A COMMUNITY centre in Tameside is about to become the setting for a terrifying new British horror comedy.
Filming began at weekend in Mottram on an ambitious independent feature, shot almost entirely in the village.
From Saturday, May 23, Mottram Community Centre will swap toddler groups and coffee mornings for cameras, lighting rigs and a cast of familiar television faces as production starts on Highly Recommended.
The film, created by Mottram-based Angry Lynx Productions in collaboration with Munin Entertainment, follows a suburban book club whose latest literary choice turns into a nightmare.
Writer and director Steven James Griffiths said the idea came after volunteering at the centre on Church Brow and becoming fascinated by the 200-year-old building.
“Three months ago, this film was a back-of-an-envelope idea,” he said. “On Saturday, the cast and crew are walking into Mottram Community Centre with biscuits and bright ideas. None of it was supposed to be possible at this speed.
“It is happening because people who had every reason to be polite and busy said ‘yes’ instead. This project is centered around community…and horror, and comedy. Obviously.”
Despite operating on what producers describe as a “shoe-string budget”, the production is being shot on a RED Komodo 6K camera and features a cast with credits including Coronation Street, Emmerdale and Hollyoaks.
Among those appearing are Neil Rowland, Christine Walsh and Wendy Patterson.
Neil said: “What sold it to me was how British the script is. There is nothing more terrifying than a roomful of people too polite to admit something has gone badly wrong. That is the whole film, and that is the joke, and that is also the horror.”
The production team says Mottram itself will play a major role in the film’s atmosphere, transforming familiar surroundings into a claustrophobic horror setting.
Executive producer Jo Booth said: “This is the village I live in and in a building I love, and we are making our first feature in it. Audiences in Tameside and Glossop are going to recognise themselves and the place. That is exactly the point. Big horror, made small, made here.”
Filming is expected to continue until Friday, May 29, with discussions already under way about a community screening later this year so local residents can see their village on the big screen.
The film is scheduled for completion in September.