Speaking to film maker Joshua Grannell by phone, his enthusiasm for film is palpable.  His 2010 film, All About Evil is a devilishly funny, supremely gory bit of cinema that is a must-see for horror fans that like a healthy dose of camp and plenty of buckets of blood.

The film centers on mild-mannered Deborah Tennis (Natasha Lyonne), a nebbish, frazzle-haired caretaker manager of her deceased fathers single screen theater.  When Deborah’s greedy mother (Julie Caitlin Brown) threatens to close down the movie house, Deborah kills her in the lobby.  The murder is caught on surveillance and is accidentally screened to her unsuspecting audience in the theater.  To Deborah’s surprise, the audience receives the screening as staged, art house gore. Deborah becomes an instant star, and begins a new career as a grind house auteur.  Yes she has to murder to make a movie but it does fill the seats.

Where did talented writer, director Joshua Grannell, develop the idea for this madcap movie?  What inspired this lunatic journey into drag, camp, blood and belly laughs?  Why is the movie something that needs to be seen in a packed theater, or, at the very least, a packed living room of bloodthirsty horror fans?

To answer all of those questions we go to the beginning of Joshua’s story as a film maker. Grannell studied at Penn State University, where his senior thesis film, Jizzmopper: A Love Story, won the audience award at the annual Penn State Student Film Festival. The gay was strong in this one.  His influences were, among many, the wonderfully trashy works of John Waters, and the brazen satire of Russ Meyer (Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!).  Also a huge fan of horror, Grannell was in love with films like Friday the 13th (1980) and Halloween (1978). “Michael Myers inspired me.” said Grannell, “and how cool was Mrs Vorhees, that she was the killer in the first Friday the 13th?”

After moving to San Francisco, Grannell began managing the Bridge Theater in the Castro district. It was during the summer of 1998 that Midnight Mass, the popular San Francisco midnight movie event series began. Using the character that he developed in his senior thesis, Grannell hosted screenings as Peaches Christ. Extravagant pre-show productions, guest stars, and drag performances preceded showings of endearingly awful films.  In the age of the blossoming internet, where any film was pirated and downloaded in the comfort of home, or available on VHS, Grannell was filling the seats. Fans were again, flocking to see films together.

The popularity of Midnight Mass grew and so did Peaches Christ.  On a whim, Grannell reached out to legendary Waters ensemble member, Mink Stole to come and make a guest appearance.  She was a huge hit, and a star that Grannell’s audience went nuts over.  Soon after other guests followed including Tura Satana, Mary Woronov, RuPaul, Erica Gavin, Patrick Bristow, Cassandra Peterson (Elvira, Mistress of the Dark), John Waters, and Darren Stein.

 

It was just about this same time that Joshua was making short films with the brilliant Scott Boswell.  An area film maker, Boswell and Grannell continued to develop wild and outlandish shorts to be screened at Midnight Mass.  Then, Joshua’s short movie, Grindhouse was born and the seed for All About Evil was planted.

From that one short Grannell began to develop an entire universe of insanity.  Of course this took some time to get right and he was in no mood to rush things either. “You can’t make a good film from a bad script” Grannell asserted, noting that many advised on the screenplay for the feature including John Waters himself.

 

Picking up where the original short left off, Deborah builds a motley team of murderers to help with her ever-growing production schedule.  Included in the mix are a lunatic gay vagrant named Adrian (Noah Segan) and a pair of twin teen murderers (Jade and Nikita Ramsey).

 

In the feature film, we have a protagonist in Steven (Thomas Dekker), a high school film fanatic in love with the gruesome work of our anti-hero Deborah (Lyonne).  Playing wonderfully against type and out of  costume is Cassandra Peterson, AKA Elvira, as Steven’s doting, but cool mom.  “Cassandra was not excited at first.” says Grannell about the more subdued character she was cast to play.  But here she is a revelation, believable and fun to watch.

 

As Deborah’s crimes (and films) become more and more ludicrous, Steven gets closer to uncovering the sinister price for all the fame. Soon his friends and family find themselves in danger of landing staring roles in her movies.

 

The pic indicates just how steeped in cinema Grannell is, not just with its pithy parody titles of other well-known titles (A tale of two severed Titties, The Maiming of the Shrew, or  The Diary of Anne Frankenstein), but in the rapid-fire references to everything from schlock cinema to Oscar-winning masterpieces. Good and bad, it’s all up there on the screen with the matron of mayhem delivering countless cadavers to her ravenous fans.

So what’s next for Grannell?  The skewering of another sacred Hollywood lamb of course. A modern, horrific Wizard of Oz. (No, not Return to Oz), and a trashy slasher movie inspired by the wonderful schlock of the 1980’s.

All About Evil is a film that was designed to be seen at Grannell’s Midnight Mass movie screenings with audiences steeped like pitch-black darjeeling, in the lore and history of cinema.  Never too snobby to appreciate low-brow humor while schooled enough to know the jokes. This is a film designed to be seen by lovers of horror, comedy, drag and above all the craft and history of film.  In a way, Joshua’s alter-ego, Peaches Christ, is a lot like his leading lady, Deborah Tennis.  Both passionate for cinema and for keeping the communal experience of movie going alive and well, even if it means killing a few people along the way.

 

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Do yourself a favor.  Get a group of friends together, open up a bottle of wine, or other libation, and stream All About Evil from the PeachesChrist.com site for $4. here.