Ulverstonlocal

Barrow students star in Zombie film spoof

Last updated at 11:37, Thursday, 17 December 2009

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STUDENTS and teachers are the stars of a zombie film which will be entered into festivals next year.

The pupils of St Bernard’s Catholic High School have just premiered horror film 28 Lessons Later at the Barrow school.

During the summer, the Rating Lane school was taken over by zombies when more than 80 students and the drama department worked with Shaun Hayton, director of Reach for the Dream Films.

The Barrow independent film maker directed the half-hour piece, which is a story about a virus leaking from a research centre and spreading to a school.

Everyone turns into zombies apart from one boy in the spoof of British film 28 Days Later. The Barrow cast had their faces painted white, with dark eyes and fake blood, for the roles. Pupils worked on the project over several weekends and evenings.

Last week pupils and parents attended the film’s premiere.

Dom McCavish, the head of drama, said everyone considered the film a great success and it is now sparking huge interest in local film making circles. Mr McCavish said: “We’re really grateful to Shaun for putting so many hours into making this a possibility for the school. It was a challenge to fit a full scale film project around the demands of a normal school week.

“The children were really excited about the project. We asked for a hundred zombies and we got them. The pupils were working really hard in difficult hot conditions to create the film. It was so warm at times the make up was melting off their faces.”

Mr Hayton said 28 Lessons Later will be entered into a Manchester film festival in February and then others throughout 2010. He said “I really enjoyed working with the pupils on this project. It’s something I’ve been doing for a long time now but usually with smaller groups. This project was on a much bigger scale and needed multiple cameras for each shoot. I think this is probably one of the best films I’ve done with a young cast.”

At the premiere, each cast member received their own copy of the film and souvenir postcards and key rings.

The night raised £140 for the Cumbria Bluebell Foundation, a charity which supports bereaved parents.

The film is being shown to other pupils at the school during lunch times.

Free copies of the film are available from tomorrow at Pepperland Collect, in Scott Street, Fat Bob’s CDs, Videos and DVDs, in Barrow Indoor Market, and North West Consumables, in Cavendish Street, all in Barrow.