MUNCIE, Ind. -- Ball State University officials were stunned to learn that an X-rated film involving students was shot more than two years ago in a distinguished mansion normally reserved for seminars.

"Vampire Diaries" director Christopher Gregory filmed his movie at the university-owned Kitselman Center, a short walk from Ball State's campus, after pitching the project as a horror movie.

"I informed them that it would be erotic, it would be a project that would involve girls," Gregory said.

Gregory, a Muncie resident, said he didn't tell Ball State officials about the film's adult content because turning it into a pornographic movie was a last-minute decision.

"From a director's point of view, I don't believe a filmmaker should be reined in creatively," he said.

Center director Joe Trimmer, however, has a starkly different view of Gregory's film.

"We would have never signed a location release had we known this would be the content," said Trimmer, who was unaware of the adult film's release until notified by The Star Press on Wednesday. "That was not the film that was depicted to us."

The mansion is home to the university's Virginia Ball Center for Creative Inquiry. School officials gave Gregory permission to shoot scenes for a horror movie tentatively titled "Night Scream," according to the location agreement signed by both Gregory and Trimmer.

Gregory said he recruited about five Ball State students for the cast. The film's plot follows Dracula's daughter as she makes an appearance in the 21st century as a 23-year-old college student exploring her sexuality.

Trimmer said the Kitselman Center is reserved almost exclusively for students participating in Virginia Ball Center seminars. In the past, occasional requests have been granted to Ball State students, faculty and local residents wanting to book an event at the facility.

Ball State Provost Terry King said Trimmer was acting in good faith with Gregory, but agreements to use university property are supposed to pass through the school's business affairs office. That didn't happen, he said.

"We clearly didn't do our homework here," said King, who also is vice president for academic affairs. "He was pretty slick about the whole thing in retrospect."

King said the university will review the agreement and try to determine whether the film damaged Ball State's reputation before deciding on legal action. Gregory said nothing in the "horror porn" film identifies Ball State.

The movie is expected to be released in the next couple of months, but school officials said they might try to block it and are considering legal action.