Stage productions can be a nightmare in both the literal and figurative sense. Max Tzannes's Et Tu is definitely one in the former sense, or in both even as harried theatre director Lou Diamond Phillips attempts to mount a production of Julius Ceasar among unruly cast members, paranoid delusions, prop issues, a nasty theatre landlord, murder itself and some time warping metaphysical weirdness. In a theatre setting it's easy to feel like one is losing one's mind, it's just such a hectic, manic environment and I always appreciate a horror film that explores this avenue. Phillips and his younger supporting cast make flippant, caustically dynamic work of this bizarrely deft script that wavers between satirical coherency and outright ethereal meta-mayhem a lá David Lynch's Inland Empire. Malcolm McDowell also shows to garnish the horror pedigree further as a mysterious cockney janitor lording over the theatre's shadowy bowels like a jovially sinister, omnipotent master of ceremonies. It's a great example of good arthouse horror done on a super low budget but thanks to a really clever script and some truly insane choices on everyone's part, works like a dark charm.
