All About Evil

“This never was a movie, and it should never be one.” Well, at least the movie is self-aware. The terrible acting, repetitive script, dull direction, half-hearted attempt at camp, interminable length, bloated cast, ridiculous finale, and thorough misunderstanding of horror, are all huge, huge problems with this piece of shit. But what takes this movie from total garbage into “fuck this movie” territory is the insulting way it treats kids with depression and kids who like horror movies. The protagonist of this movie is a teenager who likes horror, is artistic, and is withdrawn and moody. His mom berates him. His school thinks he’s one step away from shooting up the place. When a popular girl goes missing that he’d been on a date with, her parents finger as the prime suspect. Fellow classmates call him a freak and a killer. Kids with mental health issues and kids who like horror movies are not monsters, and they’re not serial killers in training. The fact that he isn’t either of those doesn’t change the fact that almost the entire town turns against him for the crime of not being permanently happy and enjoying horror. That’s not entertaining, and crowbarring it into a movie that’s attempting to be a campy b-movie throwback is gross and exploitative. This movie is trash. Pure trash.