By Wally Kennedy
wkennedy@joplinglobe.com
PICHER, Okla. — As spooky as it sounds, one of the nation’s most toxic sites has been used as the cinematic backdrop for a hard-core horror flick by two independent film producers.
Production was halted this week on “Bad Girls Burn in Hell’’ when word began circulating about the film.
On Thursday, Gary Linderman, who operates the Ole Miner’s Pharmacy in Picher, one of the last remaining businesses there, and two of his friends drove by the house west of Picher’s high school where part of the movie was filmed. They wanted to see for themselves what was going on.
“Over the years I have heard about everything that has ever gone on here, but this is astounding,’’ he said. “The people I have talked to are simply bewildered.’’
Linderman said he had a friend check out the production company’s Web site, deathfactoryinc.com. The Web site specifically refers to a new movie that began production in October near Miami.
The site features bloody images of unclothed women, torture and mutilation. In one scene, someone is tightening barbed wire around a man’s face while wrapped in what appears to be Christmas lights. In another, a woman is attacked with a circular saw.
A Twitter page by one of the cast members indicated she was staying in a motel at Miami. She said she was from Minneapolis, Minn., and that she was unsure about how to pronounce Miami. She asked, “Is it Miam-ee or is it Miam-uh?’’ She said she was having a good time with the cast on the movie set, but a later tweet indicated that the production had been pegged as porn. She said that was not true.
Becky Baird, an assistant to Ottawa County District Attorney Eddie Wyant, on Friday said the district attorney’s office was aware that a movie was being filmed in Picher, but that it had been described to them as a horror film.
Baird said it is illegal in Oklahoma to manufacture porn, “but the test — the question is — is it obscene?’’
Representatives of the production company, headed by Joe Hollow and Travis Miller, could not be reached for comment. But Todd Ingold, a Miami resident, was contacted at the house on Thursday. Ingold said he was taking care of security at the site.
“This is a B horror movie. It’s not soft porn,’’ he said. “We had permission — a contract — to use this house and the house next door, and a church over there. This is a legitimate film. But some people around here believe that it’s porn.’’
Ingold said the film, which began production on Oct. 16, features a 27-year-old former resident of Picher.
He said the producers of the film have had success with films like “Bloodstained Romance’’ and “Bloodletting.’’ He said a New York investor was financing the production.
Two electrical generators and two portable restrooms were at the house. Electricity to the house was shut off because the former owner has been relocated in the federally funded buyout that is under way at Picher. The buyout was funded because the ground beneath Picher is too unstable because of decades of lead and zinc mining.
The filmmakers were apparently given permission by the Twin Bridges Co. to film in the houses and the church. The company is the contractor responsible for either demolishing or removing abandoned structures in the town. Company representatives could not be reached for comment on Friday.
Dr. Mark Osborn, a Miami physician who heads the Lead-Impacted Relocation Assistance Trust, which is overseeing the buyout, said a meeting was held with the contractor and one of the filmmakers last week.
“The trust has turned over control of the houses to the contractor. He owns the house, but we own the land,’’ he said. “Since we own the land, we told them we wanted the movie stopped.’’
An employee of the Twin Bridges Co., who did not identify himself on Thursday, said he had been at the house while filming was under way and that he did not see anything that appeared to be inappropriate.
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