Death by Fame Recap for The Show Must Go On
This week’s Death by Fame is titled The Show Must Go On and tells the story of Blaine Norris’s film project that led to a real-life horror event.
Sean Gaston talks about being an actor and documentary film maker. He was working on a project in Harrisburg, PA in May 2002. His wife found an ad for someone looking for actors and crew to work on a horror film. He talked to Blaine Norris and describes him as a nerd who liked D&D, movies and horror.
The project was a Blair Witch Project type film, complete with a shoestring budget. The movie was called Through Hike: A Ghost Story, which tells the story of hikers who meet after school to explore the area from the Appalachian Trail to PA. Blaine thought this was his ticket to stardom.
Robyn Griggs, who was a soap star at the time, was also auditioning.
Sean didn’t think he had a chance to make it into the film, but gave it ‘the old college try.’
Erin Lampart, who was also in the film, recalls her audition and was happy to be a part of it.
Brian Trimble is also working as the DP on the film. Sean remembers meeting him at the cast meet and greet, but found it odd that Brian’s wife didn’t want him to be there.
Things seem to go well but two weeks before filming, Robyn broke her wrist and is out of the film. The investor also pulled out after seeing that the headshots and quality of the website. Brian also dropped out, leaving them without equipment. Blaine then decided to buy the equipment and work on the movie on his own, despite putting himself in debt.
Michael Lazorcik, who was also a part of this film, was concerned about the amount of money being spent on this movie.
Amber Muncy was called to replace Robyn and was excited to work on it with everyone.
A lot of footage from the movie is shown as the actors talk about the experience. They were hiking for miles a day and barely given time to eat or use the bathroom. Nobody was particularly happy, and it seemed to be more trouble than it was worth.
There were also rumors that Blaine was having an affair with Erin or Amber, even calling Amber to yell at her. Amber denied the allegations and the wife apologized, while Erin was left in disgust that something like this could even happen.
During the pickup shoots, Blaine announced that his wife left him and took the baby, and he was getting divorced.
In March 2003, it was editing time. Sean was excited that they were editing his death scene, until he saw medieval weapons in the office. Blaine told him that Brian’s wife Randi had been murdered in their garage. The rest of the cast gets the news, left in a state of shock. They were worried about Brian, but Blaine says that he was hanging in there.
We hear the 911 call from Brian reporting the murder. It was at first considered a robbery gone wrong, but it was soon inferred that it was staged since there were no hairs or fingerprints at the scene, nor was there any forced entry. The mess made was also not consistent with a robbery.
Randi had over 27 stab wounds, which made authorities think it was a crime of passion.
Brian had MS, so Randi took care of him in addition to working at a local hospital.
Brian is currently the prime suspect. Randi had a $100,000 life insurance policy and money in the bank, which was considered motive. He is questioned about what happened that night as authorities try to poke holes in his story. Footage of this is shown and it is learned that Brian had a confirmed alibi for the night of the murder.
However, he is living a bachelor lifestyle and telling people he had been unhappy with Randi and planning on divorcing him at one point, but changed his mind. A coworker tells this story to authorities and says that he was too weak to kill Randi and had someone else do it….giving Blaine’s name.
Erin reads an email from Blaine about the tapes are evidence in the murder case and that the movie is on hold indefinitely. She is very confused by this, as is the rest of the cast and crew, who also get the same email.
Brian and Blaine were questioned. Blaine claimed to be on a date that night and was seen by his landlord around the time of the murder. Both men are still suspects…but a TV station gets a typed letter from someone claiming to be the killer signed Trooper.
Brian’s computer is analyzed, and a hitman manual is discovered. It appears he got it shortly before the murder. This leads to him being questioned again, with all his inconsistencies being pointed out. He finally admits that while he didn’t kill Randi, he knows who did….and it was none other than Blaine. He writes out an 81-page confession explaining everything from the tension in his marriage to hiring Blaine to kill Randi for $20,000, the exact amount needed to pay off the credit card debt from the movie.
Holes are then poked in Blaine’s alibi since the landlord had the time wrong. His place is searched, and several pieces of evidence are found, including a knife and several other items used in the murder…all found to be purchased 24 hours before the murder….all on a receipt from Kmart.
The cast and crew were shocked and upset to find out that Blaine was a murderer.
On April 14, 2004, Blaine pled guilty of murder, taking the death penalty off the table, while Brian confessed on May 6th, 2004.
Sean noticed several of the killings in the movie imitated what happened in real life.
All the while, Blaine still wanted the movie to go on.
Sean used this to make a documentary about the experience in order to deal with the pain.
