HUNDREDS of zombies will be charging down Brentwood High Street on the last day of filming for one of the biggest low-budget horror films in recent years.
On September 15, the street will be closed between the Slug and Lettuce and Kings Road when around 1,200 extras will be helping to create what is expected to be some of the most impressive shots of Welcome To Essex – a zombie apocalypse set in and around Brentwood.
The extras are being asked to arrive from 4am in time to be made-up before the main sequence of shots, to be filmed from 8am.
Filming is expected to be finished by around 9.30am.
Welcome to Essex was conceived by writer and director Ryan J Fleming.
He said: "We've got some amazing footage and all the things and shots we wanted to get we've got.
Everyone seems really happy. We have the same cast and crew that we had when we started and we have had some amazing fun."
The film, which has only cost around £7,000 to make, is set after the United Kingdom has been consumed by a zombie epidemic.
The majority of the population were killed in a matter of hours as millions of recently-deceased people returned to life and began to attack and kill the living.
The following day a small group of mismatched survivors find themselves trapped in Brentwood, hunted by hordes of fast-moving undead corpses.
The survivors must learn to work together and reach the last-known point of rescue, Southend-on-Sea, or face certain death.
Welcome To Essex is the latest feature film from Smoking Monkey Productions, a Brentwood-based movie studio that aims to put Brentwood on the movie rather than TV docudrama map.
Ryan said his film was always going to be a super-low budget project but with some small investment, Welcome to Essex has surpassed his expectations.
Now there are just three days of principal photography before post-production begins.
The film is expected to be released by January.
Mr Fleming added: "I am sure everyone is looking forward to that day – except I will be really nervous hoping that no-one gets up and walks out.
"People I think have expected a low budget film with YouTube quality but it will really impress people. With an amazing cast and talented crew, Welcome To Essex has gone from an interesting experiment in low-budget film-making to a large-scale, epic zombie apocalyptic movie that will surpass every film in its genre."
