Middletown world premiere set for murder mystery movie shot a historic home in the city

The Hollywood-style world premiere of the movie “Death for Dinner” is planned for Sept. 28 at the Sorg Opera House.

The film was recorded last spring at a Middletown historic home. It was the 20th production of director and producer Lana Read, a Middletown native who prefers to keep her movie-making local when possible.

Credit: Nick Graham

Credit: Nick Graham

The film stars Michael Pare (”Eddie and the Cruisers”), John Savage (”The Deer Hunter”) and Cyril O’Reilly (”Porky’s”) in addition to local actors, including Middletown police and fire units. It revolves around the murder of a prominent senator and the investigation to find the killer, with a dysfunctional family adding to some twists.

Read said the movie is much in the style of an Agatha Christie mystery, but a little grittier, more like “Seven,” which starred Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman.

“We are are leaning a little more to the darker side,” she told the Journal-News during filming in March.

Credit: Nick Graham

Local scenes, including one in Liberty Twp., are included in the movie, but the majority of the filming was done in the home of Helen and Rick Stevens-Gleason. They are the same couple who owned the winning horse in the 2023 Kentucky Derby, Mage, said Greg Siewny, a producer of film and retired Middletown doctor.

Credit: Nick Graham

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Credit: Nick Graham

Siewny, who retired two years ago after delivering babies for 40 years, became involved in filmmaking in his retirement after showing up in his vintage car for a previous movie.

“I am really excited about this movie,” Siewny said. “The best mystery is the one you might be able to solve by watching it closely. It’s no fun if you know at the beginning or throwing something in at the end. The clues are there if you watch for them.”

The movie’s stars will attend the Middletown premiere, which will include search lights, a red carpet event beginning with a VIP happy hour at 6:30 p.m., and the screening at 8 p.m.

“It is going to be a great night for Middletown,” Siewny said.

Tickets for the VIP happy hour and the movie are $25 per person and $15 for the screening only. They can be purchased at Cincyticket.com.

The movie will be sold for streaming release after the Middletown premiere.

In 2022, Read’s film, “A Bachelor’s Valentine,” was shot entirely in Middletown, including scenes in The Swire Inn, White Dog Saloon, BeauVerre Riordan Stained Glass Studios, the homes of Dan and Fran Sack and John and Avinne Kiser, the Council Chambers in the City Building, Brown’s Run Country Club dining room, Governor’s Square and along the Great Miami River.

Read will begin shooting and directing a new motion picture, “Water`s Edge,” in and around the Hueston Woods Lodge, Middletown and the Dayton area in the first two weeks of October.