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The "Howling Moon" of Oklahoma

November 28, 2007
Story by Germaine Paul, OSU Library Communications Intern

For Immediate Release

STILLWATER - For most people, hanging out on a Friday night watching their favorite film while eating popcorn is a way to relax after a hard week’s work. However, what people see on the TV screen is not as easy as it looks. Many do not understand all the hard work, time and dedication required to produce a film. But Damon Blalack, Library Technician III, understands all that goes into making a film. He is an active director, writer and producer.

Blalack is not an amateur in the world of film. He has produced roughly 30 short films, a historical documentary for the Public Broadcasting Station (PBS), and "Howling Moon" is his third feature film to produce.

Blalack shot his second feature film for his graduate school thesis, which focused primarily on art, horror and period drama during the 19th Century. The film was picked up by distributors in the film industry. Blalack short films are available on the Internet and for sale on Amazon.com.

"I enjoy directing, writing and producing films focusing on the late 1800s/early 1900s, and all different genres from horror to musical comedies," Blalack said. "However, horror films sell the best during the fall season, and they are fairly cheap to produce."

The last feature film Blalack shot was an old fashioned horror film and has a unique tie to Oklahoma.
In 1917, an 18-year-old girl died of “chill” effects, according to two physicians. However, the townspeople believed the young girl was murdered by human wolves. The long-time murder mystery inspired the plot of "Howling Moon."

"''Howling Moon' is a horror film with a documentary nature throughout the dialogue," Blalack said.

"Howling Moon" is a werewolf story based on the 1917 Oklahoma murder mystery. A girl researches the cause of the 18-year-old’s death. Through her research she obtains the young woman’s daily journal, which explains her life up until the time of her death. This journal attracted the attention of the two physicians who were accused of running a sex cult within the community.

"The relationship between all three characters is like a triangle, and they are all playing off of each other," Blalack said.

Blalack shot the film in 8 days.

"People thought I was crazy for shooting the film in such a short amount of time," Blalack said. "I would rather commit myself to the project and get it done instead of taking a year to produce a feature film."

The film includes actors and actresses from Tulsa and Chicago. The make-up artist for the film has worked on such recent films as "Gothika" starring Halle Berry and "The Day After Tomorrow" with Dennis Quaid.

The time commitment for making any film is long and tedious.

"It took about 50 hours to write and plan, 100 hours of shooting, 300 hours of editing and many hours of promoting the film," Blalack said.

Blalack hopes for the film to be release in the spring. In the meantime, he will spend his time editing and promoting the film.

"In the end, it’s all worth because I love what I do," Blalack said.

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