Yeah, weird right? Is that last egg an…avocado? I’m not sure.

Well, today we’re super excited to interview Hank Kellerman, director of the upcoming sci-fi comedy film Devilution, for the Cult Celebrities blog.

Tell us a little bit about your beginnings. Your origin story, so to speak. How did you get into filmmaking, and what made you choose this path over others?

When I was in 7th grade I vividly remember watching a movie on the SyFy channel called Raptor Planet and just because it had the name raptor in it, I decided to leave it on. To my disappointment, and surprise, when the raptors showed up they were crude, roughly animated, and had little lighting or texture applied to make them fit in the scene. I thought to myself, “How did this ever get made? Don’t they know that doesn’t look good?” And that was just the beginning for my love of cheesy effects, loose plot lines and acting that isn’t capable of any awards.

When I went to college I started my degree pursuing marketing, given I was creative with things and enjoyed learning about people. Also upon leaving for college I began growing my collection of movies. All sorts of bad ones and people would come to my dorm room and I would have so no-name movie on and they’d have to stay and watch out of curiosity and then I’d smile as they would leave after five minutes due to “this movie sucks.” But I loved every one of ‘em. I transferred schools and after some deliberation decided to pursue a degree in Digital Media Production with an Emphasis on film. Unfortunately, me being the forward thinker, I knew that it would be difficult to get the type of job I truly wanted and I wanted a safe career path. So back to marketing I went. I graduated with my degree and a minor in creative writing where every story I wrote I always had the intention of turning it into a film some day.

After working in the real world for three years or so and finally sitting down to finish up the first draft of Devilution, I decided it was time to try and make a splash in the world of cinema. However, after reading the script thoroughly it was clear that no one else would be interested in making my film and so I decided that the only way to see it on the big screen was to do it myself. And here we are!

Give us some background on Devilution, your upcoming film, and why you chose to make this specific movie.

Devilution began roughly seven or eight years ago. My older brother Pete and I was just sitting around the campfire joking around and the idea came up about birds turning back in to dinosaurs and how crazy that would be. We laughed it off and a few days later I had written an outline. Then I forgot about it for a while. It sat on my hard drive and I’d occasionally tell my buddies about this idea for a movie I had, going through the story line, the twist and turns, and just using it for fun.

Believe it or not, Devilution was not supposed to be the first movie that Rusty Hay Wagon Circus Films was going to make. We were working on a documentary about my family and a situation that involved losing the house all my siblings grew up in due to the city growing around us, but we tossed it out when we tried to figure out what kind of movies should RHWCF make? And the answer of great movies with low budgets and strange stories was obvious.

Devilution allowed us to take full control of everything and gave us the opportunity to make something no one had ever seen before and I think that is what’s important. The basic plot of the movie is that a meteorite lands and contains a new element which (of course) causes birds to de-evolve into their ancestor of a raptor and then a ragtag team of friends must hold out and figure out how to survive long enough for the military to arrive and save them.

Devilution is my baby and I knew I wanted my first film to be special and I don’t think they get more special that this. On top of the awesome story, I knew we could do all the work ourselves with locations we had access to and friends willing to act in exchange for a hot lunch or dinner and continental breakfast!

What are your favorite 5 films, and how do they influence your work?

Dead Alive- (sometimes called Braindead) This movie above all others is one I love showing to my friends. Peter Jackson’s early work all has this look and feel of uneasiness and goofiness. And the New Zealand accents throughout the film are icing on the cake. This movie, more than anything, serves as inspiration of “If someone can start their career making a movie like this, then work up to Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit or King Kong…why can’t I?”

Bad Taste- Another awesome film from the back of the closet in Peter Jackson’s house. Aliens invading earth to eat humans? Why not shape them like potatoes mixed with soft serve ice cream? Everything about it is great. Great costumes, story, locations- and not to mention the VFX. Peter Jackson was incredible in his use of practical effects in this movie.

Killer Klowns from Outer Space- Talk about a carnival! This film is a personal favorite and another staple in my “movie night with friends” collection. The story is wild, the Klown creatures are perfect, and the writing fits everything that is going on perfectly. Another one that teaches me that any story is capable of being told. If people believe Killer Klowns from Outer Space is a bad movie, they just haven’t paid attention. (And not to mention that awesome theme song!)

Razorteeth- Mark Polonia (who I consider to be one of the kings of SOV film), has created dozens of awesome movies with low-budgets, creative effects and plot lines that draw the viewer in, even if the acting isn’t Oscar worthy. I love creature features and this one is no exception. All of his movies with monsters make me really want to explore the world of practical creature effects in future films. (We tried getting real raptors for Devilution but just getting the mass quantities of meals required was outside our budget so we had to settle for CGI.)

Tremors- This movie became a household title and between Reba and Kevin Bacon starring as folks fighting of mutant worm creatures, it’s no surprise. Didn’t really influence me in particular, but definitely in my top five for entertainment factor.

Which part of filmmaking do you enjoy the most – editing, effects, writing, shooting, acting, etc?

I definitely enjoy the writing aspect of it. I have yet to act (though I will come this fall), but writing the story and visualizing everything in your head as you go page by page is very rewarding. Taking something from concept, to script, then to hear others reading your script, and now to be editing footage of people reading lines on camera is an experience like no other.

Tell us a little bit about your current production setup: cameras, equipment, editing stack?

For Devilution our goal was to keep expenses as low as possible and so we focused on using equipment we already had.The entire movie was shot on a single Sony CX900. No special lenses or extra cameras to help so shooting was a bit tedious. For sound we were using a Taskar shotgun mic, attatched to a length of PVC pipe. I built a tripod dolly with some wood and also built a “steadicam” rig out of PVC pipe and the shots all turned out much better than I expected (though I think my expectations were low!) For Devilution we tried wherever possible to just use natural light, and only occasionally using a small LED panel for a fill light where needed. Maybe a handful of those shots will make the final cut.

