All About Evil

Two things attracted me to this film: Natasha Lyonne and a mix of horror and comedy. You can't go wrong with that combination, right? The film starts out as a comedy and even though it remains funny until the end, the second half is very dark and bloody. There are quite graphic killings and the ending is nothing short of a massacre. Yet, it still remains entertaining and keeps you guessing how it will all end.

The performances from all the leads are great. Natasha Lyonne totally disappears in her character as a somewhat demented auteur who gets consumed by her newly found fame. Cassandra Peterson puts on a very solid performance as a worried mother and there's even a nice little nod to her Elvira character.

If you can enjoy a mix of horror and comedy with a touch of the bizarre and macabre, definitely watch this film. You'll be pleasantly surprised.

When Walter Tennis passes away, he leaves a single screen theatre named the Victoria to both his daughter Deborah (Natasha Lyonne) and estranged evil mother Tammy (Julie Caitlin Brown). Deborah and the elderly projectionist Mr. Twigs (Jack Donner) want to carry on their father's tradition of showing horror films, while mother Tammy wants to sell the property for a quick profit.

When both family members collide in conversation to discuss the future of the Victoria in the theatre lobby, Tammy loses control and kills her mother with the very pen the mother offered to sign over ownership.

What Tammy doesn't know is that the security cameras caught the murder on tape and thanks to her inexperience in operating the projection equipment, she inadvertently projects the homicide on the screen much to the delight of the paying audience that believes they are viewing a horror short film.

Most admiring of her work is horror film fan Steven (Thomas Dekker), a regular at the Victoria and dotting fan of elder Deborah. Steven will continue to visit the Victoria as Deborah builds on her fame established with grisly shorts. And as fans begin to line up and sell out the theatre, Deborah begins her murdering rampage while creating such great film titles as A Tale of Two Severed Titties, Gore and Peace and Slasher in the Rye.

All About Evil is the directorial debut of Joshua Grannell who works the camera and moves his actors and story along like a seasoned veteran. From the opening credits (which we just loved!) through the bloody meta ending.

Contributing in supporting roles are Cassandra Peterson (don't make me tell you) as Steven's mom and Noah Segan who seems to be in just about every other obscure film I have watched in the past month. Noah's character Adrian will work as part of Deborah's filming rampage crew alongside homicidal and pale twins Veda and Vera (Jade and Nikita Ramsey).

With films like The Maiming of the Shrew and The Scarlet Leper titillating packed houses, we as a viewing audience get treated to the making of films inside the film with all the fun and camp exploited without excuses.

The film may go down occasional paths of expectedness – in particular when it comes to the investigating detective who is looking for missing schoolgirl Claire last seen at the Victoria, but there is little stereotypical in All About Evil.

It is at times horror, at times spoof, at times meta and it is very much a throwback to some of the campy horror films that paved the way to today's standards. As the body count increased, I could only imagine a packed house of theatre patrons engulfed in the horror premise – cheering and laughing with each new development.

All About Evil is headed to Canada in August 2010 as part of the Toronto After Dark Film Festival. I will be attending the Festival and I look forward to revisiting the experience with a couple of hundred strangers. For not only is All About Evil a fun and ultimately rewarding film, but it is also a definite must to enjoy in the company of others.

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I recently watched All About Evil (2010) on Shudder. The storyline follows a new, up-and-coming independent director in the horror genre who is taking the industry by storm. She has some local fans obsessed with her work who begin to suspect that the kills in her films might be real. The director will do anything to keep her trade secrets, including adding her fans to her next film...

This film is written and directed by Joshua Grannell, in his directorial debut, and stars Natasha Lyonne (Poker Face), Julie Caitlin Brown (Babylon 5), Jack Donner (Four Christmases), and Thomas Dekker (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles).

