WHEN startled residents thought the walking dead had invaded Penketh, filmmaker Phil Hamer had a killer idea.

As reported in the Warrington Guardian, police were called to reports of a zombie invasion in August when unsuspecting passers-by saw a man covered in blood.

But the police investigation hit a dead end when it turned out to be the work of 23-year-old Chantelle Delaney whose make-up skills proved too realistic.

Her brother, 17-year-old Jonathon Lockett, agreed to a zombie make-over so that Chantelle could showcase her talents.

Phil read the story and was so impressed that Chantelle is now in charge of special make-up effects for his zombie movie, Blood Stained Windows.

The Great Sankey High School student said: "Chantelle's incredibly talented at what she does. I wish I could do special effects like that myself.

"You wouldn't think from looking at Chantelle that she was capable of creating such horrific imagery! It's really detailed and very gory."

Phil, who has been making amateur horror films since he was 11, wrote the zombie movie, Blood Stained Windows, a few years ago but shelved the project.

But after leaving his day job he thought it was time to resurrect the script and he managed to get in touch with Chantelle through Facebook.

The 38-year-old added: “I wasn’t sure if I was going to get a response when I messaged Chantelle because I told her I had no money, no cast and no crew.

"Thankfully she was keen to work on the special effects for the film regardless of the production's shortcomings!"

A skeleton cast and crew was then put together from as far as Ireland and France and most of the filming will take place at a church in Gamblesby, Cumbria, as well as North Wales and undisclosed locations in Warrington.

The plot sees an amateur theatre group rehearsing a murder mystery play but their plans are soon thwarted by the arrival of two mysterious men.

Phil, who is inspired by the movies of John Carpenter, Wes Craven, George A. Romero and Joe Dante, is gearing up to start shooting the film next February on a shoestring £2,000 budget.

It is hoped that Blood Stained Windows will then be released in July 2015.

Phil studied filmmaking at Manchester University, writes horror stories under the pseudonym 'Killian H. Gore' and has previously produced TV advertising campaigns.

But he feels most at home working with the undead.

"I think people have always had an interest in zombies," he said.

"I think they represent both our fear of death and disease and those are things that affect us all. Maybe on some crazy level they give us hope of life after death."

Fundraising for Blood Stained Windows is alive and kicking (well, undead) and Phil is using the crowd-funding website Kickstarter which allows people to pledge money in return for incentives like DVD copies of the movie or producer credits on the finished film.

- You can find out more about Blood Stained Windows, follow Phil and Chantelle’s progress and find the link for the Kickstarter campaign at facebook.com/bloodstainedwindows

DAVID MORGAN