Haunted Hollis?ro;”the movie.

HAUNTED HOLLIS Toi Jackson is going undercover to shoot a movie out in St. Albans, Queens, and the local cops, drug dealers and other neighborhood folk are keeping a close eye on her. She has a script, a budget, an intriguing idea, a house with some weird history and a group of unknowns willing to work for food. Now she just has to get it done.

It might not be that easy. Getting it done in St. Albans isn't like an NYU student's shoot in an East Village alley. For one thing, Jackson has to hope that she doesn't get killed or arrested on location.

Toi Jackson broke out on the New York City hiphop scene in 1986 as one of the first female rappers. She recorded under the name Sweet Tee on Profile Records and had a hit with "It's My Beat." A statuesque beauty, she beams when talking of her music career. "I was one of the female rap pioneers. It was great. I was getting money and it was fun."

Back in 1986, there were no role models to point the way. "There was nobody to fashion your huge dreams on. I mean, you saw Run-DMC doing good...but we all knew it would take time. There was no one out there in hiphop you could point to and say, 'That's who I want to be like.' The only ones we saw who were huge back then were like Michael Jackson...and that seemed so far off. The rappers were just working it. No one was blowing up."

Jackson always wanted to write, too. After finishing the script for The Inheritance, she secured some local money to get it produced. Of her supporters, she will only say, "It's backed by private investors....Seifred Austin and Ike Realty."

When I asked about the rumors that local gangster money was also funding the operation, she just smiled.

The Inheritance is about a woman who inherits a house from her sister that has a lot of history to it—and a lot of bodies, too. The house where Jackson plans to film is under surveillance, and neighborhood gossip wonders if the bodies aren't just in the script. Jackson wouldn't tell me the exact location because they still have to film.

"This is not some street film. This is a big challenge. Filming a thriller in Hollis. It is going to be wild," she says.

Jackson will direct and act in the film; the rest of the cast is unknowns. They hope that if she catches on, they will, too.

"Everyone is being real cool with this. They are working to work. If it goes well they know they will be a part of something big."