Pastacolypse is a 2023 adult-animated horror comedy film written by Aqua Teen Hunger Force co-creator Matthew Maiellaro, who also serves as the film’s executive producer. It was released exclusively through Tubi.
A worldwide ban on gluten has jeopardized the career of celebrity chef Alfredo Manicotti (Dana Snyder). In an attempt to try and get his work back on track, he ends up discovering the Noodle of Destiny and travels to the National Gluten Reserve. While trying to create a great recipe, he ends up falling into the vat he’s cooking with and turns into a man-pasta hybrid. He then decides to unleash pasta monsters all over the world in retaliation for the ban on gluten and the only thing standing between him and world domination is his spoiled daughter Emma (Lauren Holt).
Tropes:
- Adrenaline Makeover: After spending time on the raft and learning how to become a fighter with Mary’s help, Emma goes from wearing a feminine dress that got torn apart to donning a Tomb Raider-like outfit, dying her hair green, and putting on some eyeliner.
- Anthropomorphic Food: There are many living pasta creatures throughout the film, with Alfredo and Bob being the primary examples of such as a result of being the first two to fall in the vat.
- Archnemesis Dad: Despite Alfredo not completely hating his daughter, it doesn’t change the fact that he’s responsible for the monsters he’s unleashed across the globe, with Emma being furious upon learning that fact. His attempt to try and convince Emma to become a pasta like him to rule the world makes Emma further realize that the father she once knew is gone.
- Artifact of Doom: The Noodle of Destiny, a mysterious item that Alfredo gets at an antique shop, is what Alfredo uses to fulfill his ambitions to bring gluten back to the world and is partially responsible for his transformation into a half-man, half-pasta creature. It also brought him back to life following the destruction of his base.
- Big "NO!": Alfredo lets one out after Emma leaves him to die on his base, which is promptly followed by the base exploding.
- A Birthday, Not a Break: Alfredo unleashing his pasta monsters onto the world happens on Emma’s 21st birthday.
- Bloody Hilarious: Many of the deaths that occur in the film are comedically gory in nature, thanks to them being carried out by monstrous pasta creatures.
- Bookends: The film begins and ends with Disney-like woodland creatures suffering gruesome fates.
- Devilish Hair Horns: Prior to turning into a walking pile of pasta, Alfredo was sporting a horned hairstyle, indicating that he’s going to be the main villain of the story.
- Evil Is Hammy: Being a madman bent on global domination, Alfredo is quite bombastic in how he acts, especially when it comes to attacking anti-gluten figures.
- Food Eats You: The many pasta monsters that Alfredo has cooked up kills many people and turns them into humanoid pasta creatures.
- How We Got Here: After the opening sequence with the forest animals, the film opens with Emma describing herself and her father moments before it cuts to her getting attacked by pasta monsters during her birthday party and meeting Chub. The film then moves to well before the incident to explain everything that led up to that point.
- The Load: One of Emma’s companions is a country singer, who is seen as a burden by the others and does nothing to stop the pasta creatures from attacking the raft they’re on.
- Monumental Damage: Alfredo’s attack on San Francisco over an anti-gluten group that was residing there culminates with the Golden Gate Bridge being destroyed.
- Overly Long Gag:
- The introduction to one of the breaking news segments goes on for quite a while, with the newscasters making on-screen preparations for the broadcast during that time.
- Bob takes a long time to use the bathroom before trying to unlock the door to the room that Mary’s companions are being cooked alive in.
- R-Rated Opening: The film opens with woodland creatures who quickly get brutally killed at the hands of various pasta monsters.
- Serious Business: The setting treats the gluten ban as a big deal, with clubs dedicated to a gluten-free lifestyle and illegal possession of gluten being regarded as a federal crime. Said ban is also the driving force of the story and Alfredo takes the ban very personally after his career as a chef is destroyed.
- Show Within a Show: Windbreakers, a film about dangerous farts, is brought up as a Running Gag during the film. The male newscaster and Mary are mentioned to have enjoyed it.
- Snowlems: Alfredo ends up losing his career and reputation to a living snowman, who specializes in making frozen pasta.
- The Stinger:
- The mid-credits scene shows a resurrected Alfredo awakening from his slumber with the Noodle of Destiny while wearing a diving suit.
- The post-credits scene features the newscasters that commented on the events of the movie now turned into humanoid pasta creatures and the opening scene of the fictional film Windbreakers.
- Supervillain Lair: Alfredo initially carries out his plans for global conquest at the National Gluten Reserve. He then decides to shift his base to a seaside house (and by that, he means a house on the ocean, not by it).
- Throwing Your Sword Always Works: Emma throws her sword like a boomerang in order to save the country singer from getting eaten by a pasta monster. While the creature is sliced in half, the sword ends up decapitating him during the return trip.
- World of Pun: The film is peppered with puns and while pasta-related puns are at the forefront here, other puns related to stuff such as snow and farts are fair game.
