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Production has wrapped on "Demon Divas and the Lanes of Damnation," a new feature length film from Pennsylvania-based Happy Cloud Pictures.
The film is Happy Cloud’s fifth feature and also marks the 10 year anniversary of the company, which was founded by husband and wife team Mike Watt and Amy Lynn Best, along with collaborator Bill Homan.
According to Watt, "Demon Divas and the Lanes of Damnation" is a homage to "scream queen" horror classics like "Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama."
The film was initially conceived as a possible remake of that film and even features its star Brinke Stevens in the cast, along with Debbie Rochon ("Tromeo & Juliet"), Lilith Stabs ("Malefic") and other faces that will be familiar to horror fans.
In a press release, Best describes "Demon Divas" as "something you’d catch on USA’s ‘Up All Night’" – a late-night cable TV show that used to showcase b-movies in the ’80s and ’90s.
Shooting began in August ’08 at King Lanes, a bowling alley in Kittanning, Pa.
"Our friend and production designer, Tara Cooper, had mentioned to us that her parents owned a bowling alley," Watt said.
Sandy and Bob Hall, the owners of King Lanes, proved to be helpful to the production, offering full reign of the location to the Happy Cloud crew.
"Sandy and her alley employees cooked for us, Bob was on hand as an electrician and grip, so it felt very much like a family affair," Watt said.
However, due to league play beginning at the bowling alley in September, the crew had to scale back their shooting schedule to only six days.
"It meant the longest hours we’ve ever put in on set, a lot of sitting around for the actors and a lot of pages torn out of the script to get it all done," Watt said.
Another production hurdle was dealing with the Screen Actors Guild, who were not very co-operative when the Happy Cloud crew were trying to hiring a well-known genre actor to do a cameo in "Demon Divas."
"They send you a contract and a book the size of a bible about all the rules, how to handle SAG actors like they’re live grenades," Watt said. "But when it comes time to allowing the actor to actually do the work, phone calls go unanswered and nothing was finalized."
"Demon Divas and the Lanes of Damnation" recently had its world premiere at Cinema Wasteland, a horror convention held in Cleveland, Ohio.
"Wasteland is always our target for premiering movies," Watt said, citing the family like atmosphere of the show and the supportive crowd.
"Even if a Wastelander doesn’t care for one of our movies, they’re usually supportive or constructive," Watt said. "This time around was no exception, and everyone seemed to really respond to the movie."
The official release of "Demon Divas and the Lanes of Damnation" is uncertain.
"A couple of distributors have asked to check it out, but I know enough about the market right now to understand that the DVD industry is really in a tailspin right now," Watt said. "Even ‘major’ independent studios have a hard time getting their product into stores."
Despite problems with the DVD market, Happy Cloud has recently had success selling its previous film, "Splatter Movie: The Director’s Cut," independently through Amazon and Netflix.
Watt remains hopeful for his latest film’s release, assuring that "it will be out in one form or another in 2010."
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