At Priddy's General Store, a pale yellow clapboard building trimmed with wooden benches, hand-painted signs, pumpkins and mums, you can find fried pies, orange Nehi and double-dipped chocolate peanuts.
But poison lemonade, a flesh-eating virus or a half-baked, bushy-bearded proprietor? Nothing of the sinister sort exists at Priddy's, a Stokes County landmark that exudes so much early American charm you almost expect Pa Kettle to pull up in a horse and buggy.
Ironically, lots of film fans link Priddy's with its brief but important role in "Cabin Fever," a cult horror film that has grossed more than $30 million worldwide since it was released in 2002.
Ten years ago, Rebecca Clark, the director of the Piedmont Triad Film Commission, showed Priddy's and a few other general stores in the area to Eli Roth, then an up-and-coming director.
"I remember him commenting, 'This is perfect,' " Clark recalled. "He definitely loved Priddy's as soon as he saw it."
Not long after, Roth and a film crew of actors and technicians arrived at Priddy's, filling the narrow aisles of the store with cameras, rigs, lights and sound equipment for two days of shooting.
Jane Priddy Charleville, the third generation of her family to run the 123-year-old store, said neighbors in the area were perplexed by the activity. "At night, they'd use floodlights in front of the building, and there were some people who thought the store was on fire," she said.
Charleville was around for all of the filming, finding the process fascinating. She also got to hang out with some of the crew at a nearby hayfield that was converted into a canteen. She later attended the East Coast premiere at a theater in Greensboro, finding the grisly content and bad language not entirely to her liking.
"Aside from the content, it made me proud to see the store on the silver screen and that millions would be watching it," Charleville said.
The film mixes comedy and horror to tell the story of five college students who head to the woods for a break and encounter a flesh-eating virus (poison lemonade and that half-baked proprietor do play a role, but you'll find no spoilers here).
The movie, which was made for $1.5 million, became a big hit, launching Roth's career. Fans regularly make pilgrimages to the store, soaking up its old-timey atmosphere and checking out the small archive in the back of the store that includes the gun rack and hand-lettered lemonade sign featured in the movie.
"There isn't a month that goes by when I'm not talking to a customer about the movie," said Charleville. "I always know when it's been played on the Sci Fi Channel."
Fans will often buy a T-shirt and a snack, providing a nice sales boost.
When she is scouting new locations, Clark often tells store owners how being featured in a film can pay off for years.
"It's what I call the icing on the cake," Clark said. "If you get involved with some sort of film that either has a cult following or resonates with people, they're going to want to visit the sites where it was filmed. I'm happy to know that Priddy's is getting some added business because they allowed 'Cabin Fever' to shoot there."
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