Emesis

Doesn't this sound like an absolute must-see experience? A festival-circuit horror flick from Argentina, about an all-girls rock band that encounters a peculiar zombie-outbreak at the forsaken beach town where their last gig supposedly should take place!

Hell yeah, sounds terrific... but in reality, it's a big mess! Zombie movies usually make the mistake of being overly simplistic and derivative, but "Pussycake" does the opposite, and the result is even worse. The zombie virus originates from a teenage genius who attempts to bring his missing scientist father back from a parallel universe, but accidentally causes a zombie invasion. Not the regular type of undead corpses, mind you, but zombies that bury their preys up to the necks in sand and a barf white goo all over defenseless human targets. Oh yes, and there also a sort of Predator that hunts for an alien kind of parasite. I didn't really capture the added value of that.

It's all very confusing and not the least bit coherent, but what's even worse is that it also isn't very entertaining or exciting. Apart from a couple of well-handed gory sequences and admirable make-up effects, "Pussycake" is dull and annoying. The female lead stars, although being good actresses and having rockstar charisma (most of them, at least) are totally lost in the hectic screenplay. Huge misfire.

In 1968, George A. Romero recreated the "Zombie genre" and since then many others have copied his template of the living dead. Some of these directors both American as well as European have diversified the mythos, "Frankensteining" their own zombies and dare I say, creating a more frightening genre in itself.

A few of these movies have now reached cult status, which include: Cemetary Man, Zombie, Dod Snow, Dead Alive, 28 Days Later, Shock Waves, Let Sleeping Corpses Lie, & PontyPool to name a few. Since the birth of the zombie, its become the easiest and the sadly the most over played of all horror films in the genre especially in the U. S. When it comes to Horror and originality, the european market is more accomplished and skillful when it comes to practical effects, jump scares, humour and most importantly storyline (sadly alot are subtitled which deters many Americans).

That being said, 'Pussy Cake' aka 'Emesis' a Argentine horror film directed by Pablo Parés is one of those films. Its not your typical zombie film. Its a hybrid of sorts which makes it a true original in every aspect of the word. Its a amalgamation of science fiction, horror, musical, with a hint of grrl power thrown in for good measure but it works and its truly a awesome viewing horror experience. I'm telling you this is gonna be the craziest review I have ever written but it'll be the most fun I've had writing one.

I will say this, fans of the "gross out" genre will have a field day, so bring a bucket if you get sick easily. But damn if it isn't a fun ride!!!

The film opens up with a young hacker typing away on the keyboard, he seems to be looking into parallel universes, dimensions looking for his scientist father. In doing so, he opens up a portal unleashing a army of the undead on the small town.

In another city, a underground all female rock band "Pussy Cake" is playing live hoping to rekindle their popularity. Heading off for one last gig for a possible headliner, things are off to a bad start, when they show up to find the town deserted...

But this is when things really kick off, one of the girls gets sicks with a virus, and the zombies finally come out of hiding. The kicker about the zombies is they don't bite their means of transferring is much more disturbing and gross but they do run and they love the beach...crazy right!?? Not only that, but there is also a Alien almost "Predator-like" hunter following the girls or is it following the zombies?

I'm telling you this is one movie you don't wanna miss, It has it all!!

I love this film!!!

The acting from the zombie actors, the heads (you'll see), and the girls themselves all do a great job and really keep you in the moment of every scene. The death sequences and the visuals and pure gross out and beautifully gory and practical.

This is a zombie films so you kinda know what you are walking into but this one has a bit of a cool sci-fi 'Night of the Creeps' vibe. But I promise, this underrated Argentinian horror film will not disappoint!!

For those interested in renting or purchasing (like I did) you can on Vudu.

A really good movie from Pablo Pares and a really good group of crew, writers, fx's and more, it really could fit like a ''masters of horror'' story or something like that, it's very enjoyable and keeps you amazed in this crazy world that brings the tale. What could be more crazy in the mix that have rockstars girls/other dimension portal/zombies/blood/love/more blood ! I'm sure it will became a great cult classic like ''plaga zombie'' did in the past! Argentinian movies rocks! (a lot!) (if you're not familiar with these magics from South America, check out Troma now! And youtube too, where you can find a lot of Pablo Pares works with the time)

I loved this movie. It has gore, excellent special effects, good sequences and lots of references. It is true that the story is simple, but it is carried in a completely different way and that is where its originality lies.

In fact, I think the main problem with PussyCake is that it overestimated the intelligence of its audience, hence the rating it has. Either that or a lot of people watched it while looking at their cell phones or something.

Because there is no character exposition here, what happens can be inferred by visual and audio clues. There is no character that appears only to explain the plot, as the industry is used to do. But everything is there, explained for those who are paying attention.

I also loved that the girls never find out what the hell was going on in the town, they are just trying to survive. Totally subversive. Totally punk.

This is a movie for genre lovers who are tired of being treated like fools and want to see something familiar but told in a different way.

I loved it.

I had the opportunity to sit down and watch the 2021 Argentinean horror movie "Emesis: El Amor Mata" here in 2022. I had never heard about the movie, so I didn't know what I was in for, aside from it being a horror movie. And with it being a horror movie that I hadn't already seen, of course I opted to watch what writers Maxi Ferzzola, Hernán Moyano, Pablo Parés and Hernán Sáez had to offer.

Now I am really amazed that four writers could collectively manage to botch a script and storyline so profoundly. I baffled me how it was possible to collectively put together such a heap of rubbish that "Emesis: El Amor Mata" turned out to be.

The storyline in the movie was rubbish, pure and simple. It started out adequately enough, but quickly turned sour, especially since nothing made sense in the storyline, as in virtually and literally nothing. And when suddenly a rip-off character of the Darth Malgus character from "Star Wars: The Old Republic" showed up, then I was good and ready to turn off the movie, yet I managed to hang in there until there was just 21 minutes left of runtime. But they I just couldn't take any more of the pointless storyline, and I tossed the towel in the ring and gave up. And believe you me, this is not a movie that I will ever return to watch the rest.

I wasn't familiar with the cast ensemble in "Emesis: El Amor Mata", but the actresses literally had nothing worthwhile to work with, and it was showing on the screen.

Something that does speak well for the movie was the special effects. They definitely had a good special effects team working on "Emesis: El Amor Mata". But it was a shame that the special effects could do only so little to salvage the dumpster fire that was the storyline and script.

If you enjoy horror movies, then do yourself a favor and stay clear of "Emesis: El Amor Mata".

I am rating director Pablo Parés's 2021 horror movie a generous two out of ten stars. This movie simple wasn't worth the time, effort or money.