Cape Girardeau, prepare to go Hollywood

California isn't the only place movies get made. There's a group of hometown filmmakers, armed only with a camera and a dream, who shot an entire movie here in Cape. The film is called "Dark Garden" and was produced by local production company Backwards Logic. And it goes a little something like this:

Warren, (Kyle Van Pool) is fixing up an old house he bought for his family. While working in the basement he uncovers a dead body. Afraid to tell his wife Laura (Dena Sutter) or the police, Warren reburies the body. The next morning he meets Harry, (J.W. McCrary) the previous owner of the house and the man who put the body there. Harry and Warren strike an agreement, and gradually Warren, who had his problems to begin with, is seduced by Harry's twisted way of thinking.

Will Warren redeem himself? Can he escape Harry? Do the ghosts of Harry and Warren's victims rise from the dead and appear in the movie? Probably, but nobody knows for sure. The movie's not finished yet.

Actual filming on "Dark Garden" began last July, but the filmmaking process started five years ago. That's when screenwriter Leroy Grey first drafted a script he says is about "the struggle between good and evil...that is won and lost within each of us." He sat on the script for years, then decided to dust it off and set up a test reading to see what others thought of it. He searched for interested parties by means of a flyer that read "WANTED: People to read possibly crappy script." He found Jerimy Ferguson and Patrick Bond.

Ferguson and Bond had spotted the flyer in Kidd's on Broadway. They met with Grey and reviewed the script, but instead of offering criticism and advice they began setting up scenes and suggesting cast members. "We pretty much harassed (Grey) into making this movie," says Ferguson. A casting call was set in flyers and on the radio, and after auditions shooting commenced.

The primary filming location was a house on Sprigg St., across the street from St. Mary's. The house, a brown brick structure, is considered to be one of Cape's oldest and seems to perfectly fit Grey's vision. It sort of fell into the crew's laps at the last minute. "We were looking at shooting three different locations," says Greg Levrault, the film's producer. "One for the exterior, one for the interior and one for the basement scenes. But then we found this house that had it all."

They acquired permission to use the house from a friend who knew a friend who knew the man who owned it. As a matter of fact, most of what the cast and crew needed was supplied by various people who knew people who could help. Director Bond says everyone they approached was accommodating, no matter what they asked for. "We really haven't heard 'no' yet."

The fact that local people and businesses were willing to pitch in is evident through the various locations that were used in the movie. Besides the house, scenes were also shot in Breakaway's, Imperial Palace, D.C.'z Café, Cape's Career and Technology Center, and the downtown business district. The movie isn't specifically set here, so don't look for signs that scream Cape Girardeau. But as McCrary says, "You can tell it's Cape if you're from Cape."

Those not from the area will still get a chance to view the movie. The filmmakers plan to submit their picture to film festivals all over the country, and have already submitted a short version of some of the scenes to a festival in Kansas City. The group is currently shopping for a distributor and plans to stage a VIP screening of the film at a local venue sometime next month. Tickets to that and personalized copies can be purchased by emailing Bond at backwardslogic@yahoo.com. The money from sales will be used to recoup the costs of the film.

So, what do the filmmakers hope will happen after the final credits roll? They have already started working on a new film- an anthology of sorts. And Bond hopes "Dark Garden" will be a springboard for some of the actor's careers. One of those actors, McCrary, has even higher hopes that that. In the end, he says, "I'd like to thank the Academy."