Nefarious: Merchant of Souls
"Nefarious" was written, directed, produced, and narrated by Benjamin Nolot, founder and president of Exodus Cry. Exodus Cry, which distributed the film, is headquartered in Grandview, Missouri and is an organization that opposes human trafficking by raising awareness, by reintegrating victims back into society, and by prayer. Nolot founded Exodus Cry in 2007 after a woman he did not know gave him , saying that God told her to do so in order that Nolot might found an anti-human-trafficking organization. This was founded at a prayer meeting later that year where attendees prayed for human trafficking victims. The organization claims that this prayer meeting occurred on the day before the announcement of the 2007 international child pornography investigation, which involved approximately 2,400 human-trafficking-related arrests in 77 countries.
Herk Harvey
Harvey is best known for his sole feature film, "Carnival of Souls", a low budget 1962 horror film starring Candace Hilligoss. It was produced and directed by Harvey for an estimated $33,000. Harvey had witnessed the recent success of Elmer Rhoden Jr. and fellow industrial filmmaker Robert Altman in producing low-budget feature films in nearby Kansas City, and began to secure backing from local investors in order to mount a similar project in Lawrence. While returning to Kansas after shooting a Centron film in California, Harvey developed the idea for "Carnival of Souls" after driving past the abandoned Saltair Pavilion in Salt Lake City, Utah. Hiring an unknown New York actress, Lee Strasberg-trained Hilligoss, and otherwise employing mostly local talent, Harvey shot "Carnival of Souls" in three weeks, on location in Lawrence and Salt Lake City, using a script penned by Centron associate John Clifford. Harvey also played an uncredited role as the film's most prominent "ghoul." Originally marketed as a B film and released by an upstart distribution company that quickly went bankrupt, "Carnival of Souls" never gained widespread public attention upon its original release but today has become hailed as a cult classic. Set to an organ score by Gene Moore, "Carnival of Souls" relies more on atmosphere than on special effects to create its mood of psychological horror. The film has a large cult following, built up primarily via late-night television screenings, and has been released on DVD by the Criterion Collection (complete with a host of special features, including an hour of excerpts from Harvey's Centron productions). To this day, the movie is still discussed by film buffs and occasionally has screenings at Halloween and art film festivals.