For editing I am using Adobe Premiere. VFX is Adobe After Effects and Blender. I have never had formal education on these softwares but am more of a self-taught type. I will just say this: If I wasn’t confident that I could edit the movie and do the majority of the VFX myself…Devilution would not have been made.

If you were given $100,000 to spend on a movie production, what would you spend it on?

Wow. First of all I would probably laugh since someone thinks I need $100K to make one of my movies. (Well I do, but I manage…) I’d get a better camera, probably the Black Magic Pocket Camera and hire a Cinematographer and PA and sound person for the shoot. For Devilution there were times when I was running camera, sound, directing, and supervising the script so an extra hand or two would be appreciated on set! I’d get a couple of locations that would be unique to film in as well! Whatever is left over would go towards some kick-ass special effects and custom creature/monster models.

After Devilution is released, what’s next for you and Rusty Hay Wagon Circus Films?

Though we had the ability to make a few sequels for Devilution, the plan is to shoot our next feature film this November. It’s a different than Devilution, but will have the same witty story and dialogue that people will come to expect from RHWCF after Devilution. After that one it is on to the next project we have slated which, should things go to plan, will start shooting next summer sometime. In the meantime we will continue to fine tune some scripts we have written in the hopes of collaborating with someone or selling them to be made for the big screen.

Thanks so much for talking to us, Hank. We’ll leave our readers with another trailer for Devilution.

Hank Kellerman is the director and writer of Devilution, a sci fi comedy film releasing in late 2019. You can follow Rusty Hay Wagon Circus on their website.

Devilution (2020) Photo Gallery

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Gil

Gil attended film school in Los Angeles for a short time before leaving for better. He worked in film & media production for several years, traveling to 50+ countries. Obsessed with feel-good 80s teen comedies, sword-and-sorcery films, and gritty sci fi noir, Gil is a fan of the weird and campy. His favorite films include Blade Runner, Alien, Mad Max, and Drive.

There’s a whole world of independent film producers who direct movies on no- to low-budgets, and then go on to see significant success in the community. Usually these producers are genre specific (indie horror films are a huge part of folks who come here) but also in other genres like sci-fi or fantasy.

Between the two of us (Gil & Stu) we’ve had more years of experience in marketing and movies than we’d like to admit. And we’ve seen some interesting patterns in how a film is successfully marketed.

And here’s the deal: promoting your movie doesn’t necessarily have to be expensive!

While having a marketing budget definitely helps your chances (and, let’s be honest, you won’t really be able to market your movie successfully without spending something) there are some solid movie promotion ideas that work great. You just have to have a long-term approach to your movie promotion strategy. And, not to mention, be willing to put in some hard work.F

Let’s go over some of the best film promotion ideas for those on a strict budget.

1) Create Your Own Website For Your Movies

We’re not talking about social media pages. We’re also not talking about free Blogspot blogs or Tumblr accounts. We’re talking about real, established, long-term websites with a real .com domain.

The good news is, if you’re the sort of person who is shooting and editing films, you also have the tech savviness to register a domain and set up a WordPress site.

The main importance of doing this is that you fully control everything on the website. Your film promotion strategy should not be dependent upon the whims of Facebook or Twitter, who can (and do) change their algorithms and guidelines at any time. You will get hardly any organic (non-paid) reach on most social media platforms, so building your own site is crucial to long-term success.

2) Build An Email List For Your Fans

It sounds old-school, but building & maintaining an email list is one of the most underrated forms of movie marketing. It’s very powerful. Wonder why? Because every single person on the internet has an email address. There isn’t a more universal medium, and especially not one which you can fully control. First message your friends & family to get them on the list, follow up with the cast and crew from your films, and then post messages on your social platforms to get people to sign up. Then, make sure the website that you created in step 1 has an email signup button, so all the visitors to your site have the chance to sign up to your list.

3) Use Social Media To Promote Your Films

Yes, in the above two points we dropped some hints about how social media isn’t the end-all for movie promotion. And it’s true, it’s not perfect. But you absolutely do need to have a presence, because many people will interact and like your pages. Make sure to set up cross-posting (so that if you post a blog article, for example, it shoots over automatically to Twitter or Tumblr, for example). You’ve find that sometimes, getting traction on a platform like Facebook means you have to spend money to boost a post.

4) Get Press Coverage For Your Local Production

This is an easy way to get some local interest drummed up in your film. Since you’re likely paying local people to be on the crew, and local up-and-coming stars are appearing in your film, it’s a really good way to get some serious attention from the community.

Here’s the secret: don’t pay anyone who promises to get you some news articles. It’s really easy to do it yourself, no need to pay a “PR person” to do it. Here’s why: local papers are always excited to get some local news in their pages. Call up every single paper and magazine and niche publication in your area (even in a small city, there will be dozens) and pitch them your production. Someone will bite, and you’ll find you get some nice links to your website and some people messaging you about helping out with the movie.

5) Advertise your movie trailer with YouTube pre-roll ads

This is one of the least-used and most-underrated forms of advertising your film. You might think that it costs a lot of money, but that’s not the case. Advertising online can be risky if you’re doing it for the first time or if you have a limited budget, but if your campaign is set up correctly, and targeted towards the correct demographics you can get a view for $0.05 to $0.10.

If you’ve got a $1000 trailer advertising budget, that means you could get upwards of 20,000 people seeing your film. If you use advanced placements, you can put it in front of other, similar clips on YouTube so that you can get super targeted views: for example, 20,000 horror movie fans in the midwest seeing your trailer!

6) In-person indie film festivals

Most of the movie production ideas so far have been digital, but you can’t forget showing up to a film festival and meeting a lot of folks face to face. It can be a little expensive, but it’s totally worth it. You will get plugged in to the local scene in a way you can’t ever do online.

If you can get your film into a festival, even better.

