With picture locked and in the final stages of sound and music design, the independent feature film “Huff” from Windchaser Pictures, a thriller filmed entirely in the Santa Clarita Valley, has been selected to premiere at this year’s Texas Frightmare Weekend in Dallas on May 4-6.

“Huff” was one of the first five films chosen by organizers of the Southwest’s premier horror convention.

“The folks at Texas Frightmare Weekend requested a screener of our rough cut and we were happy to oblige,” said SCV resident Cort Howell, the film’s executive producer and writer. “The fact that they selected our film based on an early, unfinished edit tells us that our hard work has paid off.”

“It’s pretty amazing,” said Gordon Vasquez, owner of RealTV Films and coproducer of the movie (his second picture as a producer, after the 2010 indie hit “Filth To Ashes”). “This is a horror killer thriller, and the film can’t find a better horror thriller convention than the Texas Frightmare Weekend.”

Gordon Vasquez

A clever adaptation of the classic bedtime story “The Three Little Pigs,” “Huff” stars Charlie O’Connell (“The Bachelor,” Season 7) as Virgil “Huff” Huffington (the “wolf”), a sexually abusive stepfather who embarks on a rage-induced killing spree as he pursues his three stepdaughters (the “three pigs”) who have run away with his money intended for a big drug deal.

“Charlie, as you may know from ‘The Bachelor,’ always plays a collegiate-type guy,” Vasquez said. “In ‘Huff,’ he’s showing a breakout performance as the killer in this film. You will be terrified.”

The film also features a cameo appearance by Clint Howard (“Apollo 13,” “Evilspeak,” “Star Trek), who is also set to be a special guest at the fan-oriented film festival.

An early review from WhySoBlu.com hails Huff as “a sickening twist to a childhood favorite.” As Huff, O’Connell “really shines.” And in the role of Huff’s wife, scream queen Elina Madison turns in a “chilling performance.”

Praise is also lavished upon the trio of rising young stars in the roles of the step-daughters: Marie Bollinger (“Hell-o-ween”), Jenna Stone (“A Haunting in Salem”), and big screen newcomer Elly Stefanko.

July 2010 Playboy cover model Natasha Alam (“True Blood,” “The Bold and the Beautiful”) plays Huff’s kinky mistress, while sexy Mayra Leal (“Machete”) turns up in the role of a strung-out neighbor.

“Huff” is expected to appear in other festivals followed by a formal release in September 2012 from Windchaser Pictures, a privately funded independent feature film company. “Huff” (www.HUFFmovie.com) is Windchaser’s first feature film project.