As their vision adjusts to the thick darkness, they notice their blood pulsing faster through the veins in their necks.

The first numbing boom of an M4 carbine assault rifle starts an internal race. Adrenaline pumps through their bodies. Sweat starts to seep from their skin, pooling between their shirts and tactical vests.

It’s the first round of entries to Hell House.

They were forewarned.

They were told of last year’s failures.

But they still came.

Forty-five minutes ago while gearing up in a tattered gymnasium, Terence Dament told the team: “You’re going to lose guys.”

The cowboy hat-wearing veteran’s voice bounced off the faded lines on the floor and echoed around the droopy walls, paint strips hanging from it like fallen dreams. Outside the gym, the sun-bleached barracks, church, offices and workshops were once all a part of a medium-security prison.

Now greedy dandelions push through cracked pavement and swallows take advantage of dry, warm spots to raise their chicks.

But twice a year the nature reclaiming the Chilliwack site is interrupted by gunfire.

***

Blank bullets and paper pin-up villains are a lot different from what Ron Blecker is used to. Before starting the North Shore talent agency Def Con 5 in 1998, the 15-year United States Army veteran dealt with the real deal.

He was a member of the Special Operations Command, 2/75th Airborne Ranger Battalion and team commander for the Special Reaction Team.

Blecker went on three combat missions.

The long scar under his right eye serves as a reminder. A machine gun Blecker was firing got so hot that when he put the next round of ammunition in, it blew up in his face.

“I got out of the army because I had gotten as high as I could go,” Blecker said, adding injuries capped his climb. “I had no idea I was going to get into films.”

Within a year of retiring, he received a phone call from The X-Files to become the show’s technical advisor.

That television series kicked off Vancouver’s reputation for expertise in sci-fi, military and cop films. Later, Poltergeist and The Outer Limits helped firm up the city’s foundation in the genres, said Ken Anderson, president of International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees.

“With television you are looking at nine months of solid work so you get a lot of practice from it,” he said.

It also led to the beginning of Def Con 5, an agency that prides itself on safety, and this — the training weekend in the deserted prison.

Def Con 5 feeds off those genres and even though a lot of filming in B.C. includes firearms, Blecker found very few people had proper safety training to use the weapons.

Standing amongst the actors, Blecker’s height and solid build demands attention. He pulls up his notebook and meticulously points out each one of first team’s safety and tactical mistakes.

“You had your finger on the trigger a lot,” he says pointing with his pen to one of the actors.

The mistake cost the team 500 points. With each safety error, points are deducted and the disappointment shows on the team’s faces. Safety is paramount, he continually reminds the team.

Earlier that morning at the debriefing, Blecker demonstrated the damage blanks can cause on a half-inch piece of plywood.

The wooden sheet, now with two round holes in it, was kept as a reminder for the group of actors participating in the training.

Blank cartridges contain gunpowder but not bullets. On rare occasions, the folded brass at the tip of the blank can break off and fire out the barrel.

The explosion also releases a lot of pressure, which can cause injury or – at close range – even death.

In 1984 actor Jon-Erik Hexum, star of the Cover Up, died on-set after placing a .44 Magnum prop gun to his temple and pulling the trigger.

It’s serious stuff, Blecker said.

The gun themselves are real. To attend the training, each participant underwent a criminal record check.

The last name of the armourer who supplies the weapons is kept secret for security reasons, Blecker adds.

As Craig lays out the weapons that will be used on a large table behind Hell House, it’s easy to understand why Blecker takes such precautions.

Listing off the types of guns he brought, Craig points to each as he speaks — M4 Carbine, Remington 870 shotgun, Berettas 92 pistol, Remington 700 sniper rifle.

The rifles alone are worth approximately $1,800 and the optics on some of the gear runs at $600.

“We don’t want the wrong people knowing he has them,” Blecker explains.

The provincial government has also turned its attention to guns on sets.

Firearms can be imported into Canada using a “prop-master” business licence to supply the movie and theatre industry, but the current number of such businesses are far beyond what is required to support the movie industry, stated a 2008 report on the illegal movement of firearms commissioned by the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General.

B.C. has 63 such businesses, while Ontario has 16, the report states. Police have identified cases where these privileges were abused and resulted in weapon trafficking.

Ontario won’t grant a licence to anyone in this category unless there’s a clearly demonstrated need, a principle not in place in B.C.

Craig’s in a different league. He’s an armourer. Not only can he carry illegal guns, but he also has qualifications and understanding of the weapons, Blecker said.

“There are a lot of people trying to make a name for themselves in film industry,” he said. “Real armourers have real credentials.”

***

Gearing up in a barrack, Donavin Kuhl says he hopes the training will help him get more stunt roles. The 23-year-old Manitoban moved to Deep Cove to pursue opportunities in B.C.’s $1.2-billion film industry.

Even with the faltering economy, the industry seems to be fairing well, B.C. film commissioner Susan Croome said.

“There is Los Angeles, there is New York and then there is B.C. And most of that activity in the province happens in metro Vancouver,” she said.

***

Inside Hell House Kuhl fires off his M4. As soon as the weapon discharges his heart races.

“It’s kind of like going into a haunted house with a machine gun,” he says later.

The training helped him stay calm in the stressful situation, which he knows will help him on set. It also ensures Def Con 5’s 100 members are the first called to any production with firearms.

The experience was fun, but Kuhl said firing the heavy guns just makes you aware they’re not toys.

“I was surprised at all the dangers (they present),” he said. “I was surprised at the dangers of blanks.”

raldous@northshoreoutlook.com

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