7) Get Early Reviews For Your Film

And last but not least, getting early reviews for your film is huge, and if done appropriately this can generate a lot of pre-release buzz for your movie. You know those quotes in the trailers of every indie film, sort of like “A harrowing tale of Southern Gothic justice. – Atlanta Herald”. Here’s how to get reviews for your film:

First, talk to local press and try to get them to review your films. This really only works if the publication has a dedicated film critic or a culture section, and if your film is big enough for them to invest their time and effort into reviewing it. It shouldn’t cost anything, but it can be really hard to get your film reviewed.

Get a movie review website to review your film. Make sure they’re reputable, have a big readership, and check to see what their other reviews are like. Usually it does cost (for example, as of 2019 here at Cult Celebrities we review movies for $35) but hey, we gotta make money somehow. Contact us if you’re interested, yo.

We hope that this selection of movie promotion ideas has been helpful. We’ve done our fair share of film marketing (from YouTube pre-roll, to showing up to festivals, to running one of the most popular B-movie sites on the planet! Got any of your own? Shoot them over to us!

Gil

Gil attended film school in Los Angeles for a short time before leaving for better. He worked in film & media production for several years, traveling to 50+ countries. Obsessed with feel-good 80s teen comedies, sword-and-sorcery films, and gritty sci fi noir, Gil is a fan of the weird and campy. His favorite films include Blade Runner, Alien, Mad Max, and Drive.

Matt Spease, who has been making horror films since the early 2000s at least, has returned with a sequel to Indestructible: Afterlife. Directed by Matt Spease with a screenplay by John Vasiliou, the character of James Kirby, out for vengeance, comes back with an even more shocking presence.

The movie opens with a cornered cop, Robert Kersey (played by Dark Night Films veteran Jade Michael LaFont) who is up against James Kirby on the second floor of a small house. He keeps pumping bullet after bullet into Kirby, who won’t die. “Just…stay…down!” the cop says, before finally knocking him backwards with another shot.

Indestructible indeed, the cop crawls over to check the body. Kirby whispers something about Kersey’s daughter before dying. Kersey rushes downstairs, checking on his daughter Stephanie, but suddenly Kirby is back. The daughter, played by Lauren Lasseigne, unloads on Kirby and finally putting his lights out.

V. Duwane Ledbetter as the mayor

He keeps coming back, a common thread throughout the film. Escaping the cops and the city mayor, who won’t believe he’s still alive, Kirby escapes through the back door and finds refuge with an old man who helps him recover his health.

A year later, Kersey is at a mental hospital because of his insistence that Kirby is still alive, and his daughter has been taken from him, living with a foster family, the daughter of whom is played by Emmi Mullen.

While in a coma, Kirby sees a detective he killed long ago. The detective tries to reason with him and tell him to not revenge himself against the girl who shot him. Kirby, who controls his dream realm, sends a message through the dead detective to the living world, then wakes from his coma. He instantly resumes his killing spree, slaughtering hunters in the woods, slaughtering a trio of impertinent teens cruising in a Mustang, while ultimately climaxing in a brutal showdown at a house party, a scene reminiscent of several other Dark Night Films releases over the past few years.

Jordan Phipps as Phoebe

The movie sees the return of several actors who’ve starred in previous Matt Spease films, including Rick Vyper as a crazy old man, Miracle Davis as Tina Anderson, V. Duwane Ledbetter as the mayor, and of course Matt Spease himself as the main character, James Kirby. The movie also brings in some newer faces of local actors, like Jordan Phipps as Phoebe, one of the unfortunate teen trio.

Matt Spease as James Kirby

It’s clear that Indestructible: Reckoning has taken a step up in quality. While some of the previous Dark Night Films were clearly shot on videotape, Spease has transitioned to HD with the use of smartphones, and the results make much more watchable cinematography. The lighting, stability, and cinematography is solid, and a higher resolution makes it that much clearer.

After watching the movie, it’s one of Dark Night Film’s most solid releases yet. It’s not a perfect movie, but most of the imperfections arise from budgetary reasons rather than the filmmaking itself. The negatives that stand out are understandable – like the cops driving Toyotas rather than police cruisers. But that’s a small issue. Indestructible: Reckoning is sure to be another dependable hit for Dark Night fans and anyone who likes gritty, southern, low-budget slashers.

You can visit the Dark Night Films website and grab a copy for yourself. The movie releases officially on July 23rd, 2019.

Gil

Gil attended film school in Los Angeles for a short time before leaving for better. He worked in film & media production for several years, traveling to 50+ countries. Obsessed with feel-good 80s teen comedies, sword-and-sorcery films, and gritty sci fi noir, Gil is a fan of the weird and campy. His favorite films include Blade Runner, Alien, Mad Max, and Drive.

Ron Ormond

Ron Ormond was a director of cheap exploitation and grindhouse films who converted to Christianity. He then took his directorial style and made cheap Christian propaganda films full of gore and terror — thus coining the term “Christploitation.”

Ron Ormond (1910-1981) was born in Baldwin, Louisiana. He started his career in showbiz as a vaudevillian-styled entertainer hosting performances and doing magic tricks, which is how he met his wife, June.

As a filmmaker and director, Ormond was typically entrenched in psychotronic films and B-Movies. Psychotronic is a term “denoting or relating to a genre of movies, typically with a science fiction, horror, or fantasy theme, that were made on a low budget or poorly received by critics.” These types of productions “can commonly be identified by their use of exploitation elements and their interest in humanity’s lower common denominators.”

Ormond ended up establishing himself as one of the top (and only) filmmakers operating in Nashville, Tennessee. This allowed him to have access to more resources than other exploitation filmmakers of his kind because he was basically the only fish in the pond. His films spanned across several genres, such as B-Movie Westerns, race car films, country music films, and good old fashion horror-exploitation. The titles of his films ought to tell you everything you need to know: Fast on the Draw (1950), King of the Bullwhip (1950), Kentucky Jubilee (1951), The Thundering Trail (1951), Yes Sir, Mr. Bones (1951), The Vanishing Outpost (1951), The Black Lash (1952), The Frontier Phantom (1952), Outlaw Women (1952), Naked Gun (1956), The Black Panther (1956), Please Don’t Touch Me (1963), Forty Acre Feud (1965), Girl from Tobacco Row (1966), White Lightnin’ Road (1967), The Exotic Ones aka The Monster and the Stripper (1968).

