Children of the Popcorn
With Peaches Christ in transit - as of this very minute - from the US to the UK, strapped inside a wicker throne swinging from beneath the scaled belly of a monstrous beast, let us pause to reflect before she alights and shimmies down the flagpole at Cornerhouse for the International Premiere of All About Evil on Saturday, 2nd October. Not only do we have music from Trash-O-Rama in the bars from 8pm onwards, but Will and Rick will be squatting on a tabletop to pipe out an art-punk nozzle shaped trio of horror oddities... including Haunted Homes, Hotdog Man and a new song written in aid of the occasion, All About Evil: a aid memoir to the world's most prolific serial killers!
Peaches Christ / image: Leonardo Herrera
The queue outside Cinema 1 will begin to form from 10pm so get there early, as rumour suggests a live protest is planned by librarians from the region's most studious institutions; incensed at their depiction within the movie. Adding insanity to insult, the staff of the Victoria Theatre have travelled from San Francisco to help welcome you on behalf of deranged directress Deborah Tennis, with Adrian, Mr Twiggs and Veda/Vera all in attendance to help make this a night to remember. Don't forget, gore couture is encouraged - abstract, offensive and most definitely home-made. Prizes for the best!
For inspiration, see Peaches' incredible new short, Children of the Popcorn, featured above!
Knobby Owl
Knobby Owl: Peter Adlington
Today has been a productive if panic-laced day in many ways. I had to step into the role of choreographer for one, not because a professional didn't turn up for our first monster rehearsal, but because I blissfully assumed that the class would 'teach itself'. I was wrong. But thankfully everyone was absolutely brilliant, and we stumbled through the moves with the grace of a reanimated corpse, which was entirely the point. I then returned home to make two small coffins out of foamboard. That's not something you hear me say every day. And a last-minute knee jerk NEED for button badges to complement a secret intervention that forms part of the show led me to 999-design service Peter Adlington, that fella who helped transform my insane asylum earlier this year.
Books Not Drugs: Peter Adlington
Executing my desires with perfect if slightly worrying psychic-twinning, we see here two of the badge designs that you may be lucky enough to receive on the night if you have bought your ticket. The Guardian says you should buy a ticket. So does Attitude. No excuse. Without peeling back the Ready-Meal film on the nature of the intervention involved, it concerns bibliophiles swarming en masse, with hidden intent. Pete's brilliant mascot depicted above, Knobby Owl, might give a hint at the engorged blood pulsing beneath the calm exterior, pushing against a latex-thin veneer of propriety and threatening to burst forth, showering those gathered with... well, you get the idea. Ahem.
Gore Couture at Junk
Hokulani MamaSwamp Beale / AAE Los Angeles
Abandon Normal Devices Festival and Junk Shop welcomes San Francisco’s infamous horror hostess Peaches Christ/director Joshua Grannell to Manchester for the International Premiere of the (bloody) marvellous horror comedy, All About Evil! This immersive, 4-D floorshow and screening asks that audiences consider attending in their very finest Gore Couture. Taking inspiration from vintage Hollywood B-movies, classic monsters and ray-gun toting alien invaders, fans across the globe have responded by fusing Lady Gaga with Morticia Addams, Leigh Bowery with Beetlejuice.
Damiana Garcia, Christeene Vale / AAE Los Angeles
To aid in your own transformation, Junk are offering exclusive courses in Gore Couture. You will concoct ghoulishly glamorous attire using hellish embellishments, sickly, saturated colours and tremble-inducing textures to create costumes which both captivate and repel, selecting an item from your wardrobe to undergo a horrible transformation. It could be straight out of a vintage movie theatre: you might bring to life an oversized piece of costume jewellery, an exuberant headpiece and opera-length glove set or even a classic faux-fur stole to be worn with your most deadly Little Black Dress.
Ric Ray, Holy McGrail / AAE San Francisco photo by Marcy Cravat
Junk Shop are trailblazers in sustainable fashion. Their city centre branch (in addition to their first boutique on Burton Road in West Didsbury) has been entirely furnished using recycled or reclaimed materials: suspended spindle shelving, a remoulded fairy liquid bottle counter and walk in wardrobe changing rooms are just a few of the features. This approach is in keeping with a business manifesto that pursues green ethics, each store showcasing three unique labels by their own in-house design team (Junk Boutique, Jumble and Label of Love).
Junk Shop
To get your pulse racing and the brain ticking, you may wish to follow one of the staff suggested themes:
Hammer Glamour: think gore-soaked frocks and frills; slashed and trashed lace; shredded, knotted and bound translucent nightgowns; florid ruffles and coagulated fluids.
Manchester Morgue: think dissection; surgical sutures and splices; bulbous and burst organs transplanted and rearranged; convulsing creases and sunken, watery eyes.
The Phantom of the Opera: think matted and splattered faux-fur; stiffened silk; opera glasses; luxurious quilted fabrics; fringing; tantalising tassels and velvet which produces a shudder in the spine.
Junk Shop
Junk Shop
Junk Shop
Junk Shop
This course includes up-cycled materials, free entry to the opening night at Cornerhouse (normal ticket price £15), first option on further tickets plus an exclusive photo session provided by our friends and collaborators, Grimm Up North. It would be helpful if you were to bring along some imagery to guide your co-creators in devising an individual look just for you.
£120.00 / places limited. Two days, Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th September, 12 - 6pm (12 hours). Call Junk to book on 0161 238 8517.
LIMITED PLACES AVAILABLE
A Whore for the Gore
Peaches Christ / image: Jose Guzman Colon
What better date than Friday 13th to reveal the details (with some surprises still withheld) of the International Premiere of All About Evil; the directorial feature debut of cult horror hostess, Gore Couture icon and director Peaches Christ / Joshua Grannell. Appearing at Cornerhouse as part of Abandon Normal Devices (1 - 7 October), tickets will very soon be on sale - and are set to disappear just as quickly! I'm looking for contributors, volunteers and flat-out fabulous audience members, so read all about it, see some advance snapshots, roll the VT and get in touch!
The Second Coming
The news is now out and the countdown has begun - 9 weeks - until Abandon Normal Devices Festival hosts both the UK debut of Midnight Mass and the International Premiere of the black comedy horror, All About Evil. Directed by Joshua Grannell whose alter-ego the horror hostess Peaches Christ is the star and dripping heart of Midnight Mass, it's a double-whammy for Manchester as we host this lewd, crude, participatory chunk'a B-Movie joy.
I was fortunate to head out to San Francisco earlier this year, home to the show and the cast, where Peaches is revered as a cult (movie) leader. Posters on the Muni system confirmed this! As producer of the event there are already some exciting collaborations lined up, with the first batch of tickets on sale soon.
Save the date - Saturday 2nd October. And if you think you'd like to get involved, then get in touch to become one of The Children of the Popcorn!