TIMELINE NUMBER FOUR

A filmmaker set out to make a film. Strange things happened.

September 28th

The day before shooting begins. Everyone arrived from Los Angeles pretty much on time: the three actors and the director of photography. We got everyone situated in the house we rented for them and brought them dinner. We had also stocked the refrigerator there, so everyone was happy. Even our actor playing the Demon Jeremy, who was a vegan.

That night we took our cast and local crew to the Strawberry Lodge, our main location. for a walk through to discuss where we would be shooting particular scenes at in the house.

We even pre-lit the upstairs den where we would be shooting our first scene tomorrow between Grace and her sister Katie.

The house took on a much more ominous appearance at night, which everyone commented on. The animal heads on the wall almost seemed like they were looking at us.

We decided to get some exterior shots of the house at night as well. I had bought a cheap jib arm from Promax for our HD camera. We put the camera on the jib, weighted it down and took a shot where the camera rises slowly from behind a fence, revealing the house in all its horrible glory.

A redneck neighbor walked over from about a mile away. So much for being low-key. He was a nice enough fellow. I told him what the movie was about. "You know, Satanic worship in the woods of a rural community. Made up stuff." He repeated my words: "Made up stuff."

As we were wrapping up, a couple of bikers started riding by. Now, these weren't yuppie weekend warrior LA bikers. These were real deal outlaw bikers. Nazi helmets, long beards, tattoos. One was belligerent as he asked us what we were doing. I patiently answered his questions. A few moments later, they drove off in a swirl of dirt. I noticed a tattoo of the Devil on one of the biker's arms as they left. This wasn't the cute little devil tattoo a coed might get one drunken evening in Cabo. This tattoo was a very serious and sober depiction of Satan.

The hick neighbor bid us goodbye as he left. Behind me I heard him echo, "Satanic worship... Made up stuff." 

It was late, so we all decided to spend the night at the house. In retrospect, that didn't turn out to be such a good idea.

TO BE CONTINUED

Grace finds the album.

Images courtesy of "The Black Album"