Butler County produces more than just steel, machine parts and natural gas. It also exports its fair share of nightmares and laughter.

Butler County's cemeteries, streets, back roads and bowling alleys have appeared on TV screens and in movie theaters since the iconic “Night of the Living Dead” was filmed in and around Evans City in 1968.

This county film tradition continued in the new century.

Harmony hosted the shooting at the end of September and the beginning of October for “American Pastoral,” a film directed by Scottish award-winning actor Ewan McGregor and produced by Lakeshore Entertainment.

“They spent a lot of time in Harmony,” said Historic Harmony President John Ruch. “They built a building and then blew it up.”

Ruch said the gas station/general store's destruction is “a key part of the story.”

“They were here for a week,” said HarmonyMayor Cathy Rape. “It kind of got rainy near the end of filming. They were supposed to be here one day and they stayed Monday through Wednesday.”

Of course, she added, the film crews were in town long before McGregor and the other actors, changing street signs and preparing parts of town for their close-ups.

Ruch said the moviemakers also used “a farm on Upper Harmony Road in Connoquenessing Township. It became the family home in the movie.”

It's the latest in a string of film appearances for Harmony that dates back to 1991, said Ruch.

“Iron Maze” starring Jeff Fahey and Bridget Fonda had three scenes shot in the borough, he said.

“It filmed right in the center of Harmony,” he said. “They filmed for two or three days. It became a Texas town. I think Bridget Fonda came into town on a bus.”

The location that now houses The Exchange at Harmony antique shop on Mercer Street “became a tavern for a day and someone got tossed out.”

“I didn't think it had much success in the U.S.,” said Ruch, of “Iron Maze.” “I vaguely remember that it did well overseas.”

Although the film didn't sell a lot of tickets in the U.S., it won “Best Screenplay” at the Tokyo International Film Festival and was appointed to the Sundance Film Festival for the “Grand Jury Prize.”

The 1996 remake of the French thriller “Diabolique,” Ruch said, was “filmed at, among other places, the former Thompson's Restaurant in Harmony. It's now Windows R Us.”

Ruch said he didn't know if the film's stars, Kathy Bates and Sharon Stone, were actually in Harmony.

Valencia native Bruce Koehler used the borough building, the First National Bank in Zelienople and other Harmony buildings for 2011's “River of Darkness,” a horror movie starring pro wrestler Kurt Angle, that was released direct to DVD.

Rape said Harmony is on the radar of a lot of Hollywood location scouts because of its look.

“I guess it's because we have these old buildings. It's quaint if you are looking at it through a camera,” said the mayor.

But Harmony doesn't have a monopoly on film appearances.

Butler Memorial Hospital was featured in two recent releases.

The hospital was first scouted and used for filming for one day in November 2014 for “Concussion,” the football drama starring Will Smith that was released on Christmas Day 2015.

Filming for that movie consisted of getting shots of a laboratory.

The hospital played a more prominent role, or at least was on screen longer, in “Love the Coopers.”

The comedy takes place on Christmas Eve and follows the activities of the Cooper family.

The cast included John Goodman, Diane Keaton, Marisa Tomei, Alan Arkin, Olivia Wilde, Ed Helms, Amanda Seyfried, Anthony Mackie and Jake Lacy.

Butler Memorial, called “First Butler Hospital” in the movie, is used for the film's final sequence of events after one of the family members has a medical emergency.

It was the only location used in Western Pennsylvania where all the main members of the cast were included in filming, said Jana Panther, Butler Health System marketing director.

Shooting took place over five days in January and February 2015, though the patients and employees were not affected because much of the filming took place in the lobby, gift shop and a wing of the hospital that was being used mainly for storage at the time.

Mark Edwards, the hospital risk manager, said, “Filming was the last couple days of January and three days of February, five days of film.”

“They did prep work before that. Filming was done in the tower lobby. To keep the same level of lighting, they covered the glass atrium with canvas, blocked out some windows. They built a wall between the information desk and tower entrance,” he said.

Cheryl Ramsey, hospital hospitality services manager, said filmmakers were told their activities couldn't disrupt the patients' schedules. The filming took place between 7 a.m. and midnight.

Evans City still is reaping the benefits of having the grandaddy of all zombie movies, “Night of the Living Dead,” filmed there.

The George Romero movie still retains a global following 47 years after it was first shown.

The borough recently installed an historical marker at the library designating Evans City as home of the “Living Dead.”

Hundreds of fans flock to the annual festivals organized by borough resident Gary Streiner, who was the sound engineer on the film. Followers of the film also visit the Evans City Cemetery year round to see where the creepy opening scene was filmed.

Ruch said he hoped Harmony would follow Evans City's lead.

“It's an interesting thing for Butler County to be a part of,” Ruch said of the film industry. “It would be good to play up the tourism angle. People like to go to places that have been on film.”