Tara Reid joins the off-kilter killer spoof ‘Chicken Head’

Actress Tara Reid was in town last week for a day’s filming on the independent horror movie spoof Chicken Head, which completed principal photography in March.

The bulk of the film, written and directed by actor Corin Nemec, had been shot over seven days at Heritage Village in Largo.

Reid (American Pie, The Big Lebowski) wasn’t able to make the springtime shoot – she’s working on numerous projects simultaneously – and so Nemec and his co-writer (and co-star in the film) Matt Florio moved some things around to accommodate her schedule.

Writer, director and star Corin Nemec (left) with Director of Photography Michael Elliott.

In the meantime, Chicken Head, which is about a small town terrorized by a psychotic killer with, literally, the head of a chicken, was in the early stages of post-production. “We’re almost halfway through with the edit,” exclaimed Nemec (Parker Lewis Can’t Lose, Stargate SG-1). “It looks great. A lot of it really feels and plays like The Office. It’s that kind of rhythm and comedy, and character development and all of that.

“And we just edited our first scene with the reveal of the Chicken Head. And it’s hilarious. We’re really excited.”

READ MORE: Feathers fly as ‘Chicken Head’ movie descends on Largo

Reid has joined a cast that includes Nemec and Florio, Jason London (Dazed and Confused, The Martini Shot), Keith Coogan (Toy Soldiers, Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead) and Zack Gottsagen (The Peanut Butter Falcon).

She spent the early part of her workday filming outside at Boyd Hill Nature Preserve; the company then re-convened at the north Pinellas studio and offices of Red House Streaming for interior work.

There, Nemec directed Reid in a scene with London, and another with actress Abigail Shea. They’re at a TV station, where reporter Reid has been covering the Chicken Head murders.

In between scenes, Reid explained that she was invited onto the project through a family connection. “It’s a funny comedy, and people are really going to like it,” she said. “It’s perfect for what it is.”

She’s been busy promoting her film Dr. Q, which she advance-screened at the 2025 Sunscreen Film Festival in St. Petersburg. Reid produced the movie as well.

Tara Reid’s Murder Mystery Party

She won the Best Actress award at the Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival for the psychological thriller, which is streaming on Amazon Prime, Fandango at home, and other services.

Dropping next is Tara Reid’s Murder Mystery Party, a 25-episode “vertical” series, created to be viewed on smartphones. Vertical series episodes are generally one to three minutes long.

The premise: The boss of an escort company is retiring – will one of the women take his place? “It’s like a high-end Pretty Woman but different,” Reid says. “The boss dies, and everyone thinks someone else did it, and you totally are convinced that person did it.”

The series’ co-producers James J. Gutierrez and Don Worley also worked with Reid on the upcoming comedy movie Mandate, which co-stars Worley, Jon Lovitz and Chris Kataan.

After six Sharknado movies, Reid insists, she’s had enough of that sort of silliness. But she didn’t rule out another go-round for the American Pie franchise, which ended with 2012’s American Reunion.

 “Never say never,” she says. “And right now it’s kinda never. But I know there’s a story there. There’s something missing, but we don’t really know what the answer is.”

Reid on set with Jason London. Photo by Joe Hamilton.

Plans for letting Chicken Head loose on the world haven’t been entirely worked out yet. “We don’t want to count our chickens before they hatch, so to speak, but we have a great distribution agent,” Nemec explains. “And once we get it done, we’ll discuss ‘What is our game plan? What’s the best approach?’ There’s a lot of avenues nowadays.

“And the way we shot it, we have the option of being able to release it as a really tight hour and a half film, and then also be able to string it into six half-hour episodes, essentially a director’s cut. You would see everything that’s not revealed.”

Nemec and his co-writer and co-star agree that having Tara Reid in their film ups the ante considerably. “These scenes will enhance the movie,” Florio said. “And make it better.

“I don’t know if it’s true, but I heard that the gopher in Caddyshack was added after the fact, too.”