🍿 2022-06-13 23:30:00 – Paris/France.
After a decade of obscurity, a sort of long-lost camp cult splatter movie all about evil makes its official debut in Streaming, and the film surely has Natasha Lyonne's resurgent career to thank. Originally released in 2010, the film features a post-American pie and -But I'm a cheerleaderpre-Orange is the new black and -Russian doll Lyonne as a homicidal cinema owner who makes short films of his heinous crimes in order to save the business. It's written and directed by San Francisco drag performer Joshua Grannell, better known as Peaches Christ, who had enough clout to land John Waters regular Mink Stole and Elvira herself, Cassandra Peterson, for supporting roles. Sounds fun, doesn't it?
The essential: Dad always wanted little Debbie to be an actress, but an unfortunate incident – she got wet on stage in front of a theater full of people, dampening the microphone cord and electrocuting herself, I HATE it when that happens – seems to have it cuckoo constantly. Deb (Lyonne) grows up to be a (ugh) librarian with an average Bride of Frankenstein lock in the hair who directs cult horror films (for example blood feast) at his father's beloved movie theater in San Fran, the Victoria Theater, to a handful of awesome weirdos who enjoy that sort of thing. But a handful of weirdos don't keep the place out of the red. When Deb's (Julie Caitlin Brown) mom's violent harpy moves in to sell the place and inflicts her umpteenth cruel insult on her daughter, Deb snaps and sticks her Bic pen into mom's neck. And the torso. Much of the time. Blood is squirting everywhere, and there's Natasha Lyonne's adorable mischievous face all smeared and splattered with red stuff. Cared for!
Fate/coincidence then becomes part of the story: This wonderfully gruesome incident was caught on security cameras and then played on the theater screen by a dozen of the aforementioned crackpots, who think it's super cool. One of those goons is Steve (Thomas Dekker), a high school kid whose mom (Peterson) worries he's watching too many gory movies — and whose director thinks he's about to (get ready to grit your teeth here) shoot the school . Meanwhile, Deb begins impersonating filmmaker/actress Deborah Tennis (rhymes with "Denise"), recruiting her decrepit projectionist (Jack Donner) and a few other losers to help make killer shorts with punny titles like A story of two severed breasts, which she's showing to ever-increasing audiences — audiences who don't know they're watching snuff films. NO SPOILERS, but it probably won't end well.
Photo: thrill
What movies will this remind you of? : all about evil might be about as close to a John Waters movie as it gets these days, considering he hasn't directed one in 18 very long years. So think serial mom if it was more giallo.
Performance to watch: Donner – who died in 2019 aged 90 – is the type of distinctive-looking gentleman whose notoriety partly in Star Trek, Syfy originals and more have surely earned him plenty of chairs on panels at sci-fi and horror conventions. It steals a scene or three in all about evil and is a bit more charismatic than Lyonne, who doesn't go as far as we'd like.
Memorable dialogue: "Why don't you go find Theresa's mother and harass consist of! – Deborah
Sex and skin: Pre and post cut female breasts.
Our opinion : all about evil is a tribute/satire/parody to/all kinds of horror movies, Psycho à The brilliant to any number of shitty 80s slashers. Grannell copies his wry tone wholesale from Waters, and while the film is excessively gory at times, it doesn't quite match the master of the game's taboo thirst for extremity. cult cinema – not that anyone should even try, since we've seen enough coprophagia to last a lifetime, right?
The goal here is gruesome laughs, and Grannell succeeds most of the time, even if the gags and kills lack the creativity and originality to inspire big laughs and gasps. The plot seems stuffed with the cheesy high school drama of Steve's character, another layer of parody the movie probably doesn't need. But we're probably here to watch Lyonne, who leans into the schlock because she pretty much has to, but maintains her character's soulful core enough to make Deborah's story a silent tragedy. His approach doesn't quite work; you may find yourself trying to get her to eat the scenery a bit more, lose a screw, and go for it. It's no dealbreaker, though – Grannell more than makes up for it with amiably gonzo-camp energy.
Our call: There are enough deliberately cheesy, quasi-witty one-liners and general love for horror movies in Grannell's screenplay to make all about evil deserves a watch for the right audience – and you know who you are. SPREAD IT.
John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Learn more about his work at johnserbaatlarge.com.
Stream It or Skip It: 'All About Evil' on Shudder, XXXXXXXXXXxx
SOURCE: Reviews News
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