Kent-made horror film Slaughter of the Damned to premiere in Sittingbourne

A horror film made in Kent is to have its premiere in Sittingbourne next month. Slaughter of the Damned, from Kent-based writer and director Keith R Robinson and his company Other Dimension Films, will be shown at The Avenue Theatre on Sunday 4 October at 2.45pm.

It is Mr Robinson’s fourth feature film, and the company calls it its most ambitious production to date, with its largest creature effects, its biggest cast and its most technically demanding practical effects work.

Made in Kent

Other Dimension Films is a Kent business. Companies House records show Other Dimension Films Limited was incorporated in August 2011 and is registered in Ashford, with Mr Robinson as its sole director.

According to the production company, the film was shot across the Kent countryside, with drone photography used for the landscape, and further filming at The Coach House Studios in Farningham. The film’s slaughterhouse is not a slaughterhouse at all: those scenes were shot inside an old barn and a former print works. Much of the exterior filming took place during a hot summer, with temperatures regularly above 30C, the company says.

The story

The film follows two reporters sent to an isolated farm to investigate a series of murders of former abattoir workers. They expect to find a human killer. Instead, villagers talk of an ancient curse brought on by generations of animal slaughter, and something begins stalking the abandoned slaughterhouse.

The release bills it as a creature feature with an animal welfare message, and Mr Robinson describes it as a story about what would happen if the roles were reversed. “Slaughter of the Damned is an honest horror story about what would happen if animals killed humans and we were just a commodity,” he said. “How would we feel about it, how would we feel about being killed just to be eaten, and if our lives just didn’t matter at all?”

Puppets, not pixels

The film’s selling point is its effects. Rather than computer-generated monsters, the production used three-foot rod puppets, prosthetics and miniature sets. Model houses and model cars fitted with working lights were used to create run-down buildings that did not exist, and scenes of thick fog around cars on dark country lanes.

“I’ve always believed audiences can tell when a monster is really there,” Mr Robinson said. “CGI has its place, but I’ve never liked it. It has never looked as good as models or puppets for me. Just look at the 1982 The Thing compared to its remake; there is no comparison. I wanted my creatures to react properly to real light and shadow, rather than existing as a computer-generated effect.”

The creatures were designed by the Scottish artist Neve Pearce, and the prosthetic gore effects were created by Catalina Pearce and Rebecca Wheeler, whose credits include Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey, according to the release.

Doing it for real brought its own problems. The company says every creature scene was shot in a single marathon day at the studio, with little or no rehearsal time, because the schedule was so tight. The smoke machine had a habit of cutting out just as the word “Action” was called. And during one gore scene the fake blood went much higher than planned and covered a studio ceiling; it would not all come off, so, the company says, it was left in the hope that no one would notice.

The cast

Brian King, who the company says will be recognisable from recent Nationwide television adverts, plays the cruel farm owner at the centre of the investigation. Louise Anderson plays one of the reporters, with Kit Smith as the photographer who works alongside her. Smith has appeared in Other Dimension Films’ earlier horror Sniper Corpse. Giselle Parker, an actress, intimacy coordinator and choreographer, plays a mysterious “dark lady”. Sean Hayes, Tabitha Jinks, Ben Jones and Seb Fear complete the principal cast.

From Sniper Corpse to a creature feature

Mr Robinson’s earlier features are The Unwelcome (2010), Pounce (2019) and Sniper Corpse (2019), an action horror about undead soldiers. Sniper Corpse was selected for the Horror-on-Sea film festival in Southend, where it premiered in January 2019.

In an interview with the website Blazing Minds before that festival, he named “budget and time” as his biggest challenge, and his advice to anyone wanting to make a horror film was simple: “Really work on the script. The story is king.” Seven years on, the same constraints show in the stories from the new film’s set.

Filming in Kent

Kent is used to cameras. Kent County Council’s Kent Film Office, set up in 2006, says visiting productions have brought more than £85 million of inward investment into the county since it launched, with titles including Bridgerton, Empire of Light and F1: The Movie among those it has supported.

Slaughter of the Damned comes from the other end of the industry: a feature made by a small Kent company, on Kent locations, now having its first screening in a Kent town. The Avenue Theatre in Sittingbourne is a community theatre and cinema with 88 seats, according to Visit Swale.

Mr Robinson is available for interview about making independent horror films in Kent, the company said. The film is due for wider release in late 2026.

Key information

• What: Premiere of Slaughter of the Damned (independent British horror)
• When: Sunday 4 October 2026, 2.45pm
• Where: The Avenue Theatre, Central Avenue, Sittingbourne ME10 4DN
• Tickets: Tickettailor
• Trailer and details: YouTube · IMDb · Other Dimension Films