Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.0

All About Evil Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 8, 2022

Whether you call him/her Joshua Grannell or Peaches Christ, the driving force behind All About Evil obviously loves cult movies, and this particular film seems intentionally designed to join the ranks of other midnight screening phenomena, some of which Grannell and/or Christ (sorry, just using surnames here) had a hand in scheduling during a stint at San Francisco's Bridge Theater. The cheekiness of this film's title (if you don't get the reference, you need to go back to Bad Film Title Pun school) is obviously meant humorously, as are a number of other titles Grannell/Christ shoehorns into the proceedings of a story that sees a demented woman named Debbie Tennis (Natasha Lyonne) resort to murder to keep her family's movie house in business. As is documented in some of the appealing supplements included on this disc, Grannell moved to San Francisco in his early twenties with his drag persona Peaches Christ in tow, and quickly developed a following, including weekly showcases dubbed Midnight Masses which took place at the Bridge Theater. Among other fun and funny anecdotes shared in bonus features, kind of amazingly as Grannell gets into, he managed to befriend Marc Cuban, who bankrolled some work for Grannell. Grannell also became friends with Darren Stein, the auteur behind Jawbreaker. Stein was a fan of some of Grannell's shorts, some of which featured Peaches, and one of them in particular, a 2003 short called Grindhouse, became the foundation for this longer feature. And therein lies the rub.

Part of the undeniable if obviously outrageous charm of Grindhouse was its brevity and obvious lo-fi ambience, both of which helped to buoy its winking attitudes about cult films and, subtextually at least, the survival of the "little" cinemas that often show them. It seems obvious that Grannell wanted to "go big" or at least bigger with this entry, something that isn't that unexpected given the premise of fashioning a feature out of a short, but there may not be enough consistent humor in this enterprise to justify its length. The film begins with a patently disturbing vignette documenting Debbie's childhood at her family's theater, where her kind of "Stage Father" insists to his daughter that she has true star quality which he's about to exploit on stage, while her harridan mother Tammy (Julie Caitlin Brown), appropriately clad as Elphaba for a screening of The Wizard of Oz, laughs derisively at her own offspring. Suffice it to say Debbie's "debut" doesn't exactly go off swimmingly, and in fact it may seem that Debbie's fate is uncertain as the film springs into one of its frankly best elements, a wildly colorful credits sequence that is made up of quasi-marketing materials for supposed films.

Things segue forward without any real explanation to find an adult Debbie (Natasha Lyonne) in the throes of depression after the death of her father, deciding to leave her job as a librarian against the advice of her co-worker Evelyn (Mink Stole). Instead, Debbie wants to save her father's theater, which is directly at odds with what Tammy wants, which is to sell the real estate for as much money as possible. There's absolutely no uncertainty about Tammy's fate when she breaks this news to Debbie, because suddenly little "mousy" Debbie erupts in Oedipal (or perhaps Electral) fury and kills her mother in the lobby, all while a gaggle of teen types awaits a screening of that week's horror film in the actual theater. The theater's long time projectionist Mr. Twigs (Jack Donner) has gone for a stroll, and when Debbie runs to the projection booth to start the film, she unwittingly plays the closed circuit video recording from the lobby (yes, it doesn't really make sense), which the young audience takes to be a new indie short, at least after some quick thinking by the suddenly returned Twigs.

After the "surprise" premiere of Debbie's supposed new short, she and Twigs realize they may have a money maker on their hands, and without getting into too many details, the body count begins accruing, as do the potentially horrifying movie title puns as Debbie and Twigs release their oeuvre to an adoring public. One of the kids in the audience is named Steven Thompson (Thomas Dekker), and he becomes an ardent fan of both the theater and Debbie, something that begins to concern his mother Linda (Cassandra Peterson).

It seems evident that Grannell is aiming for something akin to Eating Raoul or some of the work of John Waters, but in that regard, he might have benefitted from some (forgive me my punning sins) Divine inspiration and had Peaches be the heroine here, rather than Debbie. The film struggles to sustain its conceit, even with the addition of several other sidebar characters, including twins who seem to be those tots from The Shining all grown up.

If not quite as funny as some may be hoping for, there's absolutely no doubt that All About Evil should appeal to a certain cult movie audience, especially those in tune with an unabashedly campy sensibility and generally over the top presentational aspect. The stunt casting that the film offers is certainly going to be a calling card for some.

All About Evil Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

All About Evil is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Severin Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. The IMDb lists some (now vintage) Sony models and maybe just slightly quaintly DVCAM as the source format, with what I'm assuming was a 2K DI. This has an undeniable "video" look, with a glossy if kind of flat feel that offers generally secure detail levels in the best lit moments, but as some of the screenshots I've uploaded to accompany this review may reveal, there's still a kind of soft look even to some close-ups (see screenshot 1). The palette is one of the strong points here, and some of the gore effects in particular are quite vivid. There are occasional slightly mottled looking moments, especially in some of the more dimly lit scenes (look at the door behind Twigs in screenshot 4 for one example).

All About Evil Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

All About Evil features boisterous DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 options. Both tracks support the film's fun score as well as some of the sillier sound effects that accompany a couple of killings in particular. The surround track has a nicely expressive midrange and low end in particular. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

All About Evil Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary with Writer / Director Joshua Grannell and Actors Thomas Dekker, Ashley Fink, Jade Ramsey and Nikita Ramsey


• Star Quality - The Making of All About Evil (HD; 36:37) is a fun background piece with Joshua Grannell, Darren Stein, Thomas Dekker, Ashley Fink, Cassandra Peterson, Jade Ramsey, Nikita Ramsey, Noah Segan and Mink Stole.


• All About All About Evil (HD; 28:49) is billed as a "roundtable discussion", though I'll point out the group is gathered around a rectangular piece of furniture (and, yes, that's about the level of the humor of the film). This features Joshua Grannell, Ashley Fink, Thomas Dekker, Jade Ramsey and Nikita Ramsey.


• Evil Live: The Peaches Christ Experience in 4D (HD; 20:15) is some "red carpet footage" from the World Premiere held at the Castro Theater in May 2010.


• Grindhouse (SD; 13:36) is the 2003 short by Grannell that sparked this feature film.


• Children of the Popcorn (SD; 8:20) is a behind the scenes piece with Peaches Christ, and continues the "tradition" of Bad Film Title Puns. Peaches has a "drag assistant" named She-gore (sp?) in this one.


• Behind the Evil (SD; 15:04) is an archival EPK from 2010.


• Trailer (HD; 2:09)


• Teaser (SD; 1:09)


• A Soundtrack CD is included.

Additionally, a nicely appointed insert booklet is included.

All About Evil Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

All About Evil was one of those "in joke" entries for me which has a lot going for it, but which still didn't quite get there comedically as consistently as I personally was hoping for. Still, anyone with a penchant for Bad Film Title Puns will have at least intermittent giggles, and the cast is, as they say, eclectic. Technical merits are generally solid (especially audio), and the supplements very appealing, for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.