Special Report: Hellbilly Hollow (2026)

Hold your ears folks it's. Showtime people pay good money to see this movie when they go out to a theater they want cold sodas hot popcorn and no monsters in the projection booth everyone pretend podcasting isn't boring turn it off. And action. The southeast's scariest haunted attraction. Right here in Vinson, Alabama.

Welcome to Hellbilly Hollow. That was the scariest haunted house I've ever been to in my life. Right, Steph? Where's Timmy? What the hell was that?

Sometimes a mouse... Runs into the wrong house. These little mice ran into the wrong house. You know it's how we like to have a little fun. What should we do with them, Tickles?

I will be your guy. For the rest of our journey. Where are we? Mabel, come back! The monsters in.

The ghouls are very hungry tonight. We hope you enjoy your visit. It's party! This is Hellbilly Hollow. We needs to keep this PG-13.

Hey folks, welcome to a special episode of The Projection Booth. I'm your host, Mike White. On this episode, I'm talking with director Kevin Wayne and producer Kurt Dimer all about their new film, Hellbilly Hollow. It is a slasher film set at a carnival. Mr.

Wayne and Mr. Dimer play the respective killers. I had a really good time talking with them, and I hope you have a great time listening. Thanks so much. I want to know a little bit more background about you guys, because you've got some fascinating careers.

Kevin, can I start with you? What's your background? My first acting gig was Under Siege, 1992, Steven Seagal. I was a featured background Russian terrorist. And I Basically, I didn't have a job at this time and they offered me $ 200 a day, put me in a hotel and feed me.

I'm like, hell yeah, let's go. And then I ended up, she said it'd be like two weeks worth of work. Ended up being like nine weeks. And then I'm like, man, all. I had to do was chase Steven's goal around.

And so I was like, this is what I want to do. I got to see the craziness, the craziness of Gary Busey. He was a nut. I just took it all in because Tommy Lee Jones was in that and I was on his gang. So I kind of just watched everything he did.

And I just took it all in and I ended up working like nine weeks on that. I'm like, man, this is what I want to do. So that's where it started. Fantastic. And Kurt, how about yourself?

Yeah, I never imagined this would happen in my life, but I started my own oil companies above my garage in 1999. And they started it really boom and later around 2000. After 2010, a lot of hard work, like 18, 20-hour days, building it from scratch with little money. And I started doing some product placements in movies. And I went down.

I told my guy, I go, I'll do this movie. It was John Travolta and Shania Twain, Trading Pain. And I said, I'll do it with Toby Spash and all the Game of Thrones people were real hot then. And I said, I'll do it that I want to. cameo, presenting the winner's check to the dirt track winner. It was about dirt track racing.

So I go down there. It's like probably 1, 12, midnight, 1 in the morning, still trying to wrap that day. And they realized they didn't have a track announcer to interview Toby Sebastian, who was one of the main kids. John Travolta's son. And I said, I would love to do that.

I would love to be this. I had a sport coat on over my shirt. I looked like an ESPN guy. And next thing, I'm planning out the scene with John Travolta, and I'm in the final scene of Trading Paint. Then I get into Halloween and get killed by Michael Myers in 2018.

And that's how I, before that, I had gone down to Alabama because I really liked the acting like Kevin, what he said when he did it in 92. And him and I met on a couple of little projects, and that's how I honed myself. and find out if I really wanted to do this and if I could do it. And here we are, man. What? Those two scared the best out on Amazon.

I got three more coming out and shooting three more right now. So it's, here we go. And I love it. I get to be somebody in every movie different than who I am. And I love it.

Where did the idea for Hellbilly Hollow come from? After I was in Halloween, In 2018, the John Carpenter one, they had a big premiere in L.A., Jamie Lee Curtis, everybody. And I had done that, walked the red carpet. It was one of the most iconic kills probably in any of the John Carpenter movies. And I called Kevin after that, and I just said, I'd love to start our own horror franchise.

Like Halloween did it with the first one, and then that one that I was in, besides all the ones people did in between. And that's how it all started. And then Kevin said, remember that play I told you, Hellbilly Hollow? And that's how it all started. We'd work together, and then we were just hanging out at my studio one day.

And Kerr's like, yeah, I want to do a horror franchise with it. or a duo, like two killers. I'm like, okay. And then we kind of, I told him about Tim Miller had this haunted attraction in Vinson, Alabama, and that we could probably use that as the backdrop. And then we kind of, we got with a screenwriter and we told her our ideas and we kind of crafted this whole thing around the actual attraction. And then we, we upped the game on the kills and the attractions and stuff.

And that's how it kind of came about. Yeah. We, we, Kirk and I were talking about it and we went into a, We had the idea, went into pre-production, and we were shooting like three weeks. It was fast. It was fast.

But I loved it because it just kept everybody working and moving. I just thought about it. It was quick because the Halloween thing was in October of 18. So that was fast. And we'd sit around the table and we're like, okay, we want this carnival vibe.

