Bette and Joan, eat your hearts out! This drag-studded recreation of the 1962 classic What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? drops us back into the depths of sisterly detestation. Baby Jane has seen better days, but her paralyzed sister Blanche is still oh-so-perfect. The two has-been movie stars have turned into recluses with axes to grind — literally — over their sordid pasts.

Baby Jane, still clinging to her glory days as a vaudeville legend turned screen actress, now finds contentment through daily drinking binges and cruelty towards her sister. The doggedly pollyannaish Blanche somehow retains her ebullient spirit despite nearly constant neglect, abuse, torture and imprisonment by her demented sister. But who is manipulating whom? The undercurrent of rage between the two erupts into physical violence and melodramatic slap-fests. The big question: what really happened all those years ago that landed Blanche in a wheelchair?

Through classically black and white cinematography that would make Hitchcock proud, the film and cast (starring Matthew Martin and J. Conrad Frank, with original music by Ejector) pay fitting homage to not only a couple of drag’s leading ladies but to a cluster of Hollywood films. Locals will recognize San Francisco drag legend Ethel Merman, along with crowd favorite Heklina, in a turn as a maddeningly absent-minded neighbor that would short-list her for Best Supporting Actress (if we had anything to say about it).