Ormond was known as a great marketer of schlock and sleaze. Legend has it that, for his film Untamed Mistress, Ormond basically promised scenes of bestiality between gorillas and a female version of Tarzan (and some claim that this film depicts overt racist messages). Amongst film producers of this era, he was known for his ability to accomplish film projects on extremely low budget constraints. Despite what limitations producers threw at him, Ormond was often able to generate a profit – a skill that would be of great help for him in later days. 

During his ‘secular’ era, Ormond was the creative mind and director behind a film project called Mesa of a Lost Woman. This went on to become one of his most ‘famous’ (I use this term very loosely) secular films. Producers asked Ormond to stitch together a movie using scrapped and leftover footage from a previously failed production. The result is a crazy, psychotronic sci-fi escapade of women being transformed into hybrid-spider monsters as someone strums a guitar as fast as possible for (what feels like) the entire movie. To top things off, the mad scientist of the film is played by Jackie Coogan (the Uncle in the Addams Family).

His other most popular non-religious film was called The Exotic Ones or, alternatively, The Monster and the Stripper. The plot follows a team of hunters who find a humanoid beast in the swamp called “The Swamp Thing” (no connection to the DC Comics). It involves strippers (of course), but also killing a real chicken (which is terrible; you shouldn’t kill animals for entertainment). The most famous scene is when the Swamp Thing beats a man to death with a severed arm. To make things even crazier, this was filmed in a studio owned by a Methodist Church.

In addition to his filmmaking, Ron Ormond also worked on the topic of hypnosis with author and friend Ormond McGill. Two of their books — Religious Mysteries of the Orient and Into the Strange Unknown — can be priced up to 5,000 dollars! In my humble opinion, no book should be worth that much unless Shakespeare himself signs it. But apparently, they are extremely rare. I searched around for a pdf copy but couldn’t find one. 

Religious Conversion of Ormond

Though he was often known as a ‘sleazemeister,’ Ormond dropped his lewd themes after a couple of freak incidents. The Ormond family – Ron, his wife June Carr, and their son, Tim – were flying their private airplane to a showing of one of their latest movies. Unfortunately, they ended up in a serious accident, where both Ron and June were injured (Tim emerged unscathed). Within a few years, they had a new airplane, but that one also crashed! 

The Ormond family took this as a kind of spiritual ‘wake up call.’ Rather than using their resources to make films about monsters killing strippers, they ought to make movies that glorify God. Soon, they were put into contact with a fire-and-brimstone preacher named Estus Pirkle. 

Pirkle was quite concerned about the possibility of communists taking over the United States. Mind you, this was during the middle of the Cold War, and so many people were concerned about this as well. However, Pirkle was convinced that, unless America adopted his own fundamentalist brand of Christianity, communists were certain to overthrow America and begin a mass genocide of all Christians. The Baptist preacher was also obsessed with his peculiar doctrine of hell, and wanted to let people know that they were probably going to end up there someday. 

As fate would have it, the exploitation director collided with the fire-and-brimstone preacher, and the two of them decided to work on a film together. And thus was born the first Christploitation cinema classic: If Footmen Tire You, What Will Horses Do? (1971)

Footmen has been described as “the most confounding piece of homegrown budget-consciousness surrealism ever filmed”. The film transitions back and forth between a sermon presented by Pirkle and dramatizations filmed by Ormond. However, these dramatizations feature gruesome scenes depicting imagined communist torture techniques, murder, and future horrors of Christian persecution. By combining psychotronic film with religious propaganda and gory fear-mongering, this movie claims that youth culture is destroying the Christian values at the heart of American freedom. This, according to Pirkle, opens America to the threat of a communist takeover, which would be a near-apocalyptic event. The film’s message to non-Christians is that they need to convert to Christianity. To audience members who already believed, the film was meant to inspire them to reflect about whether or not they took their faith seriously, and if they could withstand possible persecution or eschatological horrors. Thus, “Footmen” refers to the threat of communism, and “Horsemen” refers to the biblical imagery of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. These two threats are coming to get you.

One of the most ‘fascinating’ aspects of this movie is, first of all, how the communists take over. They are presented as simply riding their horses into America and taking over the country with hardly any struggle. Why is this possible? The answer was already hinted at above: the sins of the youth. But what are these sins that will lead us straight into a nation-wide communist control? Watching television, sex-ED classes in school, going to drive-in theaters, and dancing. So next time you are doing the ‘cha-cha slide,’ remember that you’re pushing us all one step closer to the gulag.

The other unexpectedly horrific aspect of this movie is the violence and torture it depicts toward children. One child gets his head chopped off, while others are gunned down. But the most gruesome scene (in my opinion) is when they impale a long nail through a little boy’s ears so he will ‘no longer be able to hear the word of God.’ The boy then vomits everywhere. 

The second film Ormond made with Pirkle is The Burning Hell (1974). With the same directing format as Footmen, this film features another gory entry into the Christploitation genre. Pirkle’s fire-and-brimstone fear-mongering is taken to new heights as Ormond’s grindhouse style of directing brings imaginations of Hell onto the screen in bloody display.

While still being a sermon and pseudo-‘education’ film, The Burning Hell contains more narrative elements than its predecessor. These include the worst biblical reenactments of all time. In one of these reenactments, Moses (who looks like Santa) opens up the gates of hell, and it swallows people almost like the Sarlacc pit. In another scene, Cain kills his brother Abel by hitting him with a large club in a manner that looks like something from The Three Stooges. Cain then chokes Abel to death, so it’s as if an episode of The Three Stooges turned into cold-blooded murder. The overarching narrative that connects all the individual elements of the movie follows two young men. They are ‘bad boys’ and hippies who are terrible Christians because they believe that God is loving enough to let lots of people into heaven. One of them dies and is sent to hell. The other ends up converting to Christianity so he doesn’t end up like his friend. 

