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Show I n Slayride crew gets away with murder in Heber City I a m I a 2 - a . ' 3 j I . , - ' ;V I , 3 ; f ' .. ' , . . .1 i- , - ,-- 'C- . . ! - " v k ' . v . v t I , - - VTK w - I I ' V , ' fl I ; ' ..' .-v. j'-ir'- k" j -3 i ; . A ' V W- 1 1 I - 'A r . 4' " - I s I j g I 5 I - - i a I i ' . v f ' V "NkipHt. 1 ! j I , r-"f V - " ' - I 1 3 ' 'J - ' S V . I " l - a ! s t S ' , L 4 ' ' .. i - : S f f I , I : i f I I i r " i l . .. i l - ' i if' 4, " f V (-t 4 1 . v. H I f i F ' S - !,, i' to ' f r . . ' ;' by Flick Brough The motorists driving through Heber Saturday night didn't know it, but murder was taking place right under their noses. In fact, it was the last in a series committed by Chuck Sellier and his crew. Director Sellier was com- -pleting the last shooting on his movie "Slayride" when the Park Record dropped by. The movie is about a vicious murderer in a Santa Claus suit who leaves a trail of corpses in a small town on Christmas Eve. (Since most of the story takes place at night, this disguises the fact that Heber doesn't look very wintery right now. ) The final segment had the villain robbing a small convenience store and shooting shoot-ing down the owner. The location used was the Crossroads Cross-roads store, in south Heber at the junction of U.S. Highway 40 and Utah Highway High-way 189. In the real store, (crowded with real merchandise) the crews walked back and forth over the narrow aisles, lugging cameras and other equipment. Outside, the crew filmed two brief shots: Santa pulls up to the store just before the murder, then runs out, jumps in the car, and pulls out, spitting gravel. The center of the activity was the character officially billed as "Crazy Santa", He's played by Charles " Dierkop.ta long-time villain on TV and movies. Is But Dierkop's familiar face was disguised through the entire picture in the Santa Claus outfit. That way, he said, the villain is more of a mystery. He's less a person than an evil spirit. His role here, he said, is about the nastiest he's had. "When you kill a five-year-old's parents in front of him with a machine gun and go 'Ho, ho, ho,' that's the nastiest. This makes Hitler look like Leave it to Beaver." Between takes, Dierkop grabbed two jingle bells and rolled them in his hand, like Captain Queeg's steel balls. He snarled, "Aren't you glad Christmas only comes once a year?" (If that isn't the . movie's tag line, it should be.) Dierkop was previously in Utah for Sellier's TV project "Deerslayer." He also visited visit-ed St. George for one of his most memorable roles, in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid". He was Flat-Nose Curry, one of the dim-witted outlaws who takes orders from Butch (and is killed early on. ) In the 1970s, Dierkop threw off the villain image and played a regular role as an heroic cop in Angie Dickinson's series "Police W oman. "He said, ' ' Now the little old ladies with blue hair aren't afraid of me any-- any-- more." Crazy Santa is such an absurd figure it doesn't bother him, said Dierkop. "A horror film to me is a guy who can't get a dance," he said. The other actor in the " murder scene is Bob Hart. He plays the grocer, Levitt, who considers Christmas a pain and is proved right, unfortunately, when Santa pumps him full of lead. f ' riart has played roles in Sellier movies like "Nashville "Nash-ville Grab" and "In Search of a Golden Sky." He was hired for a role in "Footloose" and received a salary, but his part was not filmed. "I was the cop who wasn't there," he said. You also hear Hart Charlie Dierkop, out of Santa outfit, strikes an innocent pose. constantly as the programs announcer for Channel KTVX. (He says things like 'Charlie's Angels' at 4:30.") Hart, a former Californian, said he is one of 10 or 15 actors who appear frequently in movies filmed in the area. Utah may not have the professional polish of LA., he said, but the environment is better. This summer, he said, Utah may attract more Hollywood business partly because the summer Olym- . pics is crowding out production produc-tion in California, and partly for the perennial reason that production is cheaper here. "You realize how much it would cost to do this in LA.?" he said, looking at the cameras snaking around the grocery store. s But then it was time for Hart to be killed. As rehearsal started, he grump- ily greeted Santa. jf "Whassa matter, don't you like Santa Claus?" asked the red-suited figure. "It's good for business. 5 Not so good for my stom- ach, " said the grocer. Outside, the traffic churn- ed on into the night. Bob Hart plays the store owner who's disgruntled at Christmas. He will meet an ironic end at the hands of Crazy Santa. I ' Hr-I I ) I r, . .'i- f ' ' - : i ' 1 I ( 1 hi h I- -J I iu f . lv j I VTV " I J 1 . , I fit J ' V I 1 f . u ; ' fr-wh ... . "I 1 ' - ; ; I i : ' ., 1 , 11 111 " '." mi" "Slayride" may destroy the illusions of millions of kids. Here, Santa fishes money from a cash register while shooting the store owner. Is it true Sellier's next picture is about an Easter Bunny with rabies? , ' ill iZ-Br-Q 'IV J |