By MICHAEL GINGOLD
Independent director Chad Ferrin continues to explore the horrors of true crime.
The filmmaker, whose previous movies include PIG KILLER and ED KEMPER along with H.P. LOVECRAFT’S THE OLD ONES and UNSPEAKABLE: BEYOND THE WALL OF SLEEP, is gearing up to film SUNSET STRIP KILLERS this month. Chuck Parello (HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER II) and Timothy Croteau wrote the script, and the cast is headed by Susan Priver, Max E. Williams, Robert Miano, Bella Glanville, Tiffany Shepis, Silvia Spross, Elina Madison, Katie Silverman, Brenda James, Ema Masala, Patty Hayes, Neb Chupin and Marie Solimena. The synopsis: “Los Angeles, 1980. Beneath the glittering lights of the Sunset Strip, a horrifying tale of obsession and bloodshed unfolds. Carol Bundy [Priver], a lonely nurse, crosses paths with Doug Clark [Williams], a charming but dangerously unstable man. Drawn into his web of deceit and depravity, Carol’s quiet existence spirals into a nightmare she never imagined.”
“After the success of ED KEMPER,” Ferrin tells us, “I asked producer Michael Muscal if he had any other scripts lying around, and he sent over Chuck and Timothy’s SUNSET STRIP KILLERS. It’s a true-crime 9 1/2 WEEKS that had me hooked from the get-go. We shoot in mid-August and wrap just in time to see DOROTHEA make its world premiere at The Valley Film Festival. Perfect timing!” Ferrin’s DOROTHEA (pictured above), subtitled PORTRAIT OF A KILLER GRANNY and starring Priver, Ginger Lynn, Lew Temple, Cyril O’Reilly, James, Miano, Pat McNeely and Ezra Buzzington, is based on the case of Dorothea Puente, who ran a Sacramento, CA boarding house where she murdered elderly tenants and cashed their Social Security checks. You can see its Valley fest page here.
