Bash Compactor: Peaches Christ Superstar

I know tons of drag queens, but I’d never heard of Peaches Christ until last week. Apparently, in San Francisco, horror film freaks turn up at movie theaters showing horror flicks decked out in outlandish gore couture to worship her as their high priestess. Now Christ has directed All About Evil, her own full-length feature bloodfest film, starring Natasha Lyonne, Mink Stole and Elvira star Cassandra Peterson. I expected a menagerie of blood-spattered whacks to arrive at the Landmark Cinema for a Friday night “midnight mass,” but New Yorkers can be so boring. The theater was packed, but there was nary a corpse or a zombie. Nobody was even decked out like a Goth—well, other than me and drag queen performers Shealita BaBay (who came down from Albany) and Mimi Imfurst.

Like in Slums of Beverly Hills and the classic American Pie films, no matter what actress Natasha Lyonne does, she always comes off as a delight—no matter her troubles a few years back. I snapped photos of her smoking in front of the movie theater, where Peaches came outside to join us. “It feels like everyone in New York is out of town, except losers like me,” I told them. “Yeah, and losers like me,” agreed Lyonne, who will be appearing in two Off-Broadway shows come fall.

Meanwhile, Peaches was adjusting her elaborate, gold-spangled dress and high-heeled shoes. “It’s not easy being a drag queen,” she complained. “Everything hurts.”

Back inside on the screen, Lyonne played a snuff film director who slashes her way to the top and, as the piéce de resistance, attempts to film her entire audience as she murders them. Since it was an over-the-top night, I really didn’t expect much, but was pleasantly surprised to find out that the film is hilarious and gives John Waters a run for his money.

“This reminds me of Andy Warhol’s film Bad,” I said to Peaches afterward as she stood in the lobby taking photos with her adoring fans. “Oooh, I love that film,” she trilled, seemingly no longer in pain.