Sometimes the universe knows just what you need. Sometimes it even gives it to you on a silver platter. The other day, my buddy Captain Heavy from Rolling Heavy Magazine sent me a text. It said, “That’s the stuff that my buddies crew is doing.” Attached was a link to a short-film on YouTube titled Pizza Panic Party produced by a group of horror creators called GOREGAZMA. The first image that popped up on YouTube was sick, and I was all in. What this short film entailed was nothing short of fabulous.
What’s Old is New
The first thing that stands out about Pizza Panic Party is that is literally swimming in 80’s nostalgia porn. The film beings in the bedroom of a teenage girls sleep over. Complete with frizzy hair, neon lettering and music swimming in syth-pop and drowning in reverb, this thing checks all of the boxes. For the love of god, there is even an Adam Ant poster on the wall.
80’s throwbacks seem to be the rage and Pizza Panic Party goes hard into that bodacious space.
Hold the Mushrooms
Back to the slumber party. There are four girls, Margot, Jeannete, Sandra and Tracy. It has all of the vibes you remember from hits like Weird Science (1985) and Night of the Comet (1984). Margot steps into the frame holding a pizza from “Goremet Pizza”, the new place that her boyfriend told her about. She opens up and the pizza is covered in black mushrooms. “Gag me with a spoon!”.
Margo takes a single bite of the pizza and this slumber party turns into a high-speed-come apart. Margot gets possessed; not in the Linda Blair way, but more like the Lambert Bava Demons (1985) sort of way.
Getting Practical
As one would expect, a film hearkening back to the 80’s is going to be smothered in foam latex and drowning in crimson corn syrup. Pizza Panic Party does not disappoint. That action begins with Margot’s head splitting in the same place that her frizzy hair part used to be. Everything from here om is nothing less than glorious.
Margot’s condition goes from bad to worse as the split in her noggin gets bigger, revealing the bizarro nature of her affliction. It’s really hard to say enough about this sequence. It evokes all of the best parts of Frank Henelotter’s Brain Damage (1988) and Frank would be brimming with envy.
It’s visceral, disgusting… yet whimsical and charming. Through all of the blood and gore, Margot’s humanity remains palpable. It doesn’t look like a rubber mess, but rather a teenage girl named Margot spilling forth in the most gruesome way possible. It takes a tremendous amount of skill and a great sense of humor to do this well.
Well Done Goregasma, Well Done
I cloud go on and on about how the callback to 80’s nostalgia is already overdone. There is something different about Panic Pizza Party. This film might not work as well as it does had it not been dropped in this setting. The haircuts, the music, the cheesy one-liners and the fantastic gore make this thing go. It’s impossible to put a finger on it, but something makes this feel so honest in its delivery.
Giving credit where credit is due, Panic Pizza Party is written and directed by Graham Denman and the story is based off of work by Mark Villalobos and Heather Mages. It is also worth calling Zach and Nik Voytas. Their work behind the camera and the editing console is extremely polished and cohesive. It would be worth, calling out the whole cast and crew, but I’ll save you the trouble and link you back to the Panic Pizza Part IMDB page.
A Year Late and a Few Bucks Short
Stuff slips through the cracks all the time. I wish I would have run into this last year when it was released. I’d like to give a big shout out to Captain Heavy for introducing me Goregazma’s work. Panic Pizza Party is super fun and it jumps off the screen. At 9 minutes and 36 seconds, there is really no excuse not to watch it right now. It’s exactly what the world needs during the spooky season. CHECK IT OUT and share it with your friends.