Horror movie filming takes place at Holy Trinity Church

The filming of a new slasher horror movie began in Stratford last week with a day of shooting at Holy Trinity Church.

The film, entitled Meat Feast, is being made by Pathogen Films, a local film production company which won plaudits with its short zombie film, Patient Zero, released back in April.

The company’s new project will be set in the early 1990s, with filming centred on Stratford.

The idea of using Stratford’s iconic Holy Trinity Church, the resting place of Shakespeare, as a setting in such a film may come as a bit of a shock to some, though the location was simply used to shoot a wedding scene.

The scene, which featured no gore, will become the opening of Meat Feast.

Kirsty Powell, the film’s producer, said: “Meat Feast is a slasher film paying homage to movies like Friday 13. Because it is set in the early 90s we’ve put a lot of effort into making sure everything is appropriate for the era and we want to keep most of the filming within Stratford.

“Saturday’s shoot went really well, we had around 20 people there, it was the first bit of filming we have done for this new project.

“We want to do one more shoot before Christmas and the rest early next year, with a view to releasing the film next May. It will probably be around 30-40 minutes in length.

“We were very tactful in approaching Holy Trinity Church for permission to film there and we had a sit down with them to explain the ins and outs of what we were doing. We were very respectful in our filming and there was no gore involved in the scene we shot.

“I can’t give too much away about the film, but all I’ll say is it’s not your run of the mill slasher and the protagonist is not somebody who was born evil.

“Patient Zero was really well received, the premier was fantastic and you can now view episode one on the Pathogen Films facebook page. In the long-term we’re planning the next episode of Patient Zero, but it’s an ambitious script and its set over a wider area, so it’s going to take a lot of organising and a few health and safety considerations.”

Explaining why the filming was allowed at Holy Trinity Church, Rev Patrick Taylor said: “We allowed Pathogen Films to do this because they are a local company, there were local supporting actors taking part, and we want to support the creative arts at Holy Trinity Church.

“Of course we did have reservations when we found out the genre that the company specialises in, but we had a sit down with them and discussed what they wanted to do and stressed how important it was that the historic building was respected.

“It is a wedding scene that was filmed and there was no horror and no violence involved, there was nothing inappropriate and I was happy for it to take place.

“I’m actually in the scene that they shot as the vicar. It was very exciting to be part of it and it also meant that I could keep an eye on what was happening to make sure we were happy with it.

“As part of us agreeing to let them use the church, they are making a promotional film for us to use on our website all about Holy Trinity including interviews with various people.”

The production crew later set up at Wilmcote Village Hall later in the day, with the venue hosting the film’s wedding reception.