First part of a series on movies filmed in Auburn and around Alabama.
After a few hours of research I’ve come to a disappointing conclusion: No full-length horror movies have ever been filmed in the Auburn-Opelika area. Ain’t that a shame? Here it is, nearly Halloween, and I’m itching for some B-movie horror. I thought it would be neat if there was something gruesome filmed near campus to watch and write about. But we are all out of luck. The closest locale to Auburn that served as the setting to beautiful, bloody chaos is down the road a bit in LaGrange, Ga. There was a remake/sequel of “Two Thousand Maniacs” filmed there. (“Two Thousand Maniacs” is one of my absolute favorite movies, starring 1963 Playboy Playmate Connie Mason and produced by Alabama’s own David F. Friedman.) “2001 Maniacs” was filmed in LaGrange in 2005. I haven’t seen it. But I will soon and I’ll try to see if there are any Auburn connections, like theater majors as extras.
So, disappointed in the lack of filmed gore in Auburn, I went searching the interwebs for any other horror movies filmed in Alabama. And I can’t believe that what www.imdb.com is telling me: The first horror movie filmed in Alabama occurred in 1980. That just can’t be right. (Someone out there clue us all in if that is totally wrong. It has to be!)
I took the time to go through all the listed movies on the information site, organized by filming locations from Alabaster to Woodville. What I’ve gleaned: In 1980, parts of “Death Ship” were filmed in Mobile and Dauphin Island. And I don’t even know if that counts. Because, really, it looks like it was filmed mostly in the waters off Mobile and Dauphin Island.
So, here’s the trailer:
Oh, it looks horrible. The horror.
George Kennedy, what are you doing here, sir? You won an Oscar in “Cool Hand Luke” in 1967. But I guess in Hollywood, 13 years is a lifetime.
It appears that Netflix does not carry this movie. A shame. I can’t give you a proper report on this. Hopefully, my “research” in the future will not encounter this visual roadblock too often.
And the DVD company, www.xploitedcinema.com, listed on the trailer clip seems to not carry this movie anymore.
There are some copies of the movie floating around in VHS format on Amazon.com, but if you think I’m that devoted to seeing this movie, well, I’m just not going to go that far.
But here’s the synopsis from Rotten Tomatoes:
The passengers of an ocean liner are having a great time — that is, until their boat collides with a World War II vessel that’s rife with demonic [Nazi] ghosts. When the surviving passengers board the haunted freighter, they find that they must oppose the evil forces that drive the vessel to demolish other boats.
I’ll have more Alabama horror films in this space in the days ahead, starting with some flicks from the ’80s.
On the menu for TWER? We have three films:
- 1984’s “What Waits Below” with cave scenes filmed in Woodville, Ala.
- 1987’s “The Lost Boys” (?!?!?), another personal fave, had a scene filmed at the Bayou Canot train trestle. I’m thinking it might be the scene where Michael first discovers that he’s a vampire and can fly.
- 1988’s “Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood” was filmed in and around Mobile — specifically, Bay Minette, Mobile, Point Clear and Stockton.
If you have any info on the filming of these movies or anyone that worked on or acted in them please send ’em my way or share them in the comments below.
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Check out “Hide and Creep”. Portions of this terrible B-movie were filmed in my hometown Thorsby, AL.
I’ll add it to the list. It looks like it is a zombie flick too. Thanks Casey, good work!
Apparently a film called “Jaws of Satan” was filmed in Tuscaloosa. Surprise? I think not.
SallyT! You are right. Thanks! It looks like “Jaws of Satan” was filmed in 1981 at Childersburg, Eutaw and Tucaloosa. I’ll add it to the list. It also looks like it might have starred a young Christina Applegate (maybe her first role!). And … and! the whole movie looks like it is on Youtube. I’ll definitely be watching it for the next column.
Not a horror movie but a horribly bad (in a good way) movie filmed in Alabama…Stay Hungry. What’s cool about this movie, other than the fact that it stars Jeff Bridges, Sally Field, Arnold Schwarzenegger, is that the main character tells some roughians in a bar that he plays football for Auburn…scatback. His room also has several classic Auburn artifacts hanging on the walls. If I remember correctly, the bar does as well.
JB, that movie is definitely on the list. I actually can’t wait to see that one! A young “Dude”! I was going to knock off a few of these horror movies around Halloween. Next up is SallyT’s suggestion. I’ve watched the first half of “Jaws of Satan” on YouTube and there has been lots of Eutaw, Ala., shown so far.
It really is a must see. Most of it was filmed in Mountain Brook and Birmingham. It’s pretty cool to see Ed Begley Jr. at Birmingham Country Club (yeah, another big name in the film!) I think it was Arnold’s first speaking roll. His accent hasn’t gotten much better. 🙂 Oh, and if you’re looking for a Halloween excuse to watch this one, Robert Englund (Freddy Krueger) was also in it! It truely is a gym (misspelling pun intended).
Friday the 13th, part VII was filmed about a mile north of my parents’s house. On the news one night, they announced that the film crew had invited all the locals up to the set to watch them blow up a house. We went and I got to see Jason (Kane Hodder) stalk around and then the house getting blown to bits. It was great. You can still go down to that landing and see “Crystal Lake” painted on the sidewalk where they put it for the movie.
Also, while not horror (maybe horror-ible, har har) flicks, “Under Siege” with Steven Seagal was filmed here in Mobile on the battleship, and “Stone Cold” starring the Boz was also filmed here in a notorious scene where he rides a motorcycle through a now-nonexistent shopping mall.
The movie Death Ship is available on DVD. It can be purchased from http://www.ghosthouseproduction.com for $12.99. I bought a copy and it was of quality viewing. Any one interested in this film will enjoy watching this film again.