Staci Layne Wilson fills you in on how she cooked up the fabulous Fetish Factory right here at home in Hollywood.

Recipe for one sexy, scary movie:

Ingredients:

 Zombie Makeup
Killer Cast
Spooky House

 Add the writer, director, producers and financiers, then blend until smooth. Pour into Amazon Prime and enjoy.

Cabaret of the Dead (aka, Fetish Factory) is my first feature film as writer-director. Fortunately, working as an entertainment reporter and film critic in la-la-land for most of my life helped prepare me for this wild ride. That, and a love of old-school drive-in movies ala Roger Corman… because we sure didn’t have the budget of the big boys in Hollywood!

Time was also a luxury we could not afford. In my three-day writing blaze of the first draft of the script, Fetish Factory took on a strong comedic element, plus old-school burlesque was added to the mix to help pass the time before the zombies showed up.

Once we found the perfect location and cast the leads, everything else shambled into place. We shot the film in five days (the usual production schedule for a low-budget film is 14-18 days) and it was a nonstop adventure!

Haunted home of the Fetish Factory

Anyone who knows Los Angeles real estate is aware that vintage charmers are often razed to make way for the shiny and new. We lucked out in a major way finding a location through one of our actresses.

I’d originally written the script tailored around a live theater setting – because our story takes place when the burlesque ladies are giving a performance, and – “what?!” – the zombie apocalypse strikes. Hate when that happens.

Carrie Keagan and Jack Bennett on the set of Fetish Factory

But what we got was even better: An 1800s Queen Anne/Victorian mashup that’s not only actually used for burlesque shows, but is aching with atmosphere. This place is like the architectural love child of the Amityville Horror house and the Bordello of Blood. Perfection!

OK… maybe not completely perfect. I’d written several “haunted hallway” scenes into the script, but in the actual house there is only one hallway. All right… half a hallway. But we made lemonade out of arterial blood: since the movie is so campy, the fact that the characters keep returning to the tiny, zombie infested corridor only adds to the intentional absurdity. It’s all very Scooby Doo!

What’s more, the “Horace P. Dibble House” is recognized as Historical Monument #157 on the California Landmark list, and miraculously, as far as I’ve been able to glean, Fetish Factory is the only movie ever shot there.

The rather conspicuous house has an interesting backstory all its own, having been named after a notorious murderer who killed a man with a knife in 1896. Perhaps that is why our zombies are having so much fun.

Speaking of fun, the movie is all about it! It’s a comedy first and foremost, and while the title is saucy, the story is a throwback to tamer times that celebrate cute cheesecake pinups and the whimsy of vaudeville.

Tristan Risk

Curiosity piqued about the Fetish Factory? You can watch the trailer or see the movie for free with Amazon Prime now!