My favorite part of this entire movie is actually one of the demons in hell. He is wearing what looks like a devil costume from the dollar store. But the coolest part is that he has this awesome face makeup that looks like the design for a deck of cards at a fancy casino. His entrance is like something from a GQ fashion shoot from hell. Admittedly, he has little to do with the plot of the movie. I just like showing it to people whenever I discuss this film because we could all use more GQ casino devils in our lives. (You can find his full scene on my YouTube page. The video is titled “The Most Fabulous Demon in Hell.”)

After some ‘artistic’ disagreements (actually, I hear it was about money), Pirkle and Ormond parted ways. Ormond went on to write, produce, and direct his own Christploitation film, titled The Grim Reaper. At this point, I’ll have to divulge a hot-take for you: The Grim Reaper is my favorite Christploitation film. Some reviews I’ve read online believe that the absence of Pirkle’s outrageous preaching weakens the movie, but I think that’s its biggest strength. Though the sheer insanity of Pirkle’s preaching style is worthy of guffaw, I enjoyed The Grim Reaper’s focus on narrative. I personally get tired of Pirkle yelling at me after some time, and I just want to watch some poorly-acted B-Movie horror. There are a few moments of preaching in The Grim Reaper, but they take a backseat to a far more interesting occult story about demons. 

A young adrenaline junky dies in a car race after refusing to believe in Christianity. He is then sent to hell. The narrative then follows the rest of the family – the mother, brother, and father – as they deal with the loss. The mother and brother are both Christians, but the father is not. In an attempt to contact his dead son, the father seeks the guidance of a spirit medium, who is actually possessed by a demon, and conjures up all sorts of demonic spirits. The movie then teaches that demons are around us at all times, hoping to ensnare us. Eventually, the father recognizes his need to gain full resistance to satanic forces, and thus converts to Christianity. 

There are some ‘great’ scenes in this movie. My personal favorite is when the spirit-medium conjures up demonic spirits during a séance.  I thought this was a great directorial move. By introducing spiritualism, occultism, and the demonic into the equation, the product is a Christploitation film with more horror elements rather than only Baptist propaganda. The medium summons the spirits of various departed individuals, and we are treated to an eerie display of ghostly figures appearing in the room while reality itself seems distorted and surreal. This is actually a wonderfully fun display of B-Movie film-making. 

We also learn during his ritual that the medium is possessed by a demon, which is why he is able to summon these spirits. This is depicted by occasionally cutting for just a half-second to a red-faced devil and then back to the medium. It looks like a dollar-store Halloween costume version of the demon in the first Insidious movie.

Though this isn’t the only outrageous scene. We are treated to more terrible reenactments of biblical stories – including a returning appearance of Santa Moses from The Burning Hell. Furthermore, the movie features an extended scene in where the father receives a vision of his possible future in hell. This is my favorite ‘hell scene’ Ron Ormond ever directed, and that includes the scenes from The Burning Hell. The guiding ‘Virgil’ of this trip to Hell is a zombie-like corpse who looks kinda like Marv in the electrocution scene from Home Alone 2. The other characters shown in this psychotronic hellscape are just as crazy — specifically the costumes. It’s exactly what you’d expect if you took the mind of an exploitation film director and merged it with Halloween costumes from a thrift store. I’m 99% certain that there is even someone just wearing an un-altered Dracula costume. However, the most unsettling character looks like the offspring of Pennywise and Legolas. It’s as if someone gave her a papier-mâché forehead and elf ears without ever painting them. The ‘hell vision’ ends with the father’s ghostly spirit spiraling over an erupting volcano. (And I’m filled with joy that I had the opportunity to actually type out that sentence.)

Ormond and Pirkle eventually reunited again for the third entry into the psychotronic exploitation religious trilogy. The Believer’s Heaven was released in 1977 and, like most final chapters in a trilogy, it was the least well received in the series. The goal of the trilogy was to take people from earthly persecution, through the threatening torments of hell, and finally to a heavenly hope. 

Admittedly, I have not scene the full movie because it’s extremely difficult to find a copy. However, I found a few short clips online, and even a review from Cinema Snob on YouTube. Now, given that the topic is about heaven, I’m sure most of us would probably expect the movie to contain a boring, stereotypical portrayal of the afterlife according to the common tropes in our culture. We are wrong. 

Estus Pirkle has changed his preaching style, and now moves around the stage like an android trying to fool you into thinking he’s human. They also got ‘creative’ and included segments of Estus in front of a green screen with strange, trippy backgrounds. Other scenes include swelling psychedelic glitter spectacles that engulf the whole screen like a kaleidoscope.  We are also treated to a few biblical reenactments – a staple of Ormond’s movies. This includes a return of Santa Moses, who now looks like Merlin from King Arthur literature or perhaps the giant bearded head from The Land of Faraway. 

Of course, given that this is an Ormond film, they had to play the hits, which include more depictions of hell, and a scene where the dead bodies of children are thrown into a mass grave (or something like that). However, the most insane feature of this movie is how they chose to depict the concept of heaven being free from physical infirmity or deformities. They chose to film people with actual deformities and illnesses, while talking about how these individuals will be finally cured once they die. Ormond and Pirkle even make these people sing and perform in front of the congregation! They make a woman with a kind of dwarfism sing a gospel song, and they make a group of diseased and deformed children sing a hymn (when they obviously don’t want to). This reaches new heights of Christploitation that I never dreamed of. We moved beyond the simple fear-mongering of a radical religious fundamentalist and into the realm of exploiting disabled people for profit. Though it claims to be a Christian movie, this is profoundly not Christlike.

The last film Ormond ever directed in called 39 Stripes. This film is the least exploitative of his Christian filmmaking era. It is based on the true story of Ed Martin, a criminal who converted to Christianity while in prison, and then started his own prison ministry. After directing this film, Ron Ormond became sick, and didn’t have the energy to direct again. The last movie he had influence on was The Second Coming – an apocalyptic film about the rapture similar to Left Behind. Ron’s son, Tim, wrote the script, and Ron provided advice during the process. I wish I could provide more information on it, but it is even more difficult to find than The Believer’s Heaven. Unfortunately, Ron passed away in 1981 before the film was produced. He was 70 years old. 

