CUFF 2025 Recap — Cult Films, Body Horror & Ice Cream Trauma (Bonus) Cade and Kit

Welcome to our special edition episode recapping the Calgary Underground Film Festival (CUFF) — the hometown festival where Cade & Kit first became… well, Cade & Kit.

From April 17–27, we saw a whirlwind of premieres, shorts, genre surprises, and more bodily fluids than we were prepared for. We interviewed filmmakers, brought a crowd, and left with our minds full and stomachs slightly unsettled.

Here’s our full recap — five films, five moods, and one very haunted rug.

🎞️ SHORT #1: Love Will Tear Us Apart

Campy, cute, and covered in blood. This Denver-made short follows a couple who literally rip themselves apart to show how much they love each other.

💘 Candy-colored gore meets relationship boundaries🩸 Eyeballs, limbs, and a perfectly cheesy closing shot🎭 Fun premiere with a sweet team behind it

📊 Our Scores: Kit – 5, Cade – 5

🍦 FEATURE #1: Sugar Rot

Where do we begin. Visually sweet, narratively sour, and uncomfortably explicit, this body horror metaphor explores a young woman’s descent into sugary self-destruction. Cotton candy… everywhere.

🚨 Not a first-date movie🎡 Ambitious concept, strong lead actress🎧 But the audio? Wildly distracting

📊 Our Scores: Kit – 1.5, Cade – 2

🧼 SHORT #2: The Rug

A senior finds a cursed rug that eats anything swept underneath. Yes, it’s amazing. And yes, we want this to become a feature film with knitting club elders and blood-thirsty carpeting.

🎬 High production value and sharp writing🎭 A cast of older actors that carried the short🚪 Clever setup, great payoff

📊 Our Scores: Kit – 4.5, Cade – 6

🔥 FEATURE #2: Portal to Hell

It starts strong — great color, great concept (a literal portal to hell inside a laundromat). But the middle? Sleepy. And the end? Beautiful again. Mostly.

🌀 Gorgeous red/blue/yellow neon visuals👹 Campy setup, slow execution🙃 Needed to lean more into the absurd

📊 Our Scores: Kit – 4.5, Cade – 5

🕊️ FEATURE #3: Shadow of God

Calgary-made, locally cast, and bold enough to drop an exorcism film on Easter Monday. This one mixed religious horror with cult mythology and unexpected VFX (for better or worse).

💥 Strong opening with chilling visuals and lore👁️ Highlights: the caffeine-gel cross transition, the double-nailing exorcism ritual🌌 Lowlights: end-of-days green screen energy that pulled us all the way out

📊 Our Scores: Kit – 4.5, Cade – 6.5

🍿 Cade & Kit Pairing Picks (CUFF Edition):

• Drink: Whatever 88 Brewing had on tap (plus a strong espresso for Portal to Hell)

• Snack: Popcorn, vegan chocolate, and deep regret about that one ice cream scene

• Activity: Whispering “what is happening” every 10 minutes in the dark with your friends beside you

  
  

💬 Did you go to CUFF this year? What’d you love? What traumatized you? What do you wish you saw? Let us know — or join us next year. There’s always a seat saved for you.

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