Bad Girls Burn In Hell - The Perils Of Filming A Horror Film In Rural America

Source: Rachel Grubb (Press Release)

Horror filmmakers everywhere dream of finding locations like Picher, Okla. Sure, the place is emptier than New York City in "I Am Legend," but it has that creepy aura you just can't get out of a studio soundstage. What better place to film a tale of the macabre than a town that looks like it's been visited by the Angel of Death?

That's exactly what the good people of Death Factory, Inc. thought when they went there in October to film their latest, good-natured perversion, "Bad Girls Burn In Hell". Things started off well. Then looters made off with a generator and some paranormal researchers confused the shoot for an actual murder site.

Then they were filming a scene where a man is crucified and whalloped with a shovel. The cops showed up with a concerned local, who thought they were actually murdering someone. Even after showing the gentleman the shovel was rubber, and the filmmakers assured him they weren't making a snuff film, he still thought they were doing something malicious.

Then Gary Linderman got wind of the wicked doings. Linderman runs the Ole Miner's Pharmacy and was once featured in People magazine. He went to the filmmaker's Web site and immediately phoned the police.


The Death Factory folk tried to explain to the cops and the district attorney that they were doing hardcore horror, not hardcore porn, which is illegal in Oklahoma. Even though they had a contract to use several houses and a church, the DA gave them the boot.

Then after they left, some firebug torched the houses the filmmakers had used as sets.

That's a lot of bad voodoo.

The filmmakers will be finishing the last week of the movie in January, in Joplin, MO. Incidentally, the Joplin Globe, which circulates in over 14 counties, wrote a piece about this whole fiasco, and another about the fire:

http://www.joplinglobe.com/siteSearch/apstorysection/local_story_303211811.html

http://www.joplinglobe.com/local/local_story_327214344.html


"Bad Girls Burn In Hell" features scream queens Devanny Pinn and Rachel Grubb (phpto), along with independent film legend, Lloyd Kaufman. Funnily enough, the director of photography, Corey Soria, is also a famous porn director, who goes by the alias, Craven Moorehead.

It's helmed by do-it-yourselfer Joe Hollow and Travis Miller. These gentlemen are hardcore. They're willing to brave lawmen and accusations of lewdness, just to give their audiences a few good scares.

See Also: Controversy in Oklahoma: The Making of Bad Girls Burn In Hell / Missing Your Rachel Grubb & Elske McCain Fix? Maybe You Should Take A Shower? / What Are Celebrities Doing For Halloween? - Part 1 / On Roman Polanski / Rachel Grubb - Eyes That Can Melt Your Heart - Film Making In A Uniquely Feminine Style / Hot & Sexy Photos From Jason Stephenson's 'Strip Club Slasher' / New Behind The Scenes Photos Of Scarlet Salem From The Movie 'Strip Club Slasher' / Joanna Angel - The Princess Of Punk Porn Joins The Cast Of "Haunting Kira" / What I Want From The Next Batman Movie / Jason Vorhees And Some Top Line Screem Queens Sign On For 'Haunting Kira' / Between Heaven And Hell - More Fantasy Photos Of Rachel Grubb / Vampire Girl & Fairy Girl - New Photos Of Rachel Grubb / Scream Queen Rachel Grubb Nude....Okay, Kinda, Sorta / Now For A Completely Different Kind Of Zombie Movie - Haunting Kira Starring Rachel Grubb / Rachel Grubb - She's Got The Looks That Kill / Come Play With Me - New Photos Of Rachel Grubb / Actress Who Not Afraid To Bare It All Needed For Camp Kill / David Byron Takes A Look At Modern Femme Fatales In Queens Of Scream: The New Blood / An Interview With Model And Actress Rachel Grubb - A Gotham Goddess / Silent But Deadly Productions Presents - Silly But Delusional / Look Out! Rachel Grubb Has A Really Big Gun! / Terror Overload - Tales From Satan's Truck Stop Premiere Info And Pics / There Is Some True Grind House Being Made In Minnesota

Controversy in Oklahoma: The Making of Bad Girls Burn In Hell

Last month, I was down in Oklahoma with Death Factory, Inc. making a horror movie called BAD GIRLS BURN IN HELL! I play Susan Shepard, and the amazing Chris Burchette plays my husband David. We both went nuts when our daughter was killed by a group of girls driving drunk. Ever since then, we've been kidnapping "bad girls," as we perceive them to be, and we punish them.

