All About Evil was based on his short film Grindhouse, which features a similar, truncated premise. Grannell, a Maryland native who loved horror films from a young age, had previously worked as a manager of the Bridge Theatre in San Francisco, where he also staged weekly midnight movie events dubbed "Midnight Mass," which featured costume contests, drag shows, and other events based on the films being shown. I have never seen GRINDHOUSE, but every single detail of that description has me hooked.
All About Evil is a 2010 American black comedy slasher film written and directed by Joshua Grannell, and starring Natasha Lyonne, Thomas Dekker, Cassandra Peterson, Noah Segan, and Jack Donner. A mousy librarian inherits her father's beloved but failing old movie house. In order to save the family business she discovers her inner serial killer - and a legion of rabid gore fans - when she starts turning out a series of grisly shorts. What her fans don't realize yet is that the murders in the movies are all too real.
I was really excited for this movie as you probably noticed, to the point where I never thought for a second that this movie could possibly be anything but crazy gory fun. Maybe that’s why I was let down so early on into the movie. I have seen Natasha Lyonne in a few other movie an shows over the years and always enjoyed her work, but this movie feels like her first acting job ever. In fact, every single character in this movie feels like a first time actor, and it gives the whole movie that ASLYUM style “we know we are in a bad movie and thus we aren’t going to try to hard” kinda vibe. Even Elvira herself, Cassandra Peterson, feels like an Alien trying to pretend they are human. It doesn’t help the script is so basic with so little meat on its bones, and calling this movie a comedy is a serious disservice to comedians everywhere. I cant name a single scene or joke that made me laugh, and I really wish this movie would have taken itself more seriously.
There is a big difference between directing a film and simply shooting one, and this I a movie that could have used some good direction. All of the camera work here is simply showing you what’s happening with no sense of style of individuality to it whatsoever, to the point where even I could have done a better job directing this whole movie. How do you expect me to believe this shitty little shorts are somehow going to save this old theatre? There are thousands of better film makers even on YouTube, so why the fuck would I go to see your shitty little tik-tok length horror shorts?
Its no where near an original idea but it had potential none the less, Shame they couldn’t make a decent film out of it.
3/10
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