Shot in 1989 by director Eric Swelstad on 16mm film and lost in obscurity and distribution false starts for over 30 years. Swelstad abandoned the project before finding a distributor and the title has yet to be released to a mass market audience. Over the years various producers including Jim Wynorski, Rob Spera and Jody Savin have expressed an interest in putting the finishing touches on the film, with the intention of finally releasing it. Swelstad, who owns the initial rights to Blood Church, was resistant and nothing came of their efforts. In 2004, two individual production companies American Film Partners International and Media Blasters expressed an interest in the film, once again with little luck. After years of delay, the film was finally finished and released by Visual Vengeance in 2022.
Many crew members subsequently worked on "Doctor Beyondo Eats Lead," another movie that was never released, although clips were glimpsed in the documentary Films That Suck (1999).
The filmmakers wanted a name star to help sell the movie, but filming was already well underway when producer Steven E. Williams wrangled Linnea Quigley. New scenes were written specifically for her and inserted into the script.
Filmed under the title "Fallen Angels" before ending up in the hands of a now-defunct Florida company that changed to "Blood Church," drastically recut the movie, and irreparably scratched the negatives. Ultimately, the director reclaimed the film and issued it under the title "Heartland of Darkness."
Filmed on location in Columbus, Ohio.