Concluding Thoughts on Ron Ormond

I feel obliged to say that I neither support nor condone the Ormond films and how they use fear-mongering tactics to promote religion. I feel genuine empathy and sadness for the people who had to sit through a screening of one of these films, and might have been frightened to death. However, the fact that someone made grindhouse-style Christian movies in the late-70s era of psychotronic films is flabbergasting. Such a state of affairs rarely occurs, but when it does, the results are terribly legendary.

What do you think? Is there any artistic value to these movies beyond exploitation? Have you had any experience with these films? Are the Ormond/Pirkle movies simply propaganda, or is there more depth to them than one might initially think?

Thank you so much to Cult Celebrities for allowing me to write a guest post. Best wishes to you all. 

Sincerely, 

Vacation Bible School. 

If you want to keep up more with my work, you can find me at my blog!
My podcast: “Churchwave Radio” (it’s available on most podcast platforms, including Apple and Spotify).
My YouTube channel: “Vacation Bible School”
Facebook: “Churchwave,” Twitter: @VBS_Official, Instagram: churchwave_vbs

Gil

Gil attended film school in Los Angeles for a short time before leaving for better. He worked in film & media production for several years, traveling to 50+ countries. Obsessed with feel-good 80s teen comedies, sword-and-sorcery films, and gritty sci fi noir, Gil is a fan of the weird and campy. His favorite films include Blade Runner, Alien, Mad Max, and Drive.

Today we’ve got a guest writer on the blog! I’d like to welcome Matthew, a rabid cult movie fan who runs a weekly podcast called Cult Classic Mania. We’ll include some links at the end of the article, but for now, enjoy his post!

The 80’s was regarded as one of the best eras of horror to many, including myself. However, there was one sub-genre in horror that was particularly popular at this time – slashers. Ya know, your Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees, Chucky (What a psychotic son of a bitch), and many more. With all of these genre defining characters there has been many predecessors to follow this classic slasher formula. Some did it correctly, many of them failed. So, today I took the liberty of narrowing the top 10 slasher films from the 80’s ranking them by best to worst.

#1 – Halloween II (1981)

Speaking of Michael Myers! This is easily one of the best sequels to any franchise if I’m being honest. John Carpenter had no idea that the success of Halloween would take off so quickly. I mean, Halloween I only had a budget of $325,000 so Carpenter thought he wasn’t going get anything out of this first release. Boy was he wrong! This sequel stays in timeline with the first one and directed by Rick Rosenthal. Sheriff Brackett and Dr. Loomis are on the hunt for Michael Myers. Meanwhile, Laurie is unfortunately rushed to the hospital and Michael Myers is soon to be following behind. Halloween II is a must if you’re not familiar with the Halloween franchise especially if you love creative kills. The main issue with Halloween II is the fact that Dr. Loomis doesn’t shut up half the time, just screaming one liners about Michael as he spirals into crazy land. Otherwise it’s a slashing good time (see what I did there)?

#2 – Maniac (1980)

Directed by William Lustig and special fx done by the legendary Tom Savini and starring Joe Spinell and Caroline Munro. This slasher was a game changer for the slasher genre. It’s a disgusting slasher taken place in New York City where a psychotic man who has mother issues and a troubled childhood that unleashes his anger by killing innocent women around the city. This film is not your typically slasher as the story is told in first person in view of the killer as we dive into his psyche about his childhood issues. This is a grimey, disgusting slasher if you’re looking for a “more serious,” atmospheric slasher film. Its gory, haunting, and low-budget goodness. It’s a must watch for 80’s slashers.

#3 – The Slumber Party Massacre (1982)

Pamela Roylance in The Slumber Party Massacre (1982)

Did you know there are over 600+ movie titles alone with the name ‘Massacre’ on Prime Video? Clocking in at number is Slumber Party Massacre directed by Amy Jones. The high school girls’ basketball team is hosting a slumber party for the evening but is soon terrorized by an escaped mental patient. This one is a fun one despite its terrifying title. There’s plenty of ass, boobs, marijuana, and beer for everyone! Its your typical B-movie slasher film with overly campy aspects, and just an overall fun watch. It’s a must watch if you’re looking for a campy, cheesy slasher film.

#4 – My Bloody Valentine (1981)

Continuing the gory theme number 4 is the legendary My Bloody Valentine directed by George Mihalka. The MPAA trimmed 10 minutes off of this film because of how gory it is and they eventually restored it a few years later. 20 years ago, a terrible accident in a miner town of St. Valentine’s Day, Canada took the lives of 5 miners; however, one of the miners survived – Harry Warden. He lived by feeding off of the other dead miners (yay cannibalism!) and he took his anger out on the rest of the mining town, St. Valentine’s Day. This is supposed to be a “slasher horror” film but has a fun element to it with childish antics by the miners of the town. This is a must watch if you’re looking for creative kills (including one kill by a guy whose face is boiled in a pot full of hot dogs cooking and his face is boiled off)!

#5 – Friday the 13th Part II (1981)

I’m not the biggest fan of the Friday the 13th franchise because honestly, they should have just stopped at part 3 but clocking in at #5 is Friday the 13th Part II directed by Steve Miner. The bar always seems to be raised when a slasher puts out a part 2 of a franchise because the kills are on another level compared to part 1.

#6 – StageFright (1987)

Italian slasher goodness! I thought Dario Argento was a slasher genius but my god StageFright somehow tops Dario’s work. I mean, there’s even a scene where the masked killer cuts a dude’s arm off with a chainsaw and there’s an ungodly amount of blood spewing out of his arm – its disgusting. Italian horror is amazing isn’t it? Anyway, a group of stage actors lock themselves in the rehearsal room to rehearse for an upcoming play, a slasher play inside a slasher movie – how meta. The group is terrorized by an escaped psychotic murderer and killed off one by one. StageFright is one of those Italian films that you need to seek out for yourself because the carnage is just amazing for the time this was released.

