Hotel Libby is selected as horror film site
<p>Sixty visitors were expected Wednesday for Hotel Libby's trick-or-treat night, but at final count there were 865. All manner of ghosts and goblins lined the sidewalk on both sides of the hotel and all the way to the alley on the north side. And when all was done at 9 p.m. there were still people trying to get in for a peek.</p>
Hotel Libby’s spooky interior and storied history have attracted the attention of a local filmmaker and will be the set of a horror movie set to shoot in February.
Robert Newman, co-founder, president of production and executive producer at Shadowhouse Films, saw the hotel and decided to make it the centerpiece of a new online film series.
He’s also looking for local talent to star in the film, from professionals to those who have never acted before.
“We’re still looking for participants,” Newman said. “We don’t have the budget to pay actors, but it will be catered and is good experience.”
Newman hopes that the Hotel Libby project, as of yet untitled, will be the first of many he’ll shoot locally.
“I plan to shoot as many here as I can,” Newman said. “I want to put Libby on the map for something more positive.”
Newman, who moved to Libby from Denver three years ago, wants to make Libby famous for something other than asbestos, which he thinks is currently the city’s claim to fame.
And while horror movies are a unique way to go about this, the tourism uptick in other spooky hotels has been noticeable.
The Crescent Hotel, a “haunted” hotel in Eureka Springs, Ark., does thriving business in the paranormal tourism market.
While Libby Hotel hasn’t been officially marketed as one of these haunted hotels, proprietor Gail Burger has acknowledged the building can be a bit spooky at night.
“We agreed to be the location for the shoot while we are still creepy,” Burger said. “We’re certainly happy about being chosen.”
The gutted interior of the hotel still makes it look abandoned, and Newman’s plot will have three armed criminals on the lam taking shelter for the night. Newman wouldn’t share any other plot details, but it is safe to say things don’t go according to plan.
Shadowhouse Films is based in Seattle, but as Newman has made his home in Libby, the focus has been split between the two locales.
As a small, independent film studio, the budgets for films are understandably small. The last film Shadowhouse made, “Clown” was filmed on a $3,000 budget, yet featured three professional actors.
“With our skills we are able to make it look like it cost more money than it did,” Newman said.
Newman started filming things as early as junior high, and although he never went to school for moviemaking, he and his friends have long made short productions on small budgets.
He cites king of the zombie flick George Romero as one of his major influences.
“He was able to put something together on a shoestring budget,” Newman said. “And that’s what we’re doing.”
Newman and his crew have made two feature-length films, including a documentary on young ghost hunters in northeast Pennsylvania that had drawn quite a bit of local attention.
“They were pretty much high schoolers but had gained a large following,” Newman said. “They had become something of an anomaly in that area.”
While Newman has a passion for horror, he and Shadowhouse also film whatever pays the bills. The Montana Sky ads that play at the Dome Theater are one such example. Newman filmed and starred in the “computer virus” ad.
Principle photography is done, and shooting is slated to begin in February. Interested actors may contact casting@shadowhousefilms.com to audition for a part in the film.
While the movie probably will never see national release, it will likely do film festival tour and play in art house movie theaters.