Peaches Christ and Thomas Dekker on Reviving Their Camp Cult Horror Classic for a New Era
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The post Peaches Christ and Thomas Dekker on Reviving Their Camp Cult Horror Classic for a New Era appeared first on Consequence.
For lovers of horror, camp, and the bloody glee that comes with combining these two things, this month marks a special occasion: the re-release of All About Evil, the first feature-length film directed by Joshua Grannell, a.k.a. horror drag legend Peaches Christ.
As Peaches Christ, Grannell has toured the country with the Midnight Mass cult horror road show, and hosts a podcast of the same name celebrating cult film. “Growing up and being a subscriber to Fangoria magazine and being a kid that loved horror movies, I saw cult films as being a very specific kind of movie that fit into a specific set of tropes, and certainly being transgressive was one of them,” he tells Consequence.
“But over time, I would say that, probably because of doing the Midnight Mass movie series and also having the podcast, I think films that have a rabid following behind them of fans, people that are specifically interested in those films, that to me is very ‘cult.'”
The independently-produced film stars Natasha Lyonne as Deborah, who discovers her inner psycho after inheriting her father’s movie theater, and begins producing gruesome films featuring her own real-life murders for an adoring population, including high school student Steven, played by Thomas Dekker.
When Dekker was cast in the film, he was already a working TV actor with key roles in NBC’s Heroes and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. But All About Evil was important for him because it was something his management team at the time wasn’t thrilled about him doing — “just because when you come off of a big show or whatever, they want to stick you in the big-money grabs.”
However, it was his first indie project, “and now I’ve done so many. And I think that’s because that’s where my heart lies. My spirit aligns with at least independently-minded filmmaking — I was just 21, and I was hungry to do something that, to me, mattered.”
And then, he says, “Enter Joshua-slash-Peaches, and then Mink, and Cassandra, and Natasha, and Darren, and San Francisco, and everything that went with it. It was just like answering every little queer cult-loving prayer of mine, at that time. I was only bummed that I had to play the straight man, as it were — the protagonist that doesn’t get to go completely insane. At the time, I wanted to go crazy, too. But I just rewatched it with Joshua, and it’s sweet to see myself playing that role in this universe. Because I feel so in tune with the evil family as a human being, but it’s really nice that I get to be Steven in it.”
While ostensibly the “straight man,” Grannell says that the character of Steven is “basically me in high school, and Natasha’s character is basically Peaches… He’s in love with Deborah the way that I was in love with Elvira. So now, when I’m thinking about Steven, there’s a reason you never see him kiss a girl in the movie, or act a certain way. Even though he denies that maybe he’s gay to his mother, it does not mean that he’s not gay. I’m not saying he is or he isn’t. He’s at a stage in high school where it’s all a mystery. I’ll say this: he’s very much me. So take that for what it’s worth.”
An important detail: Steven’s mother in the film is played by Cassandra Peterson — a.k.a. Elvira herself.
All About Evil (Severin Films)
Adds Dekker, “When we shot this in 2009, the world and culture was quite different then than it is today. And one of the things I fell in love with about the world of Peaches Christ, and the world of Midnight Mass in San Francisco, was that everyone who wanted to be there was welcome. Everyone. Gay, straight, bi. I hadn’t been in environment where it was a super queer environment and people of all orientations and genders were all there loving the same thing.
“So one of the things I loved about Steven, again, is: is he gay? Is he straight? It doesn’t really matter. It was more about that he loves this world where everyone’s welcome. And I’d never been in that environment as a young person until coming to Midnight Mass and seeing the whole universe Peaches had built. And I think what I got out of the experience as a person ended up influencing the Steven of it all, too, a little bit.”
Originally released in 2010, the film has been notorious in horror circles while going somewhat unseen. Grannell explains that the reason All About Evil wasn’t widely available commercially until now was a matter of timing. “It was a thing where the movie came out right after the economic collapse of 2008 occurred, and the ripple effect really got to the independent film world by the time we were trying to sell the movie. And so while there were offers for the movie, they just weren’t very good, and they were the standard offers at that time.”
While there were no opportunities for a blockbuster Sundance deal, the film’s investors decided to self-distribute, leading to some DVDs being sold, a brief TV deal with the NBCUniversal channel Chiller, film festival programming, and a theatrical release through Landmark Theaters. “But then after that, it kind of just disappeared, because there wasn’t a distributor putting it out there, continuing to keep it alive. Once the DVDs sold, they were gone. The theatrical was over, and the licensing deal for NBC Universal ran out, probably whenever Chiller went away. It was just sort of gone.”
So Grannell decided to try to revive the film for its 10-year anniversary, complete with event screenings featuring himself as Peaches along with the rest of the cast. Unfortunately, 2020 had other plans. “But I’d already approached Sam Zimmerman at Fantastic Fest, who is the head of Shudder. And he said that he wanted it. And David Gregory is a friend of mine that said he wanted to do the BluRay. So the wheels were already going – I just wanted to wait until we could do live events again. So here we are, two-and-a-half years later!” he says.
In the process of making the new version of the film possible, Grannell was able to discover some new material that will be included with the screenings, including behind-the-scenes photos and a new deleted scene that even Dekker hasn’t seen yet. “It’s been a really nice thing to have to dig all this stuff up,” he says. “This is definitely an anniversary event, like, here’s a bunch of stuff you’ve never seen before.”
The one thing that Dekker regrets, in rewatching the film, is how dry his lips look on screen. “Someone get me chapstick, for the love of God!”
“It’s hilarious that Thomas brought that up, because I’d never really noticed that before. But then when we were doing the commentary track for the Blu-ray, Thomas was like, ‘Why didn’t anyone give me chapstick?’ So now, of course, it’s all I will ever see, his dry ass lips,” Grannell adds.
All About Evil (Severin Films)
In general, it’s hard to say there’s ever been a movie like All About Evil made before, or even since. As Dekker says, “I think that one thing that really separates All About Evil is that Joshua made this from a really authentic, genuine, honest place as an artist… It’s not some fully camp-drag thing. It’s also not some splatter horror thing with humor. It’s just its own thing, because you were just wanting to make what you wanted to see as Joshua, and as Peaches.
Continues Dekker, “And to me, that’s why the spirit of the thing is genuine, and why it continues to have interest, and hasn’t just faded or been forgotten about. Because you weren’t just trying to make a campy, gory thing, you wanted to make All About Evil, which I feel, now that I know you so well, is just as much born from your personal experiences in life — as over-the-top as the movie may be. This is your inner world put on screen. And that’s what makes it special to me, at the end of the day.”
“I’ve never thought about it that way, but I think I know exactly what you’re saying,” Grannell says. “We all have seen those movies that think they’re making a John Waters movie. No, you’re not! Make your own fucking movie! Only John Waters can make a John Waters movie. Don’t try to make a John Waters movie!”
“And only Peaches can make a Peaches movie,” Dekker says.
All About Evil is available beginning June 10th via a special edition Blu-ray release from Severin Films, and will make its North American streaming release on Shudder June 13th. Visit Peaches Christ’s website for details on the live shows.
Peaches Christ and Thomas Dekker on Reviving Their Camp Cult Horror Classic for a New Era
Liz Shannon Miller
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