'Vampire Biker Babes' filming OK'd for Bradenton Beach
By Paul Roat. Islander Reporter
An Island film producer plans to begin filming a feature movie including Island scenes later this year.
Walt Jenkins, of Anna Maria City, is producing an admittedly low-budget film titled "Vampire Biker Babes." Scenes will be shot at the Bradenton Beach Police Station, after last week's approval by the city commission to allow the filming.
Jenkins said he hopes to start filming by March. He also agreed to provide the city with up to $5,000 worth of services to promote the city in the form of Web sites, TV commercials or training videos.
As described by Jenkins, "Vampire Biker Babes" will cater to "the most profitable genre of films in the low-budget independent film market, which is horror. Among horror fans," he said, "the most popular subject matter is vampires. Currently, motorcycle culture is sweeping America. Our movie is designed to appeal to both these fan bases, hence the name."
Jenkins said that the movie is intended to be "well within a 'PG' rating and there will be no nudity. The most skin shown is no more than what you can see when a person wears a shirt and shorts. The plot is a simple revenge motif," he continued, with the main character being a vampire and leader of an all-girl biker club. Her sister is stopped by another group of bikers and is raped, he said in a plot summary, and the vampire biker babes go forth to seek revenge.
City commissioners approved the filming of about eight hours one night at the police station, with Mayor John Chappie dissenting. "I'm just not comfortable with the title and the image it could give our city," he said. "We've worked hard to clean up that image of Bradenton Beach."
He also cited an incident in St. Petersburg last year, when a film was shot in part on the HMS Bounty, purportedly as a PG-rated made-for-TV movie that later swept the adult film industry and is now one of the most financially successful hard-core pornography films of all time. |
