Howard and Voss screen 1978 vampire short at Lincoln Theatre
The unfinished Super 8 film, titled Disinter, completes its production with help from local director Nathan Domesick.
By Isabel Moretti ·
Belleville residents can watch a vampire film shot by two teenagers on October 31.
Keith Howard and Patrick Voss began production on the short horror movie in 1978. They used a camera borrowed from Voss' sister and recorded the footage on Super 8 film stock. Howard funded half of the project with earnings from a paper route.
The two men shared an interest in scary movies and mask making. They constructed a coffin and a Dracula costume for a school haunted house. Voss recalled the moment they decided to make a movie: “Hey, we got a coffin, and we got a vampire. Let’s do a vampire movie.”
Filming required shooting on three-minute reels. The pair would review the footage and cut scenes to fit the remaining space on the reel. Howard noted they would then purchase another reel to continue shooting.
Local filmmaker Nathan Domesick assisted Howard and Voss in finishing the project. Domesick shot a new intro and expanded the original plot. He observed that the duo worked in an era when special effects were much harder to execute than they are today.
The completed film, titled Disinter, screens at 11 a.m. on Saturday at the Lincoln Theatre in Belleville. Admission is a can of food. Voss asked attendees to bring nonperishable items to benefit Operation Food Search.
Source: KMOV
