All About Evil

During a stage performance at the family-owned Victoria Theatre in San Francisco, Deborah is electrocuted by a microphone. She miraculously survives the incident, leaving a lasting fear of violence and a fixation on the power of film. The event foreshadows the dark path her life will take.

In 2000, Deborah lives as a shy librarian while running the theatre's dilapidated operation. Her abusive mother Tammy dominates the situation, pressuring Deborah to sell the venue. The theater mainly screens revival exploitation and horror titles, shaping Deborah's taste and future ambitions.

Tammy confronts Deborah about selling the theatre, setting off a brutal confrontation. Deborah lunges and stabs Tammy to death in the lobby just as a screening is about to begin. The murder marks Deborah's first step into the killer-director persona the story follows.

In a panic, Deborah rushes to the projection booth and starts the film. However, the screen displays security footage of the murder she just committed instead of a new feature, and the audience applauds it as if it were art. This accidental screening catalyzes a disturbingly devoted following around Deborah's work.

Mr. Twigs, the longtime projectionist who despised Tammy, helps Deborah conceal the body in the attic of the theatre. The two work in secrecy to keep the murder out of sight from the patrons. The attic becomes the grim repository for their crimes.

Deborah and Twigs murder a theatergoer named Veronica and film the act as part of their evolving repertoire. In the footage, Deborah plays a Victorian queen while Twigs directs the gruesome scene. They screen this clip as a short before another main feature, shocking the audience.

Steven Thompson’s fascination with Deborah deepens, and his mother Linda grows increasingly worried about the brutal material she consumes. The audiences begin to hail Deborah as a pioneering female horror director. The dynamic between the young admirer and the artist becomes a driving force in the film's unfolding events.

To generate fresh material, Deborah and Twigs pose as relatives to two sociopathic twin sisters, Veda and Vera, who are about to be released from a child psychiatric hospital. The ruse pulls the twins into the theater's dark orbit, expanding their disturbing plans. The troupe continues to assemble a new cycle of films around the murders.

Deborah and her circle ambush Evelyn, a librarian coworker, as she closes up the library. Evelyn is bound and gagged, then locked in the theater attic while filming continues. The resulting clip, titled The Maiming of the Shrew, is shown to the audience at a later screening.

During a subsequent screening, Deborah stabs Claire to death in the bathroom, and Evelyn—still trapped in the attic—tears open her sutures and is beheaded by Mr. Twigs. The violence escalates, drawing a growing crowd of followers and forcing the patrons to confront the line between art and murder.

Judy visits the theater to interview Deborah for the school newspaper, but she is bound and gagged and locked in the attic when things go wrong. Deborah uses the moment to announce that she has started casting for her debut feature. The escalating danger deepens as the theater becomes a stage for real violence.

On the premiere night, Linda confronts Deborah on the theater's roof and stabs her in the throat, ending her murderous campaign. In the ensuing chaos, Veda and Vera fatally wound each other as guests escape to safety. Steven, his mother, and Judy flee with the escaped crowd, and the Victoria Theatre settles into local legend as a place where a killer's finale became a disturbing myth.