The ruins of Temple of the Seven Trumpets were resurrected again in 1984, the beneficiary of a brand new business in town - show business. 

 

Henry Galloway, a successful construction company owner, aspiring artist, and avid horror fan, bought the land for pennies. His intent was not to heal lost souls but to offer a historic shooting location conveniently close to that fresh new studio on 23rd Street. Movies were coming to Wilmington. Why should Dino De Laurentiis have all the fun? 

 

He preserved what he could from the previous structure, updating it here and there with cheap finishes and tacky adornments. Then the whole thing was swallowed up by the construction of a modest sound stage. Henry dubbed his new establishment Cape Fear Church & Studio - a title that spoke to his creativity.

 

If you believed the lore, you might say it was like sewing up the wound while there was still a little rot inside.

 

The first show to book Cape Fear had a troubled production (everyone was angry, hungry, and oddly disconnected), and the resulting film was no high work of art. And… there was this little mishap where a crew member bled out and died in the basement. Henry tried to spin it for the news report, but the public eye didn’t agree with him. No surprise there; worms tend to squirm when they’re unearthed.  

 

To Henry, it was just a tiny bump in the road to greatness. The whole experience wetted a thirst in him that nothing else had before. He moved his office to the studio, and night after night, he paced its halls, dreaming of savvy business moves and his own dark stories to tell. Having no family to answer to, he was free to chase inspiration at all hours of the night. The greatest strokes of genius always happened around 3:00 a.m. 

 

Sometimes, it felt as if the place itself was speaking to him.