Spielbergs on a Shoestring

Teen Scream Queen

Some young children who watch scary movies have nightmares. Young Stephanie Aldridge had a dream: to make her own scary movies.

The filmmaking bug bit Aldridge, now 17, when she was 5 years old and a devoted viewer of horror films, particularly the Subspecies series, which chronicles the adventures of a young woman bitten by a Romanian vampire.

Aldridge met one of the stars of Subspecies, Denice Duff, at a sci-fi convention in Akron, Ohio a few years ago. "Denice was my idol," Stephanie says. "I went home wanting to become an actor. Over time, the acting bug led me to begin writing and directing my own films."

Pulling together $200 in allowance money and borrowing a camcorder from her lead actress, Aldridge (just 14 at the time) shot her first feature, Blood Beneath the Moon, about a group of friends who rent a house formerly inhabited by a mad scientist.

Aldridge shot her follow-up feature, Slice 'n' Dice, for $2000 using Canon's GL2 camcorder; the movie stars Aldridge and film enthusiasts she'd met at sci-fi and horror conventions.

The high school senior is currently shooting Descend Into Darkness 2: Battle of the Undead, about a woman who is bitten by a 500-year-old vampire. The film stars Aldridge and B-movie veteran Suzi Lorraine, star of such film classics as Busty Cops, Revenge of the Necktie Strangler, Day of the Ax, and Satan's School for Lust.

Aldridge says the key to a filmmaker's success is what happens before the cameras start recording--coming up with a good story. "It doesn't matter how good of a director you are. If your script stinks, so will your movie," Aldridge says.

Like Pirro, Aldridge doesn't pay her actors, but she does take care of them. Her father will sometimes cook for the cast and some of the stars will stay with the Aldridges during shooting.

Finding people willing to commit time to finishing a project is one of the toughest parts of filmmaking for Aldridge. "Some people I've worked with don't know what is really required to make a film," she says. "They'll show up for a day or two, but when they see how long the process takes, they quickly lose interest." But in Aldridge's latest film, actress Dawn Desiree makes the ultimate commitment--twice. Desiree dies once as a character named Elizabeth, then again as Kristen.

Stephanie Aldridge

Age: 17
Home: Cleveland, Ohio
Most successful film: Descend Into Darkness, a modern story about a young woman who is bitten by a vampire. Her friends struggle to save the woman's soul before she is damned to an eternity in Hell.
Current budget: $2000-$3000
Hardware: Canon GL2 camcorder, Azden SGM-2X boom microphone, RadioShack headphones with microphone, Gateway Video Editing System PC.
Software: Pinnacle Edition (software video editor), Pinnacle Impression (DVD authoring application), Pinnacle Commotion (special effects application), Cakewalk Home Studio (audio editing software)
Web site: www.spookyart.com
Day job: High school senior