TRULY LOW BUDGET

Back in May, 1983, Donald Farmer let loose the first issue of Splatter Times, devoted to cinegore. He put it out irregularly from his hometown of Cookeville, Tenn., where he was a politics and court reporter for the Cookeville Dispatch and the National Tennessean: “But what I really wanted to do was to give film making a try.”

Now he’s doing just that, although he’s not so anxious for viewers to discover his first effort, the 60-minute “Demon Queen,” filmed in three days “directly for the home-video market.”

“I’d have to call it an abomination,” Farmer said. “The distributor (Mogul Communications) will probably have to package it with something else.”

He’s more hopeful about “Cannibal Hookers,” which begins shooting today in and around L.A. (on weekends)--on a $10,000 (yes, $10,000) budget. He’ll direct and co-produce his own script, which is “in the tradition of those exploitation films of the ‘70s--the ones with strong women antagonists who slaughter men, like ‘The Big Doll House’ or ‘Vampire Lovers.’ ” The plot: A trio of sorority pledges must “play” at being ladies of the night. They inadvertently chance upon a house of cannibal hookers (who love to rip the hearts from their clients) and eventually develop an appetite for flesh.

As for the future of Splatter Times: “Well, I’ve got enough material for another issue. But I just don’t seem to have the time to put it together.”