PopHorror Let's Get Scared
One of the South’s most iconic haunted attractions is making the leap to the big screen with Hellbilly Hollow, a blood-soaked Southern slasher inspired by cult classics like Terrifier and Friday the 13th. Filmed on location at the real Hellbilly Hollow haunted attraction in Vincent, Alabama, the film is directed by Kevin Wayne and co-stars actor, producer, and rock artist Kurt Deimer, who also produced the movie and contributed eight original songs to its soundtrack.
Ahead of the film’s September 25 theatrical release, PopHorror spoke with Kurt Deimer about bringing the haunted attraction to life, creating the film’s twisted killers, the challenges of production, and the future of the franchise.
Bringing Hellbilly Hollow to Life
Pop Horror: The idea for Hellbilly Hollow came from a real haunted attraction, right? Is that true?
Kurt Deimer: Yeah, Hellbilly Hollow. Kevin, who plays Tickles, my brother in the movie, he’s from Alabama. So, it’s an actual attraction in Vincent, Alabama.
How it all came about, I had the good fortune of getting cast to be killed by Michael Myers in the 2018 Halloween. After that event, and seeing how well it did, and doing the red carpet stuff with Jamie Lee and all them, I called Kevin because we had started doing a few little things after I was in Trading Paint, which was where I really figured out I wanted to even do this.
I said, “We need to do our own horror franchise.” We had developed a friendship by then, and he said, “I’ve got the perfect thing — Hellbilly Hollow.” I said, “Well, let’s get to work on it.” That’s how it all started.
We knew we had a set already built there. It was just a matter of what was the story and where could we take it from there, so we could make many, many more of them and build a following.
You play Bull, kind of the main character in a way. How did being a producer and playing that character —basically wearing multiple hats — influence your creative decisions on the set?
Kurt Deimer: Kevin, who plays Tickles, directed it. He was great at that. I produced it and brought it to where we are today.
When I was on set, Kevin and I strategically each got our own little rental RV. We lived next to each other on Hellbilly Hollow the whole time. It was a whole month. We could talk at night about the next day because a lot of it was shot really late at night.
There were some day scenes — I don’t even know, I was in maybe one day scene. But it was very good that we did that. We stayed there, and we didn’t have to worry because it’s kind of remote. That’s pretty much how we decided to do it and make it work. It was a challenge, but the site was perfect.
Creating Bull and Tickles
PopHorror: Speaking personally, this movie reminded me of Bucketheadland. Are you familiar with the lore of Buckethead? It’s like a serial killer amusement park with all these quirky characters. Did you have any quirky characters that inspired this movie?
Kurt Deimer: A lot of how I modeled my character Bull after was my favorite movie, The Devil’s Rejects, and Bill Moseley and how nuts he was in that. He was just nuts in that movie. I’m like, I got to be nuts. I got to be Southern. I’m in Alabama. I got to morph into all these different things.
Kevin gave me the freedom. I pretty much ad-libbed. I followed the script, but 95% of what I said was not in the script. He just let me be me and create this character and bring it to life.
Now Bill and I are great friends. Obviously, you probably know I was in Scared to Death with Bill Moseley. It reminded me a lot of that character in The Devil’s Rejects, and that’s what I wanted to bring to life on the screen — just another crazy, psychotic killer like that.
PopHorror: Also his performance in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Kurt Deimer: Yeah, yeah.
PopHorror: Which oddly enough, [Bill Moseley] also did [perform and record with] Buckethead, so I guess that ties back into that point.
Kurt Deimer: Yeah, exactly.
Pulling Off the Kills
PopHorror: What was the most technically challenging kill or set piece to pull off, and which one are you most excited for audiences to experience?
Kurt Deimer: I think all the kills are really creative. Probably the most technically challenging was the dunking booth because we had a car — actually, that’s all real. A car went into the pond. It was a lot of stunt work and getting a crane in there and all that kind of stuff. We really had to make sure we were right on that.
The other one was probably the Whack-a-Troll. The water was so cold. It was in March, and we had to make sure there were people who could handle the water and then get the water shots and everything because we wanted everything to look as real as possible.
That’s the way we want to keep Hellbilly Hollow, even Hellbilly Hollow 2, which I already have written. We want to rely on the art, the team, the stunt people, the people creating the effects and everything right there. That’s very important.
PopHorror: There was another kill that involves spray paint. I don’t want to spoil it all, but that kind of stood out.
Kurt Deimer: Yeah, I love that. That was hard to do because I wasn’t happy with the way it was looking at the beginning. We just kept working on it, and I think it turned out great.
I think what people are going to see is it’s not really like any other horror movie. It’s not following the usual formula. We’re a horror duo, and we’re brothers. I don’t think there’s been a horror movie where it’s a duo of brothers like this. The Devil’s Rejects had three people.
As long as everybody likes it and digs it, it’s being picked up all over the world and gets out to theaters, we’ll continue to make these every year.
Southern Horror and the Soundtrack
PopHorror: What sets Southern horror apart from other horror films or subgenres?
Kurt Deimer: I’ve just been drawn to it. I think The Devil’s Rejects had that Southern flavor. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre too. It’s just got that.