Our film shoot took place in Picher, Oklahoma, a small town in the upper right hand corner of the state that barely exists anymore, but has a rich history. During both World Wars, Picher was a location for mines that supplied bullets to the soldiers. During mining operations, the workers removed subsurface material from the town, which left the city's structures unstable. Picher had already been declared closed when a tornado hit the town last year. The government gave its residents checks to assist with relocation.

Since Picher wasn't really functional anymore, we were all staying at a hotel in a nearby town called Miami, OK. I know it's spelled just like Miami, FL, but don't be fooled by the name. It's pronounced "My-AM-uh," not "My-AM-ee". Remember this if you ever go there. They get a little defensive about it.

The house we were contracted to use had no plumbing and no electricity, so we had to set up port-a-potties and a generator, while we were on set. The house was decorated with all kinds of beautiful--yet old-fashioned and somewhat creepy--photographs, paintings and knicknacks. There was a scary shed, which was decorated to represent the "basement" where we tortured the girls. Among other things, there was a bed, handcuffs and some big, glass jars with ambiguous contents that had girls' names taped to the side. Suffice it to say, it was creepy.

Some looters had already stolen a generator, so when some of the crew saw some people poking around in the shed, they decided to call the police. When they arrived, they were surprised to find a group of 20-somethings in surgical masks who were not thieves at all, but amateur, paranormal researchers. Apparently, they had stumbled upon the Shepards' makeshift torture chamber and thought they had found a real murder site, and a goldmine for ghost hunting. When we showed up with the cops, they were both disappointed to find out there were no ghosts, and relieved that we weren't actually going to kill them. This was my first day on set. I knew it was going to be an interesting week.

Lloyd Kaufman from Troma came into town to do a cameo for the movie. I had worked with Lloyd before and it was great to see him again. We did a gore effect in which we blew his fake head off of a mold of Michael Keaton's torso from BATMAN '89, which we were fortunate enough to have on set.

Before I explain what happened, there's something you should know. Our director of photography is Craven Moorehead, the famous porn director. He did an excellent job shooting, was a pleasure to work with, and was a lot of fun to be around. A few days before we were scheduled to go back, he knocked on the door of my hotel room.

"We lost the house," he told me. "They think we're shooting porn."

"What? Why would they think that?"

"I don't know. They say it's my fault, but who knows?"

Everyone thought for sure that someone in authority must have found out who he was. When we saw the article in the Joplin Globe, we learned that this was not the case.

A resident had heard about what we were doing and decided to check it out. The resident in question was Gary Linderman, and he's actually a very interesting guy. He's the town pharmacist in Picher, and when the town was cleared out a year ago, he vowed to stay in the town as long as there were people who needed him, and to be the last person out of the town. Since there are a few who adamantly refuse to move, he's still there. He was once featured in People Magazine's Heroes Among Us. He was, however, not so keen on the idea of our film. He checked out the website, full of blood and boobies, and decided he did not like what he saw there.

Now everyone always asks, Why didn't you just prove to them that you weren't shooting porn? But then that's the problem--how do you prove a negative? Say the District Attorney comes to set and doesn't see any porn being filmed. How does he know we're not going to start filming porn as soon as he leaves? If we give him the footage, how does he know we didn't just keep all the footage that had porn on it? Once the proverbial "they" get involved, "they" are going to believe what they want to believe, and there's nothing we can do about it.

I'd filmed in small towns before. The locals are usually excited to see a movie being made near them, no matter how small the project. Even if it's a student short, they ask all kinds of questions and just observe to see how it's done. But Picher, and the surrounding areas, were towns much smaller than I'd ever been to in my life. We tried to order subs for the cast and crew one day, and we couldn't get them because the local Subway didn't have enough bread.

The rest of the article in the Joplin Globe was...interesting, to say the least. The assistant to the District Attorney reportedly said of our film, "the test--the question is--is it obscene?" They also amusingly quoted my Twitter page, including my confusion about the pronunciation of "Miami."

Fortunately, our ever resourceful producer, Joe Hollow, secured a new location within a day. Our director, Travis Miller, purchased the shed we were filming in for ten bucks, so that we could come back and finish later. We are about seventy five percent done, and we won't be able to resume filming until January. But in a way, I'm glad, because working on the film was a great experience, and I feel very fortunate to be able to go back to it.