Ashley Bell on her terrifying Carnage Park first day

In the new action-thriller Carnage Park, Ashley Bell plays a woman who is taken hostage by a pair of criminals (James Landry Hébert, Michael Villar) and then finds herself the prey of a deranged sniper, portrayed by Pat Healy. So, exactly how much CGI jiggery-pokery did writer-director Mickey Keating (Darling) employ to make it look like bullets were just missing Bell’s character?

Precious little, it seems.

“The first day, I got to set, and it was a day my character’s getting shot at,” says Bell, who is best known for starring in the Last Exorcism films. “I’m like, ‘Okay, it’ll be CGI.’ And they’re like, ‘Ashley, we’d like to introduce you, here’s your sniper.’ I said, ‘What? Excuse me?’ And they’re like, ‘Yeah, and he’s going to be shooting live rounds of dirt pellets at you.’ I was like, ‘First of all, how are you, do you want a foot rub? Can I get you anything? Second, is this going to hurt?’ And he’s like, ‘Only if I get you.'”

So, they actually hired a sniper to shoot at — or at least very near — you? “Yeah,” laughs the actress. “We’re Facebook friends. He’s a fantastic man. So, that was day one — and it was just all carnage-y from there.”

Carnage Park costars Alan Ruck, Bob Bancroft, Andy Greene, Graham Skipper, Darby Stanchfield, and Larry Fessenden. The film is released in theaters, on VOD, and via digital platforms on Friday. You can see the trailer for Carnage Park and a scene which Bell actually shot on that very first day, below.