#7 – Blood Rage (1987)

Directed by John Grissmer. Boy this movie did not age well but it’s a fun campy, b slasher film. As kids, Todd is institutionalized for a murder while his twin brother is free. 10 years later on Thanksgiving, Todd escapes and a killing spree begins. There are a lot of plot holes within this film but it’s a fun concept with having a twin brother killer. Also, the dialogue is atrocious and the jokes are not great. It’s a good watch if you’re into super campy, gory slasher if you’re into that kind of thing.

#8– Terror Train (1980)

You can never trust frat kids man. 3 year after a prank that went terribly wrong, 6 college kids responsible are targeted by a masked killer at a New Year’s Eve party that boards a moving train. Why are they wearing costumes when its New Year’s Eve? Who knows why? Whatever, David Copperfield and Jamie Lee Curtis star in the film so I don’t really need to say anything else.

#9 – Final Exam (1981)

Ah, Final Exam. The ultimate campy, slasher 80’s schlock. A killer who is never spoken of why he’s killing students terrorize a college and kills off the students. Did you know they reveal all of the kills in the trailer too? Wonderful marketing. Extremely slow, uneventful kills that have no purpose whatsoever.

#10 – New Year’s Evil (1980)

Did people really dress up in full costume on New Year’s Eve? I’m sensing a theme here…Anyway, during a NYE’s celebration, a Los Angeles disc jockey gets a call that when New Year’s strikes in each time zone, someone will be murdered. The jockey will be the last one standing. The suspense is killed because you know why? They show the killer in a clear line of sight within the first 5 minutes of the film and there’s absolutely no purpose as to why he’s killing people in the first place. Also, there’s a terrible band that plays the entire that just plays same song the entire film. So, there’s that, I guess.

About the author:
Matthew is the host of the podcast, Cult Classic Mania. Cult Classic Mania is a cult film podcast dedicated to the low-budget disasters that we all know and love. Not all of them are low-budget, but they definitely can be disasters. A new episode is released every Monday at 5am CST. The next episode to air will be The Stuff (1985) directed by Larry Cohen (RIP, 1941-2019).
You can listen to the show here: https://campsite.bio/cultclassicmania

Gil

Gil attended film school in Los Angeles for a short time before leaving for better. He worked in film & media production for several years, traveling to 50+ countries. Obsessed with feel-good 80s teen comedies, sword-and-sorcery films, and gritty sci fi noir, Gil is a fan of the weird and campy. His favorite films include Blade Runner, Alien, Mad Max, and Drive.

Linnea Quigley

Linnea Quigley

The famous Linnea Quigley was born in 1958 in Iowa. She moved to LA in 1976 upon graduation from high school, met some other actresses while working at a health spa, and began modeling.

She also briefly played guitar in an all-female band called Mad Whistle. She started acting in B-movie horror films, and became known as a scream queen.

She has starred in movies like Silent Night, Deadly Night, Return of the Living Dead, Creepozoids, and A Nightmare on Elm Street 4.

Maria Ford

Maria Ford in Slumber Party Massacre III (1990)

Maria Ford was born in Colorado in 1966.

An actress known for her B-movie scream queen roles, she has starred in films like Deathstalker IV, Necronomicon, Slumber Party Massacre 3, and Night Hunter.

She is trained in martial arts and dance, and now lives in LA and works as a dancer.

Evelyne Kraft

Evelyne Kraft

The Swiss actress Evelyne Kraft started her career in horror movies in the late 70s, but continued throughout the 80s.

She appeared in movies like The Mighty Peking Man, The Colossus of Konga, The Death Angels of Kung Fu, and Lady Dracula. She worked as an executive in construction in Nigeria until her untimely death in 2009.

Dana Kimmell

Dana Kimmell

The Arkansas-born actress Dana Kimmell is perhaps most famous for playing Chris in Friday the 13th Part III, but she also played characters in Midnight Offerings and Sweet Sixteen in 1983.

After this she entered a long hiatus and raised a family, but has since started appearing once again in films.

Sybil Danning

Sybil Danning in Howling II – Your Sister Is a Werewolf (1985)

And last but not least, the famous Sybil Danning. Born in 1952 in Austria, she became one of the most famous B-movie stars and scream queens, with films like Nightkill, Howling II: Your Sister Is a Werewolf, Pale Blood, and more.

She is still active in the film industry. For a time, she partially owned a soccer team in Europe and now works primarily as a producer.

Those are our top 5 scream queens of the 80s – which ones would you add? Leave suggestions in the comments!

Gil

Gil attended film school in Los Angeles for a short time before leaving for better. He worked in film & media production for several years, traveling to 50+ countries. Obsessed with feel-good 80s teen comedies, sword-and-sorcery films, and gritty sci fi noir, Gil is a fan of the weird and campy. His favorite films include Blade Runner, Alien, Mad Max, and Drive.

Sword and sorcery movies are a unique genre. They have some of the most clichéd characters and plot lines ever: but that’s sort of the point. A humble barbarian who comes in to save the day for a captured princess. The son of a blacksmith who turns out to be a secret prince. Sweaty, muscled men hacking down pig-headed monsters. And babes. Lots of babes.

Stemming from the pulp fiction novels of authors like Robert Howard, who created the Conan universe, the movies began to create a sort of self-sustaining mythology.

The Sword And The Sorcerer (1982)

The Sword And The Sorcerer

The Sword And The Sorcerer was the most profitable indie film of 1982, and is a solid entry into the genre. It was directed by Albert Pyun, who came back decades later to make a sequel in 2010. It even stars the former Miss Iceland, Richard Lynch and Anna Bjorn, in a small role. The movie was not praised by critics, but has a large following in the cult film world.

