“Spirit Stalkers”combines classic ghost story elements with paranormal investigation

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Kentucky-made movie about the paranormal opens Saturday at Madisonville school...

From left, Terry Sidell, Steve Hudgins and James Gibbs prepare to film a scene during "Spirit Stalkers" which has its worldwide premiere at 7 p.m. Saturday at Byrnes Auditorium, located on Madisonville Community College's health campus.

By Erin SchmittThe Messenger, Madisonville

Big Biting Pig Productions combines classic ghost story elements with paranormal investigation in its latest film, “Spirit Stalkers.”

“A lot of people who are doing the ghost investigator-type movies nowadays — it’s just really focusing on the investigative team,” said writer, director Steve Hudgins. “What we’ve done here is kind of taken the best of both worlds.”

The locally made movie is set to premiere at 7 p.m. Saturday at Byrnes Auditorium, on Madisonville Community College’s health campus.

Anyone who’s a fan of the television show, “Ghost Hunters,” should love “Spirit Stalkers,” said Hudgins, who also co-produced the film with PJ Woodside.

Big Biting Pig’s latest offering follows a group of paranormal investigators called the “Spirit Stalkers,” Hudgins explained.

“Spirit Stalkers” is a successful TV show, Hudgins said, but the group is so skilled at logically explaining away paranormal activity that their ratings are beginning to drop.

“People are getting bored with how good they are,” he said. “So they are kind of in dire need of a truly haunted place that’s going to be difficult to explain what’s going on.”

Enter Gloria Talman, a woman who’s recently moved into a large, old home where “very weird things” have happened to her, Hudgins said. Talman is at the point where she’s questioning her own sanity.

“She really needs help, and they really need something exciting, so they end up meeting and it goes from there,” he said.

The film was shot in Hopkins County, so the film’s local audience should be able to spot familiar places, Hudgins said. The main home used is the green house on Broadway and Seminary Street.

Other familiar locales include Hopkins County Central High School, The Darby House in Dawson Springs and No. 9 Steakhouse.

About 80 percent of the movie’s actors are also local, drawn from an area within an hour’s drive of Madisonville, Hudgins said. There are, however, some from further away like Terry Sidell. She flew in from New York to play a psychic in the film.

With each film that Big Biting Pig makes — “Spirit Stalkers” is their sixth — they draw in a bigger audition pool. Hudgins said their first film drew about 20 to the audition, while the latest audition for the upcoming film “Lucid” fielded more than 150 interested in parts.

The doors will open to Saturday’s premiere at 5:30 p.m. There will be signs posted around MCC’s health campus behind Regional Medical Center that will point the way to Byrnes Auditorium, he said.

Tickets are $10. Admission includes a “Spirit Stalkers” DVD.

Big Biting Pig Production’s films are available for purchase in Madisonville. Red Wagon Antiques always has them in stock, said Hudgins, and will have “Spirit Stalkers” available soon.
For more information about Big Biting Pig Productions, visit www.bigbitingpgproductions.com or its Facebook page. The “Spirit Stalkers” trailer may be viewed on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d04yuUoffmI.