling the punk guy Sid — and points to something more here than just a film made to shock.

The most striking aspect is how this movie exploits the male gaze. The women are gorgeous in it, but as Candy starts to fall to pieces, the film does more to objectify her. There are moments where, as her body changes and she becomes larger, she worries that she’s losing her beauty or the ability to be seen by men. The opposite is true, even if it’s not for any good reason.

Another movie that I’ll be thinking about for a long time.

Check out Joseph Perry’s review of this film here.