Food truck's cheesy horror film about killer cheese wheel features some big names in cheese world (2024)

In the cheese shop, no one can hear you scream.

The Roaming Wedgemobile cheese shop, local filmmakers and some of their friends in Northwest Indiana are filming a low-budget horror film about a killer wheel of cheese that will feature some big names in the cheese world. It's what would be called a Brie, err, B Movie.

Food truck ownerNick Hoehn, screenwriter Joe Eccles and director Ben-David Armstrong are shooting "Unholy Cheese" at settings around Northwest Indiana and the south suburbs, including the recently closed Windmill Brewing in Dyer. They're planning to stage a cheese festival where the public will get a chance to be extras who largely get killed off in a massacre scene in the movie.

It's a cheesy horror film in the vein of "Rubber," a campy cult classic about a killer tire. The plot will sound familiar to anyone who's seen any of the Chucky movies about the killer children's doll– only in this case theMuenster is a possessed cheese wheel that goes on to shred hapless victims who end up meeting a bloody feta.

"It's a cheese-themed horror movie that will blow your socks off," Hoehnsaid. "The principal idea is a cheesemaker finds out another cheesemaker is a serial killer and he pushes him into a vat of cheese. He decides to make the cheese regardless. But the soul of the serial killer is trapped inside the cheese. Anyone who eats the cheese goes around killing people or killing themselves, causing chaos."

Eccles, an actor, writer and producer who has worked on films like "Get Pony Boy," "Snafu," and "Why Not?", is writing the script. The hero of the story is a nun who's also a private detective who's tasked with solving the mystery of the evil wheel of cheese.

"It's wacky, a low-budget gore fest,"Hoehn said. "We're having fun with it. It's a wacky movie about killer cheese."

Eccles made a short horror film "Morning Deliveries (Milkman No. 1)" based on the Stephen King short story from the book "Skeleton Crew" as part of King's now-defunct $1 adaptation program in which he let indie filmmakers buy the movie rights to his work for just $1.

"We wanted to do another horror film afterward," Ecclessaid. "That was more kid-friendly. This is going to be more of a 1980s horror-comedy. Hopefully it's like 'The Toxic Avenger' where it still lives on 40 years later. We had the vague idea of making a horror film about cheese, spit-balled ideas and are now making it happen. We're just getting started."

The movie will feature cameos by some big names in the cheese world, including "Cheese Sex Death: A Bible for the Cheese Obsessed" author Erika Kubick and Tenaya Darlington, who writes the Madame Fromage blog and authored the "Madame Fromage's Adventures in Cheese" book.

"Both are accomplished cheese authors and figureheads for the industry,"Hoehn said. "Kubick has more than 250,000 followers on Instagram and is one of the coolest people I know. She said she would absolutely do it so long as she gets to die on screen.Darlington also is a big name with a huge following on Instagram who writes the Madame Fromage blog about her cheese journeys."

Other members of the cast are Hoehn's friends, including colleges at the Schererville Whole Foods where he works as a cheesemonger when not driving The Roaming Wedge around to sell artisan cheeses from Wisconsin, Vermont and Europe at different farmers' markets, festivals, craft breweries and coffee roasteries around the Calumet Region.

They started out trying to make a short film but people get excited about the concept so now they're looking to make a longer film.

They have filmed a few scenes already and hope to have a movie trailer before October. They have invested thousands of dollars of their own money into making the movie but are looking to raise more, including through an Indiegogo campaign.

"The more we can raise the bigger we can make it, Hoehn said. "We probably went through 10 gallons on fake blood in one seen. Do you know how much fake blood costs?"

The principal fundraiser will be at a beer and cheese festival they are planning. People will be able to buy a ticket to the festival, enjoy cheese and beer and participate in the movie as extras.

"About 90% of the murders in the movie are going to happen at the festival," he said. "We plan to go through 100 gallons of fake blood. It's going to get messy with body parts everywhere. It will be like an old 1980s gore fest. 'Evil Dead' has got nothing on us."

They hope to distribute the film at festivals and on streaming platforms. They for instance plan to submit it to the Fantastic Fest, where "Terrifier 3" will be screened.

"We would love to be shown with something with that level of cult following," he said. "It's like 'The Toxic Avenger,' that level of goofy over-the-top gore and horror. They made a movie, 'Rubber,' about a tire killing people. It's going to be like a classic 1980s horror film like Peter Jackson's 'Dead Alive,' one of the bloodiest horror films ever made. It's going to be fun, not like modern horror where people's eyeballs get ripped out. It will be gross, campy, fun horror like 'Dead Alive' or 'Return of the Living Dead,'"

Hoehn is looking for more extras to be in "Unholy Cheese."

"We're looking for anybody who wants to get killed or do the killing. The more people who are in it, the bigger it can be," he said.

For more information, find the Roaming Wedge on Facebook and Instagram or email roamingwedge@yahoo.com or follow Unholy Cheese on Instagram.