FLESH-HUNGRY monsters  took over a city cinema screen  at the weekend as a group of  Devon film-makers brought the  dead to life.

The red carpet was rolled out  for the premiere of Zomblies at  Exeter’s Odeon cinema.

More than 500 people attended the first showing of the  low-budget action movie, which  used Dartmoor as a dramatic  backdrop to the horror flick.

The 50-minute production  used scores of University of Exeter students and was created by  a small group of who fitted in  filming around their day jobs.

The team at Realm Pictures,  who are all from Exeter or  Devon, set about making the  movie after an initial two-  minute showreel became an internet sensation.

Project manager Corinne  Loynes said: “The project started one afternoon when the guys  decided to film themselves  shooting people pretending to  be zombies. They did some post  production work on it and put a  two-minute effects shoot on  YouTube.

“Within about a week, we had  20,000 hits and we decided to  make a film.”

She added  the cast and crew  worked on the movie for free.

“When we started looking for  a cast, we advertised at the university as we wanted lots of local  people involved,” she said.

“We had an amazing response  from that and then held auditions at Exeter Phoenix.

“We ended up with about 200  zombies and a crew of about 45,  which was a brilliant result.

“It’s so fantastic that these  people gave up their lives to  make the film with us.”

Zomblies is a fast-paced adventure,  filled with enough  blood and gore to satisfy even  the most horror-hungry.

It follows a team of rookie  zombie hunters who join forces  with a militia group to uncover  the truth about a terrifying new  breed of zombie.

Director David Reynolds said  the film was achieved with a  minimal budget.

“We had around £5,000 in the  production bank, which was  self-raised,” he said.

“We also had almost 200  people involved as anything  from extras to make-up artists  to a helicopter pilot. Not a single  person has or will make profit  from this — everybody has given their time for free.”

Following the premiere,  the  cast and crew of the film were  joined by a host of guests at an  aftershow party at the Amber  Rooms, in Sidwell Street, with  live music from Teignmouth  band The Quails. The night was  topped off in  true romantic style  when director David Reynolds  proposed to  girlfriend and fellow crew member Eve Hazelton  in front of the  packed audience.

The film is now due to be  screened at the Phoenix in the  coming weeks and will then be  shown in London. Be warned —  it is not for the squeamish.

For more information, visit  www.zomblies.com.