We want to introduce the world like Halloween did to Michael Myers so that we want that shoot that film that introduces the world to this new horror duo these two crazy brothers Bull and Pickles so. The production value of the actual location is tremendous and what a stroke of luck to be able to have that. Yeah it was uh yeah we used every nook and cranny of that location for and of course we brought in the carnival Kurt was gracious to Let the carnival come in, which I think added a lot of value to the movie. And that was crucial to the movie. But yeah, we shot every little bit of Hellbilly Hall.

Yeah, everything was there. The haunted house was already there. It's a working haunted house every year. And the house that Kevin and I lived in, that was on an actual pond there. It was part of their hayride and all that stuff.

So it worked out beautifully to shoot down there. Did you say you did this in 2018? It was the next year in March. So it was a full month. We lived in campers on the set.

Kevin and I, so we could talk every night and it's kind of spread out too, because the property is not that little, but it just worked up. Everything was right there. So it worked out beautifully at living there the whole time. Really got us into character, kept us grimy and, It was like the real owners of that, the twisted owners of Belt and Lee Holland. They also used to sell cheese too.

It's weird. They had a haunted attraction. They sold cheese, but they quit kind of doing their operation of that. And so they have this cheese house that they turned into like a, it was just a random building. So we actually were, it was great because we use that as a base camp and it was like right there on location.

So yeah, Our base count was right there. Hair, makeup, everything right there. Air conditioning. It was nice. So it worked out really well.

Did it smell of cheese still? No, it does not. So were you able to use, if you're shooting this in 2019, are you able to use the pandemic as a good post-production time? It slowed us down a little bit, for sure. It actually did.

It did. And I was coming up so quick, and we had a lot of too many Indians around Kevin and I that wanted to, you know, kind of put their hands on everything. And then I had bad management that was ripping me off and all this stuff. And I finally just said, I just got it. I just got to bring this.

This is such Kevin directed a magnificent movie. The characters are amazing. The footage is amazing. The photographer DP did a marvelous job. I knew we had it, but, As the producer, I had to just put it on my back and carry it across the finish line.

And I think it just turned out beautifully. And I don't think if we didn't take our time like that, it would have done anything. Because there were people even trying to get it early on. And I turned down those deals. And I just knew that if I took my time, we'd be on to something great.

Because we want to build a whole community around Hellbilly Hollow and keep shooting. more and more. And Kevin, how is that directing for you? Because you've got a pretty good cast in here, a lot of moving parts, and then you're acting in this as well. I knew that going in and I've done it before in other projects and I've been asked this many times. It's not a problem for me.

I've actually invited because I love being in front and behind the camera. I can do it. I love the challenge and I have a great work ethics. We did really good pre-production. The only thing was, you know, the teeth.

Trying to talk through the teeth was a little problematic sometimes. But I had to take them out. But my first AD, Josh, he knew what we were doing. So I had a good first AD. He really kept the train moving.

Plus, he didn't have to learn any lines. 95% of how you saw Kevin and I interact, he gave me the freedom to improv and ad-lib and... that bull never would have turned out to be bull. And Kevin didn't give me the freedom to tap into my deep inner soul of craziness that came out of my calm demeanor. So that it was a lot. It was so interesting because I didn't even, I didn't even tell Kirk that sometimes we just knew when we came to see him between us, it's like, we just did it.

It's like, I didn't even tell him, Hey, we're going to improv. It's just like, we knew we were, we knew where the script needed to go and what we wanted to get out of it. And, We just ripped off each other. Tell me a little bit more about the rest of your cast. How did you find these folks?

I've worked with Bernadette, the writer. She actually helped us. She actually served as casting director as well. We put some casting calls on Actors Access for some of the roles, and we went through that casting process. Some of them I just reached out to, and then we went through Actors Access, found those characters.

Yeah, she's behind everything. share them with Kevin and I, we'd be able to say if we thought they fit or not fit. It was important to me to find a young bull that I thought fit, that would make sense. So I would, they involved us where needed on that. I think she did a great job. Kevin did a great job.

I'm real pleased with that. They followed the script because that helped Kevin and I do what we wanted to do. So it was cool. When was the first time you got to see this with an audience? Kevin, you probably saw it before I did with an audience, didn't you, down in Houston or somewhere?

I saw it with you early on, but that was just us in L.A. Yeah, but with an audience. I think you probably did it then. We saw it in New York. Yeah, at the New York Horror Film Festival.

So that's the first time we saw it with an audience. And that wasn't even the finished product yet. We actually changed the edit since then, but yeah. But they loved it then. I was wondering if you did... test screenings and just like how you got feedback as you're locking everything down.

Yeah, we did a few festivals and the New York one was the first, they showed it as their feature film at the end of the festival. So we got reaction from that. Then I, and then we could see it and see what else needed to be done on the big screen. And then I've done a few shows with where I do a rock show after I do a headline set. And before people, they come in, they sit down, they're having drinks, and they're watching Hellbilly Hollow.

We're doing that with several cities over the next month and a half. So that's probably the first time I've seen it with everything done and correct the way it'll be in the theater on the 25th. Tell me about the music for the film. I know that's got to be pretty important for you. Once I got into all this, it was kind of after Hellbilly Hollow footage was done.

