Aspiring Mogul Back in Action : Film: The low-budget, dark comedy ‘Auntie Lee’s Meat Pies,’ produced by Orange County’s Gerald Steiner, stars Pat Morita as small-town police chief.

Gerald Steiner, Orange County’s aspiring B-movie mogul, is back in production.

The producer of last year’s “Dr. Caligari,” a stylish and kinky cult hit, is in the midst of shooting his second feature, “Auntie Lee’s Meat Pies.”

A dark comedy set in the fictional California coastal town of Penance, the $1.5-million film is about a woman (played by Karen Black) whose culinary specialty features a gruesome secret ingredient. Pat Morita plays the small-town police chief who suspects something is afoot--or a hand, or a leg.

“ ‘Caligari’ was a cult art film. This is a cult film for the masses,” said Steiner, standing in his warehouse-turned-sound stage Saturday. “And hopefully, along the way, we’ll insult some people.”

Steiner, who runs a video duplication company, brought in a director and writer for “Dr. Caligari,” Stephen Sayadian and Jerry Stahl (makers of the midnight movie staple “Cafe Flesh”). Steiner co-produced the film, inspired by the silent classic “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari,” with Joseph Robertson, whose B-movie credentials include such ‘60s camp classics as “The Slime People” and “The Crawling Hand.”

This time around, Steiner wrote the film with Robertson, who is directing. After two weeks of location shooting on a ranch near Newhall, the production moved Saturday to Fullerton for one day and now is in Anaheim Hills for two weeks. The production wraps up with a week of studio filming back in Fullerton.

While many low-budget movies go straight into video release, Steiner said he “positively” intends to arrange a theatrical run for “Auntie Lee’s Meat Pies,” and said he is already talking to some major distributors.

Although still a neophyte when it comes to movies (“Caligari” was his first filmmaking experience), Steiner is enough of a businessman to know how to make a little bit of money go a long way. Still, there are times when having a big budget would help.

One scene filmed Saturday seemed simple enough: Morita had to drive a short distance along Commonwealth Avenue and turn left into the parking lot of Steiner’s business, disguised as a police station.

But while a major studio might have the clout to shut down a street for filming, fledgling Steiner Films had to work this little bit of business around a steady stream of street traffic and pedestrians. After more than an hour of trying and a lot of U-turns for Morita, the shot was finally on film.

Morita, a veteran TV and film actor perhaps best known for the “Karate Kid” film series, had no complaints, saying the shooting was going “surprisingly well.”

“One would tend to think, on a so-called small budget, you would have to scrimp on a lot of things,” Morita said between scenes Saturday. That hasn’t been the case, he said: “It doesn’t appear to affect the quality of the work that’s on film at all.”

“It’s a lower-budgeted film, but everyone’s great to work with and it’s very organized. It’s a pleasure,” added co-star David Parry, who also played one of the leads in “Dr. Caligari.”

Morita’s Chief Koal is “the whole police force” in Penance, he said. His office looks like the typical small-town police station--save for the portrait of Emperor Hirohito on his wall and the pair of Samurai swords on his desk.

“We had a little bit of fun with my ethnicity,” Morita explained. The attraction in taking the role, he said, was “being associated with a kind of project that I’m not known to do ordinarily . . . being in a comedy in a role that’s a lot of fun.”

After completion of two exterior scenes, Saturday’s filming moved indoors to the sound stage Steiner built in a vacant warehouse for “Dr. Caligari.” Next to the police set were a series of surreal sets of the bedrooms of Auntie Lee’s nieces. The sets, one of which is a model of Stonehenge and another of which features a giant, two-headed snake, will be lit with black light.

Robertson, an energetic man with a shock of gray hair, smoked non-stop as he stalked the sound stage. For a scene set in Morita’s office, Robertson worked out some business--rifling desk drawers, fiddling with a pair of handcuffs--for Parry, playing a private detective.

“It’s a comedy. A black comedy,” Robertson explained during a brief break, talking in staccato bursts. “We play it very straight. The straighter you play it, the funnier it is.”

Steiner, looking very much the Hollywood producer in his suspenders and Panama hat, took an obvious delight in the proceedings. He approaches filmmaking the way some men--in his own comparison--take to model railroading. Financing the entire cost of the film out of his own pocket, he has single-handedly set this project into motion and loves to watch the production run.

He will edit the film himself, a skill he picked up in the video business, and expects the movie to be complete in six to eight months.

“This is a high for me,” said Steiner, who is already planning his next three productions--one a year. “There is so much going on, it’s just a euphoric feeling.”