''Blood Shack'' (also known as ''The Chooper'' and ''Curse of the Evil Spirit'') is a 1971 American

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...

written and directed by

Ray Dennis Steckler Ray Dennis Steckler (January 25, 1938 – January 7, 2009), also known by the pseudonym Cash Flagg, was an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor best known as the low-budget auteur of such cult films as ''The Incredibly Stran ...

(under the pseudonym Wolfgang Schmidt), and starring Steckler's then-wife

Carolyn Brandt Carolyn Brandt is an American actress, producer and dancer born on 20 November 1940 in the USA. She was the wife of cult film director Ray Dennis Steckler and starred in many of his films, including '' The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped ...

alongside

Ron Haydock Ron Haydock (April 17, 1940 – August 14, 1977) was an American actor, screenwriter, novelist and rock musician. Career Haydock's band, Ron Haydock and the Boppers, were heavily influenced by Gene Vincent. In August 1959, Cha Cha Records rele ...

Cast

Production

The film was produced on a budget of "five hundred dollars tops". Filming took place in Pahrump, Nevada, and according to Steckler, the furnishings of the titular shack were property that had been left behind by a previous tenant. The black suit worn by the "Chooper", which was too small for Haydock, was recycled from a previous Steckler production, '' Lemon Grove Kids Meet the Monsters''. The killer was called the "Chooper" after the repetitive "choop" sounds made by the suit's wearer during the "Green Grasshopper" segment of ''The Lemon Grove Kids''.

Release

The film received a limited theatrical release, playing in one theater in

Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

. For home video, the film was cut down from 70 minutes to 55 minutes and re-scored.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Blood Shack 1970s exploitation films 1971 horror films 1971 films American exploitation films 1970s English-language films 1970s American films