I think the vast space of the South and the history of the South lend themselves to horror because you can find really great, creepy locations or vast lands. I like the accents. I think they’re creepy and different. It’s not what you hear in everyday life, and it kind of introduces other parts of the world to that part of the world — to the South of the U.S.
PopHorror: How closely did the music evolve alongside the story? What did you do to shape the film’s tone with the music and the score?
Kurt Deimer: The score was very important to me. I was very fortunate because I was out in L.A. during the time when nobody was doing a ton of stuff. A lot of bands weren’t touring, and I wasn’t beginning to tour yet.
Andy Gould jumped on to help the project in post-production. He had done House of a Thousand Corpses and The Devil’s Rejects. He introduced me to Roy Mayorga, the drummer for Ministry and Stone Sour. I didn’t know he scored movies.
We met one night, and he saw an early screening before all the finished editing. He loved it, jumped on board, did the score, and did a masterful job.
I always knew that first song at the beginning, “Beautiful Day” by my friend Chris Schaefer and The Why Store — I said, “I’m putting that song in the movie.” He agreed to that and another song, “Happy Place.”
The rest of the songs are songs I’ve been writing that came out on Work Hard, Rock Hard and my early albums. I just picked where I thought the vibe would feel right throughout the film to bring it to life along with the score. It was quite a tedious process, but I think it really turned out great.
PopHorror: Not everybody gets a chance to incorporate their own music into a movie, so that’s got to be kind of neat.
Kurt Deimer: Oh, it’s awesome, man. I love it. Besides touring all the time and doing movies, I can bring all my art and the different forms together. It’s a blessing to be able to do that. I’m very lucky that they accepted that and that Kevin loved the fact that we could put those songs in there.
Building the Franchise
PopHorror: Were there moments during production where the location inspired changes to the script or the scenes?
Kurt Deimer: Our house was part of the trail ride, the little house we lived in on the pond. It was just perfect.
We walked the location about a month before we started so we could figure out what we could do where. The haunted house is there, it’s open all October and September, so we had to figure out how to incorporate that.
We had the commissary area with that old rotten room, then this big open field where we brought in Jesse James and his carnival. It was perfect.
The location naturally lent itself to what our vision was. A lot of the sets were already there. We just had to enhance them.
PopHorror: You’ve talked about expanding this into a larger franchise. Without giving away spoilers, what possibilities excite you about expanding this twisted vision?
Kurt Deimer: I think we teed it up kind of like the original Halloween did. That’s what inspired me to make it a franchise.
We’ve shown you what Hellbilly Hollow is about. We’ve introduced you to the characters and the dynamic of the duo. Now, in Hellbilly Hollow 2, which I’ve already got written, you’re going to kind of see through all the chaos where these two freaks came from.
It’s going to be a trip. Once we establish that for the fans, then it’s, “Where’s the next one?” Because they’ve got to keep on the move. Everywhere they are, they’re leaving carnage behind. The second one’s very important to me to show you the roots of our behavior.
Freedom as an Independent Filmmaker
PopHorror: What did being an independent horror film allow you to do creatively that bigger studio productions probably wouldn’t have been into?
Kurt Deimer: Kevin and I decided that our dynamic needed to come naturally. We needed to say what we wanted to say that came out of our brains during the shooting of that scene, which is literally what happened.
I’m not so sure shooting or ad-libbing 95% of it would go over too well with a big studio. But who knows? If people keep seeing my movies and big studios want me, maybe they’ll say, “We just want Kurt to do what Kurt does.”
I’m not so sure I could have gotten that break right away. This came to prove what I could do.
PopHorror: If audiences walk away remembering just one thing about Hellbilly Hollow, what would you hope that lasting impression would be?
Kurt Deimer: Honestly, that it scared the hell out of them at certain points, but it was a lot of fun. Bull and Tickles are very entertaining, and I can’t wait to see what’s next for these two in the many, many more sequels to follow.
I think we’re establishing a new dynamic — the horror duo, the crazy guy and his brother who can’t talk. I hope people want to follow the adventures of Bull and Tickles.
Final Thoughts
PopHorror: Who else is involved in the movie, and is there anything else you’d like to mention?
Kurt Deimer: At the end, Kevin’s friends with Danny Vinson, and we had him come in to play the sheriff. Sandra Lafferty from The Hunger Games came in to play the mom of one of the victims calling Danny, which is how they get alerted to what’s going on.
All the kids in the movie couldn’t have played their roles better. Our stunt team did a phenomenal job. Our explosives team did a phenomenal job. That made everything we did a lot easier.
As we continue to grow the franchise, we’re going to need more people in the movies, and we’ll continue looking for people who fit each role. Kevin and I have such a good friendship that we’ll be able to continue crafting the Hellbilly Hollow franchise the way we see it and bring it to life. This first one really helped us realize we could do that.
PopHorror: Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Kurt Deimer: It’s coming out in select theaters on September 25. The more people who go out to the theaters and see it, we’ll keep adding more theaters if we have to. It’s been picked up all over the world in different territories.
Go to HellbillyHollowFilm.com or KurtDeimer.com and stay up to date on everything. There are more and more announcements coming, and it’s the dawn of a new era — Hellbilly Hollow.
PopHorror: Thanks for your time.
Kurt Deimer: I really appreciate it. Without folks like you, people wouldn’t even know about our film. I appreciate you very much.
