When the lights dimmed last month at The Beach Theater in St. Petersburg Beach for the local premiere of “Live Evil,” nearly half the people in attendance either worked on the film or were related to film producer Mark Terry.

Despite a small turnout for the Halloween Horror Picture Show, Terry couldn’t be happier to have even a handful of people watching his first independent horror film.

It has been a long journey for the Clearwater native, 30, who moved to Los Angeles in 2004 to pursue his dream of making movies. Terry graduated from Oldsmar Christian School and attended St. Leo University where he received a double major in theater and writing. His family – both his parents have small roles in “Live Evil” – lives in Crystal Beach.

“Live Evil” is a throwback to the gory, tongue-in-cheek monster movies that dominated video rental shelves in the 1980s and early 1990s and were produced by Charles Band’s Full Moon Pictures or Lloyd Kaufman’s Troma Studios.

It stars two longtime genre veterans, Tim Thomerson and Ken Foree. And it’s an equal mix of horror and laughs – most noticeably with a running gag that centers around a bloodsucking baby.

Technically, the film itself is what you might expect from a first effort. There are structural issues that likely resulted from the film’s erratic shooting schedule, which basically amounted to weekends-only stretched over more than a year. The script shows flashes of promise, and the special effects are impressive, given its limited budget. But it more than meets the criteria required by fans of low-budget, Grindhouse-style frightfests. There is plenty of bare skin, gallons of blood, car chases and crashes and a winking nod that the action on screen is not to be taken too seriously.

This month, Terry took “Live Evil” to the American Film Market in Santa Monica, CA, to try and secure a distribution deal on home entertainment. Terry said he hopes to have the movie out on DVD sometime next year.

Blood, Violence and Babes (BVB) recently caught up with Mark Terry (MT) to find out more:

BVB: What attracted you to filmmaking, and why did you settle on becoming a producer?
MT: “The fact that I love movies. I was also interested in telling the types of stories that I remember seeing in the 1980s that just aren’t around anymore.

“For years, I acted in Florida…I also trained in stunts as well from Jerry Alan and Kim Kahana, two of Florida’s most well-known teachers.

“Most of the independent movies in Florida seemed to never get finished, never get distributed or have any parts that I truly liked. So, to protect my investment of time and energy, I started to learn to produce to make sure it would get completed and seen.”

BVB: How did the idea for “Live Evil” come about?
MT: “I moved out with a handful of friends from Florida to Los Angeles. We were contacted by a supposed investor (from Florida) who had heard of and seen our previous films that were made in the area. At that point, our group of friends had made three films together that won film festivals around the state and were starting to get known in the horror community. The one stipulation from this investor is it HAD to be a vampire movie. The guys I moved out with wrote the original draft of the movie while I was pursuing my Screen Actors Guild membership and additional stunt work. As we started getting close to the 1st day of production, the investor got cold feet and decided to pull out. We still shot the opening scene, but afterwards my friends from Florida lost interest as it looked impossible to complete.

“Once they told me they wanted to quit the production, myself and another producer signed a script option for the screenplay and opening scene. I found a new investor, had the script rewritten, got a new director, we brought in Tim Thomerson and the rest is history.”

BVB: “Live Evil” definitely has some fun elements, particularly the vampire babies. How has reaction the film been?
MT: The live reaction so far to the movie in theaters and festivals has been tremendous. The baby vampire scene has for sure caused some reaction, good and bad. People may not know what they are getting into with this movie, but no matter what, its meant to be done to have a good time.”

BVB: What are your thoughts on the current horror market and its fans? Do you think direct-to-DVD releases are a good way for relatively unknown, low-budget productions to find a larger audience?
MT: “I will always love horror movies and their fans. The fans of this genre are extremely educated and passionate about the product, but are verbal enough to tell you if your movie does not live up to their standards. However, I am seeing as a producer and filmmaker that the horror market is slowing down and action movies are now picking up.

“Straight to video releases is for sure the way to go for lower-budget productions. Obviously, anyone who makes a film wants it to be a theatrical deal and play 2,000 theaters, but that isn’t always reality.

“The straight to video market brings our films to that audience and turns our movies into something that people can actually see.”

To check out a trailer and other information on “Live Evil,” go to:
http://www.liveevilthemovie.com/