This movie does a great job of not taking itself too seriously. The storyline is fun, and Jack Donner delivers an awesome performance. While Natasha Lyonne can be a bit annoying at times, she's offset by fantastic kills, gore, and blood splatter. The horror effects in this are top-notch, and there's a memorable use of a guillotine that made me smile. The ending, reminiscent of Carrie, is a perfect conclusion to the premise. The makeup and hair are wild, purposefully so, and if you watch this just for the horror elements and shut your brain off to the rest of the film, you'll have a good time.

In conclusion, All About Evil has its hits and misses, but the horror elements are so good that it's a must-see for fans of the genre. I would score it a 5.5-6/10 and recommend seeing it once.

Writer/director Josh Grannell, aka horror hostess Peaches Christ, has created a comedic bloodfest artfully designed to become a camp classic. Grannell pays overt homage to some of his favorite filmmakers, notably John Waters and gore auteur Herschell Gordon Lewis of "Blood Feast" fame, and gifts us with an enthusiastic romp to the dark side of film-making.

Natasha Lyonne, as librarian-turned-lunatic Deborah Tennis, channels various Hollywood grand dames to wild-eyed comedic effect; imagine if Bette Davis chewed scenery in one of Roger Corman's legendary Poe adaptations. Thomas Dekker of "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" plays the star-struck film fan to boyish perfection. And satisfying cameos from the likes of Waters alumnus Mink Stole and fellow horror hostess Cassandra Peterson (aka Elvira) round out a great cast. You're also treated to the best evil twins since "The Shining" played by Jade and Nikita Ramsey. And wildly entertaining turns from Noah Segan as dentally-challenged psycho Adrian, and Jack Donner (who's been in everything from "Buffy" to "Star Trek") as the crusty and overzealously murderous projectionist Mr. Twigs, round out Grannell's fantasy cast.

What's often most important to get from a film like this is the sense that cast and crew are enjoying themselves, and the fun shines through in every scene. Part of its delivered joy comes in spotting its numerous in-jokes, which touch on such diverse topics as horror film history or the local San Francisco drag scene. But an insider's knowledge of trivia isn't at all needed to appreciate the over-the-top and violently funny romp that Grannell delivers; instead, bring your love of exploitation and an enthusiasm for camp. Worth the price of admission alone are the parody film titles created by Tennis in the course of her filmicidal spree. And the movie has one of the best opening title sequences I've seen in years.

Much of the film was shot inside San Francisco's historic Victoria Theatre, a former vaudeville hall in the city's Mission district. Using such an authentic location is all part of Grannell's desire to create a red-inked love poem to the uniquely thrilling experience of watching horror films in a packed movie house.

Hopefully you'll get a chance to see "All About Evil" with its touring live stage show, featuring Peaches and her fright-inducing friends in person. It's a one-of-a-kind, in-your-face experience that's not like anything else you'll see in your local theater -- unless you've been going to Peaches' "Midnight Madness" shows in SF for the last 12 years.

Don't miss it -- hopefully coming to a theater near you!

I was fortunate enough to catch the 4-D All About Evil Experience in Milwaukee.

Not only was the pre-show with Peaches Christ and Mink Stole a blast, but the film couldn't have been more enjoyable!

There is a fine balance that Horror films of this genre run where the comedy and heightened acting can either be extremely entertaining and clever or completely immature and ridiculous. All About Evil definitely fell into the first camp and all of the performances were top notch for this style of film! I couldn't help but laughing constantly throughout the film even though parts of it got rather morbid.

Secondly, clearly this film has its inspirations and in some respects it becomes a homage to many great filmmakers and genres. I have seen many homage genre films fall apart and become a complete waste of time due to the lack of ingenuity and a lack of understanding of the genre. Clearly Joshua has done his homework and delivered a skilled and well-crafted film that not only does the genre-filmmaking justice but brought much fun to the style. His film even has enough of his personal touch that All About Evil supersedes being just another homage film and stands well enough on it's own freakish legs as a new, great installment to horror films!

Go check it out! It's a blast!