Fourteen hundred people packed the Castro Saturday night to cheer on Peaches Christ and her entourage of whatevers at the official premiere of “All About Evil.”
The film is about a struggling old San Francisco movie theater owner who becomes famous for producing gory short films. Her secret technique: actually killing the actors.
But that’s all we’ll say about the film, since SFIFF has asked us not to review it until it comes out in wide release. So any further details will have to be kept in our confidence! And also, the 1,400 other people present.
But we can report that the movie left the already-excited crowd in a state of delirium. Nobody left the theater disappointed, thanks in part to an exhaustive live pre-show starring Peaches & company.
“There’s a lot of local talent in this movie,” Peaches said during her introduction, to which the audience cheered. “And all of you are here, apparently,” she added before launching into song and dance featuring backup performers Pristine Condition, Syphilis Diller, Sandra O’ Noshi-Di’n’t, Flynn DeMarco, Lady Bear, and other dangerous lunatics.
It’s tough work filling a space as big as the Castro. Drag often seems to work best in divey cramped spaces with a sweaty boozy crowd, and the Castro’s old-timey decor and stadium-ish balcony can give it a stuffy sort of air. But with the help of frantic lasers and lights, the performers shone, and the audience ate it up, screaming with pleasure when Peaches introduced “Martiny, the most flawed and tragic drag queen in San Francisco.”
Quite a few VIPs were in attendance: Natasha Lyone popped out on stage — she’s the star of the film–having just flown in from New York. “How was your trip?” asked Peaches, to which Natasha replied, “eh.”
Let’s give her a hand!
Thomas Dekker was there as well, the pinkballed star of Heroes. He plays a familiar character in the film: a scruffy sensitive high schooler, pure-of-heart and Zach Efronish only without lesbian-face.
Mink Stole also put in an appearance, waltzing out on stage to holler the theme song to “Female Trouble” in a duet with Peaches. John Waters was sitting placidly in the audience. “No pressure, having your idols watch you perform,” said Peaches.
She needn’t have worried: the whole cast put in an enthusiastic performance, a tribute to gory old horror films. When the curtain was slowly peeled back, it was something like a strip-tease.
“Two of my nails have come off,” Peaches announced, “and I’ve just been kicking them into the front row.”
And with little further ado, so began the film. Keep your eyes out for our review when it gets its wide release.