Dragonslayer (1981)

Dragonslayer (1981)

Dragonslayer is actually one of the worst (or best?) in the entire list. And why? Because it was actually made on a huge budget and shouldn’t have been so bad. Regardless, it was bad, terrible, and proof that a large budget doesn’t mean a film will be good. The acting is beyond wooden, and the main character is reliably cringeworthy. It stars Caitlin Clarke, Ralph Richardson and Chloe Salaman.

Red Sonja (1985)

Red Sonja (1985)

In the Arnold Schwarzeneggar-induced Conan craze of the eighties, Red Sonja was the expected outcome. A female-led sequel which also happens to star Arnold in a different role, the movie is good, but not great. Like all of these. It stars Brigitte Nielsen, Sandahl Bergman, Janet Agren and Arnold Schwarzenegger as Lord Kalidor.

Kull The Conqueror (1997)

Kevin Sorbo in Kull The Conqueror (1997)

One of the later additions to the genre, the famed Kevin Sorbo (a B-list movie regular) plays a character inspired by Arnold Schwarzeneggar’s Conan. Interestingly, Kull the Conqueror was intended to be a sequel to the 80s Conan films, but Arnold didn’t want to reprise the same character again, and Kevin Sorbo felt that Conan’s character belonged to Arnold, so they created Kull as a sort of spiritual successor. It’s not a great movie, but neither is it the worst pick if you’re looking for a good sword and sorcery flick. The budget, styling, action, and set design is one of the better ones within the genre.

Gor (1987)

Rebecca Ferratti

Widely regarded as one of the worst films of all time, Gor is a 1987 sword and sorcery film that is just not very good in any way. Starring Rebecca Ferratti and Urbano Barberini, it’s pretty clear that she is better as a model than an actress. The over-done tropes aren’t really worth watching, but if you’re in the mood to play a drinking game and get really trashed, this is one of the films worth watching.

The Beastmaster (1982)

The Beastmaster (1982)

One of the earliest sword and sorcery films, The Beastmaster is a driving action movie with good characters, a great cast, and a solid plot, which is more than can be said of many. Marc Singer and Tanya Roberts (from Charlie’s Angels) star in this film.

The Deathstalker Series (1983-1991)

Deathstalker (1983)

A tetralogy, or quadrilogy, of four films, the famous Deathstalker series is legendary for being bad overall, but they are perhaps one of the most unavoidably sword-and-sorcery films in existence. Produced by the famous Roger Corman, they’re probably most known for their incredible cover art by Boris Vallejo. The names and bylines are incredible as well:

Deathstalker: The Last Great Warrior King was the first in 1983, and starred b-movie legend Richard Hill as the titular Deathstalker and with costars Lana Clarkson and Barbi Benton.

Deathstalker II: Duel of the Titans followed it in 1987. Starring a different b-movie legend, John Terlesky, Monique Gabrielle and Toni Naples, this movie was almost a comic tongue-in-cheek nod to itself.

Deathstalker III: The Warriors From Hell was the third film, released in 1988 and starring John Allen Nelson, Carla Herd and Claudia Inchaurregui.

Deathstalker IV: Match of Titans was the final film released in 1991. The original Deathstalker, Richard Hill, returns to play his role in this film, which was also the first to be shot on location in Bulgaria. If the name seems similar to the second film, well, the plot isn’t much different either. The cast also includes Michelle Moffett and Maria Ford.

Are there other films you think should be added to the list? Let us know!

Gil

Gil attended film school in Los Angeles for a short time before leaving for better. He worked in film & media production for several years, traveling to 50+ countries. Obsessed with feel-good 80s teen comedies, sword-and-sorcery films, and gritty sci fi noir, Gil is a fan of the weird and campy. His favorite films include Blade Runner, Alien, Mad Max, and Drive.

For most of my life as a child, I had this memory of a bizarre movie scene seared into my brain. I’d seen it sometime when I was four or five. I could picture it in my mind, but before the advent of Google there was no way to find it.

Until, decades later, I actually saw the movie: The Adventures Of Buckaroo Banzai Across The 8th Dimension. Turns out I’d retained a remarkably large part of it with some degree of accuracy. Buckaroo did indeed invent an oscillation overthruster that let him drive through solid matter!

What makes it even stranger is that the movie was only a few years old when I’d seen it. Now, of course, it’s a 34-year-old oddity and cult classic. Then? I don’t know what it was. 

That was the genesis of my fascination with B movies. That, and a childhood of watching old 1950s sci fi flicks that involved giant ants, zombies, and gelatinous blobs.

With the advent of the internet (or, at least, internet that was halfway fast enough to download media) I discovered a new form of B movie: the fan film. In the early 2000s throughout the later part of the decade, there was a huge surge of low-budget or no-budget science fiction films that were made by Star Wars and Star Trek fans. Although most were of laughable quality, and usually just involved overweight Jedis superimposing laser beams on their PVC light sabers, there were a few pretty incredible jewels. Computer animation had given the people the means to create convincing space battles – often even better graphics than the Hollywood movies of just a decade prior.

As we find more examples of B-movies, unnamed actors, Z-list extras, no-budget films, and the like, we’ll put them here on Cult Celebrities.

Because, after all, if you can’t make it on the big screen you can just go direct to video!

The Adventures Of Buckaroo Banzai Photo Gallery

Peter Weller in The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984)

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984)

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984)

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984)

Peter Weller in The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984)

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984)

Ellen Barkin in The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984)

Jeff Goldblum in The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984)

Jeff Goldblum in The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984)

Jeff Goldblum in The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984)

John Lithgow in The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984)

John Lithgow in The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984)

Peter Weller in The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984)

Peter Weller in The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984)

Gil

Gil attended film school in Los Angeles for a short time before leaving for better. He worked in film & media production for several years, traveling to 50+ countries. Obsessed with feel-good 80s teen comedies, sword-and-sorcery films, and gritty sci fi noir, Gil is a fan of the weird and campy. His favorite films include Blade Runner, Alien, Mad Max, and Drive.