Stash: Good Old Boy Gore!
by Bruce G. Hallenbeck

Filmmaker Jacob Ennis, the force behind the new Bloody Earth Films release STASH, has always had a hankering for horror. 'It really started when I was seven or eight years old," he told me during a phone interview from his home in Kentucky. "I've always been into monsters and monster movies and haunted houses. I actually made my own haunted houses and charged the neighborhood kids to come through them. And I'd put on plays too.

"My family purchased a VHS camcorder back in the early eighties when I was about eight years old, and I started making little short films starring my neighbors and my family. I've always been involved with that. I kept making short films and got a degree in TV and radio broadcasting in '98. I was in TV for ten or twelve years."

While he was working in TV in Kentucky, Ennis started working on the script that eventually became STASH, the harrowing story of Bud (Kevin Taylor), a marijuana farmer from the Kentucky hills who ends up going completely off the rails, forcing two of his "customers" who had attempted to rip him off to kidnap women and bring them to his run-down cabin, where he imprisons the women in his basement and does all sorts of unthinkable things to them. One such victim, more determined and capable than the rest, gives Bud a run for his money. She's portrayed by young actress Karen Boles.

A few years ago, Ennis formed his own production company, Tuckywood Productions, to produce music videos and features. Although he's helped out other indie filmmakers on their productions, STASH is his first feature and, judging from its slickness in both the technical and creative departments, it most certainly won't be his last.

Anyone who's been involved with indie filmmaking will relate to some of Ennis' experiences in getting his movie made. 'We shot mostly on weekends," Ennis said, "and the times when we did shoot were very productive. We didn't have a lot of money, but , with our producers at Can Too Entertainment, we always made sure we were prepared. It was a long process doing it that way, and we didn't always shoot in order. I like to shoot in order, because it's always a challenge keeping the continuity; if you look at the movie carefully, you'll see different hair lengths on the actors since we shot over such a long period of time."

STASH has had a long gestation period, even for an indie. Ennis explained, "We had everything in place in 2003 and started shooting in early 2004. At that time, HD wasn' t really an option, so we shot on a Panasonic in standard definition. We filmed entirely in Kentucky, not far from where I grew up. "

Ennis noted with a wry laugh that his budget was "slightly" under a million dollars and that most of his actors in STASH were "home grown," with the exception of New York-based exploitation movie queen Debbie Rochon, who plays the mother of one of the kidnapped girls. Ennis is aware of southern stereotypes, many of which he makes fun of in the film. "A lot of people think that if you're in Kentucky, you'll have a hard time finding actors," he continued. "The truth is, there are good actors all over the place.

There are a lot of very talented people around here. I placed ads in area newspapers and Internet sites and stuff and got a pretty good turnout for auditions. I had two or three casting calls, and from that we pretty much cast the whole movie. But we didn't have Bud. He was hard to cast; he was supposed to be a bearded, 300-plus pound guy. "

One of the productions assistants recalled that he'd had "an old roommate" who fit that description, and when Taylor came in for an audition, he was given the role on the spot. "Karen was local," Ennis said "She had lived around here in the Lexington area for quite awhile. She'd been in some local theater productions and commercials. Her role was a lot to deal with in my opinion, and she was a total pro. I was just amazed at how well she did. "

Ennis pointed out that, in a low to no-budget production, you have to be able to think on your feet: "You have to be super-creative. We had a crazy night at Bud's cabin, which was an old hunting cabin in Franklin County. That night was just horrendous. It rained and we got covered with mud; our electrical breakers went off and it took awhile to get them back on. We had probably twenty-plus hours of shooting.

"At the time we were there at the cabin, there was a guy who lived near the property who was kind of senile. If you've seen the movie, you know that Bud has to dispose of a couple of bodies, so he's carrying this life-size body that's wrapped in duct tape and he goes out to bury it.

But when we were filming this scene, this guy next door comes running out with a knife. He thought it was all for real! So we tried to explain it to him and he just did not understand; it took a very long time . So we left there and went on down the road a little ways and tried to stay away from him!"

From the first day of shooting to the last, Ennis said it took "just under four years. The whole time I was shooting I was doing the editing. If I had not done that, I would probably still be editing. There were a few hairy times where my hard drive crashed and I lost some stuff and had to go back to work on it. It was a very time-consuming process."

There's a lot of nudity in the film, although most of it is not what one would call erotic. Ennis said he had no problem casting the actresses who would do nudity: "Surprisingly, it was easy. You'd think it would be tough. A couple of the girls were fetish models, so they were pretty much used to all that stuff. They were total professionals, and it was extremely cold at times. I'm sure that added to their performances; when they were shivering, they were not acting."

Ennis is a big believer in regional filmmaking. "I've always pretty much fit in with most kinds of people," he said. "I've known a lot of people who are like the characters in the movie; not the kind that would slice girls up, but good old boys and people like that. I didn't have to worry about my actors having the right accents. This is Kentucky, not Hollywood. A big studio movie would spend millions of dollars trying to recreate the atmosphere that we had right here. And the music we used, I think, added a lot to it."

Just to play devil's advocate, I asked Ennis if he was concerned that he might be giving the wrong impression about southerners. Did he worry they might all be perceived as rednecks and serial killers? "I never thought about that too much!" he laughed. "I guess maybe that is a stereotype. People are going to believe it regardless of whether or not I make a movie about it."

Tim Ritter, cult director of indie films such as KILLING SPREE, saw STASH and championed it to Michael L. Raso, head of Pop Cinema and its subsidiaries. "He gave Mike a heads up about it," Ennis explained, "and Mike watched it and really liked it. He's a really great guy, upfront and professional. So we signed with him."

Currently, Ennis said he's working on "two or three" projects. "I'm working on a documentary about hauntings," he continued. "We've followed around a bunch of ghost hunters and have travelled to locations all around Kentucky. We've been working with people from shows like PARANORMAL STATE and GHOST HUNTERS INTERNATIONAL and have gotten great insight into the world of ghost hunting.

"I'm also doing an Edgar Allan Poe adaptation. It's a version of THE TELL TALE HEART that takes place in a junkyard."
Meanwhile, STASH is on the loose, calculated to disturb movie viewers everywhere.