"BEAUTY QUEEN BUTCHER" is a black comedy horror film about a beauty queen contestant who after being entered in the contest as a joke by the other entrants, decides if she kills the other girls, one by one, then she will eventually be named the Beauty Queen.

We filmed at a lot of locations in and around the Quad Cities.  It is directed by Jill Rae Zurborg and Shane Partlow was the producer/sound. I was the director of photography (cinematographer) and involved in the editing.

There are three behind the scenes videos to watch on the bottom of this page.

The cast includes Rhona Brody, Kathy Mensik, Kimberly Kurtenbach, Tammy Pescatelli (who besides being an actress is a really talented comedian - she was on NBC's Last Comic Standing where she should have won), Laura Schutter, Jim Boggess, and Steve Kollin.

In fact, the film was shot before the Avati's came to town to film Brothers and Sisters. When the Avatis arrived for filming, they called me to work on Brothers and Sisters and I declined since I knew I would be editing every night on Beauty Queen Butcher. 

A lot of people don't know this but producer Antonio Avati offered me the job anyway at full salary and said it wouldn't be a problem if I left at 5pm every day to go work on the post production of Beauty Queen Butcher as he valued me being part of his crew.  Something he didn't have to do but it was a very nice gesture. One of the many reasons why I enjoy working with Duea Film and the Avatis on five films to date. I missed two of their last films (including the offer of the position of sound mixer) due to directing obligations that was impossible for me to get out of.  So I ended up working each day on Brothers and Sisters until 5pm and then was off editing in the evenings on this film thanks to Antonio. 

I enjoyed working with the director Jill Zurborg. Beauty Queen Butcher was a very fast shoot over just a few weeks on a limited budget and the cast were a lot of fun to work with. Some of them I worked with on other films - Jill and Shane appeared in other projects I made like A Compulsion to Murder, The Creeper and Sinister Tales. Laura Schutter was in Thirst for Blood.

Kim Kurtenbach was also in Autopsy Of The Dead and Thirst for Blood (by the way her sister Ashley was cast in The Shadow People). And I shot some comedy shorts with Tammy as well as doing some filming of her on air during her time co-hosting on a local radio station  plus she was in Thirst for Blood and The Shadow People.



One of the more memorable shoots was filming the pageant scenes at a local school. We had to shoot all of the pageant scenes in 3 days since we couldn't get back in the school at a later date and school was in session during the week days.  We arrived at the school gym location on a Friday - began shooting friday night and work went straight on until Sunday evening with just a couple minor breaks. It definitely was the longest straight shooting I had ever done. It had to be done this way due to the schedule and the fact that there was a lot of pageant scenes to be shot. We basically shot it so we were focused on the back stage and on stage for Friday night, Saturday, and Saturday Night. And then the crowd came in for scenes on Sunday which is when we did shots from the stage looking at the crowd and reverse shots from the crowd at the stage.

                        
                         Whenever the beauty queen actresses were not on screen during
                         the three day continuous filming of the pageant shoot, they caught 
                         quick naps on the gym floor.


                               
                               Jeff Carney and actress Kimberly  Kurtenbach at 
                               the premiere of Beauty Queen Butcher.

                              
                               A photo I took during a break in filming - from left
                               Kimberly Kurtenbach, Tammy Pescatelli, 
                               Laura Schutter, and Kathy Mensik.

                    
                     From left, actresses Tammy Pescatelli, Kimberly Kurtenbach,
                     and Laura Schutter.



                  
                   The cast and crew of Beauty Queen Butcher. I'm in the back row
                    near the middle wearing the white cap.


                    
                    Actors Rhona Brody and Steve Kollin caught in the school hallway.



                 
                  Cinematographer Jeff Carney getting some help from actresses (on left of
                  camera) Tammy Pescatelli, Kathy Mensik  and (on right of camera) 
                  Kimberly Kurtenbach and Laura Schutter.

                     
                  
                  Cinematographer Jeff Carney and camera assistant Jamie Donovan.



                
                 The beauty queens with their pagent leader Betty Prunish - Yes Ms.
                 Prunish is actually a man played by actor Jim Boggess .



                
                 Actress Rhona Brody, the beauty queen butcher, in the make up chair.



               
                                 Rehearsing a scene from the Beauty Pageant.



                
                Filming a scene in a hair salon. From left director Jill Rae Zurborg,
                Laura Schutter, Jeff Carney,  Rhona Brody, and Kimberly Kurtenbach.



              
               Producer Shane Partlow making sure the blood bag stays taped
               down to actress Kathy Mensik 's stomach for her upcoming murder scene.

                

            
                              Kathy Mensik laughs after filming of her death scene.



                                 
                                  Filming actress Kimberly Kurtenbach's murder
                                  scene. This happens to be my favorite murder
                                  in the film as we had a great time shooting it and
                                  the killing was more violent than the others in
                                  the movie. Plus Kim dies really great. Wonderful actress.


             
                               Getting ready to film in the autopsy room.


            
                   Tammy Pescatelli getting rigged with blood for her murder.
                                 


             
              Actress Tammy Pescatelli bleeding after being attacked in a scene
              from Beauty Queen Butcher.

               
              
                  The back stage staging area for the beauty pageant actually
                  was not back stage but on the main gym floor.


               Below are three videos of behind the scenes footage taken during
               filming of Beauty Queen Butcher. These were shot for my personal
               collection. I did the interview with the actors and then a friend,
               Greg Padakis, shot the gym filming (since I'm in the footage filming Beauty
               Queen Butcher - I'm wearing  the white cap). I went through several hours of
               footage to cut it down  to the three segments that you see below. Nice look for
               people who always wondered what is it like on a independent film set.
                
                                 



                  
                    Behind the Scenes Video taken on the set of Beauty Queen Butcher.


                    
                      Behind the Scenes Video taken on the set of Beauty Queen Butcher.


                  

                                         
                    
                        Behind the Scenes Video taken on the set of Beauty Queen Butcher.