Belleville filmmakers to screen vampire film made 48 years ago

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (First Alert 4) - Two Belleville men who made a vampire film as teenagers in 1978 will screen the finished version Saturday, Halloween, at the Lincoln Theatre in Belleville.

Keith Howard and Patrick Voss never completed the short horror film they were working on as teenagers.

How the film started

Keith Howard and Patrick Voss shared an interest in scary movies and mask making. They built a coffin and made a Dracula costume for a school haunted house.

“Hey, we got a coffin, and we got a vampire. Let’s do a vampire movie,” Voss recalled.

They shot the film on Super 8 with a camera borrowed from Voss’ sister and a small budget.

“I had a paper route. That’s how we funded half this movie,” Howard said.

Shooting on 3-minute reels

The two shot three-minute reels at a time.

“We’d watch it and have to cut some out, so we’d maybe get two minutes, then we’d buy another reel,” Howard said.

Finishing the film

Local filmmaker Nathan Domesick helped the two complete the project. Domesick shot an intro and added to the plot of the original film.

“They were living in a time when filmmaking was much harder to do special effects than it is now,” Domesick said.

Screening details

“Disinter” screens at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Lincoln Theatre in Belleville. Admission is a can of food.

“Bring some nonperishable food items to help with our food raiser and benefit Operation Food Search,” Voss said.