I had met down at Kevin's singer-songwriter by the name of Ben Trexel. And he had a few songs that one of our production design, Mike Denard, had written. And I said, yeah, I haven't done this in a long time. Kind of like I didn't think I'd ever be an actor. But I said, I've got a unique voice.

It's lower. It's weird. It's cool. But I've got to retrain it. And we started writing songs together.

And I took the demo out to L.A., speaking of the pandemic, in 2020. And my manager at the time, one of the ones that was ripping me off, one good thing they did, they called around to find a good mixer for it. And it was Chris Lord-Alge agreed to do it right as the pandemic started. And Chris and I have become really good friends now and have been He's helped me become who I am today in the music side of the business, kind of took me under his wings as a mentor. Jeff Tate from Queensryche kind of took me under his wings, collabed with me on some stuff.

But that's how that all started. And as I was doing that, I had an EP, Work Hard, Rock Hard. And so it begins with my debut album. But I had these songs already written. So taking the time in post, we were looking at some other bands. trying to cut a little deal here or there.

And then it just wasn't making sense when I go, okay, fight will fit here. This will fit here. This will fit here. And it fit the whole theme of the movie. I just had to figure out what song belonged where, what would fit out of my catalog.

And then I brought in Chris Schaefer from the Y Store, a couple of his songs that I had heard in the past, like Beautiful Day at the a wonderful way to tee up the carnage that's about to happen. You think it's just going to be another beautiful day and happy place, which it certainly wasn't at Hellbilly Hollow. So a wise door, Chris, they're freaking out that they're even going to be on a soundtrack. So I love helping others. People have helped me get to where I am this fast.

And the more people I can help as well, that's what life's all about. The more you get, the more you get. I know you guys both have a lot of projects coming out pretty soon. Can you tell me a little bit about what you're looking forward to next? Stare to Death is out on Amazon and Apple and Google.

It'll be coming out on streaming soon. I star in that with Lin Shay and Bill Moseley and play a horror icon called the Grog in the movie. Very proud of that. And then Hellbilly Hollow is coming to theaters September 25th. And then I play the next big mass killer, the Rancher, and Andy Gould, who did House of a Thousand Corpses and Devil's Rejects, which is my favorite movie, called Pandemic Sex Party.

And I play the new killer, the rancher. So I'm real proud of that. I can't wait. That's going to be big. And then I shot a drama called Relapse, where we're going to bring awareness to fentanyl addiction.

And I play the dad of the girl who's a rising pop star. I'm a rock star. And I had my own addiction problems. I starred in that with Lynn Shagan, but Marilyn Manson's in it. It's got for Bill and Alex Winter.

All kinds of big names are in that movie. And right now I'm shooting a big film that I can't talk about, but it's going to be huge. And I'm starring alongside a A-list actress. And I'm on set actually right now at the hotel in the parking lot of my tour bus. So I shoot this week.

And then I've got a couple more movies. I'm shooting The Prostitute in November, where I play a man and a woman. And another movie in December. And then Kevin and I, I think, got two more in January. So, yeah, it's a bit busy, man, but I love it.

And Kevin, how about you? I'm in The Life and Deaths of Wilson Shedd, directed by Tim Blake Nelson. It's premiering September 28th. At TIFF, Toronto International Film Festival. I'll play Greg.

And that I'm in a movie that's coming out in January called the rescue with Josh Duhamel, Tim Blake Nelson, again, directed by Poncing that directed O. Henry. I'm in that inside shop. I shot that short film and it's won probably 18 awards. So it's Kurt and I are actually going to probably we're in discussion of making that a feature film to possibly shoot in January.

And, uh, And that's it, I think, right now. Oh, I'm directing the. Film and between Thanksgiving and Christmas called Shawnee blood moon about a corn stalk. It's true story about the native American corn stalk. When he went in and brutally murdered a settlement, I direct that starting the two days after Thanksgiving.

That's it. He says, as he's got this huge slate of stuff, that's amazing. Guys, where's the best place to keep up with Hellbilly Hollow and find out when and where it's playing near you? Hellbillyhollowfilm.com is the official website. That'd be the best to keep up with.

And then kurtdimer.com, that's my website. Everything will be on there as well. At Kevin Wayne Official on all his socials. At Kurt Dimer on all my socials. Remember, D-E-I-M-E-R. my YouTube channel, which is growing like crazy.

And really, if you just Google either one of our names, you'll find stuff on it. But as of right now, hellbillyholofilm.com and kurtdimer.com might go to just to keep up to date on everything. And there'll be a lot of stuff coming out over the next couple of weeks. So you know what select theaters it's coming out on September 25th. And there'll be a premiere in LA on the 24th, a red carpet for Air Libya on that coming out as well.

Kurt and Kevin, thank you so much for your time today, guys. I really appreciate this. Mike, thank you for having us. Yes, people would go about our film with folks like you, and we appreciate you more. So thank you.

Some people call me a hick Some. People call me an asshole Some. People call me just dick Some people call me white trash, but the wrong side of the track. They can all go straight to hell and never Ever, ever come back.