It wasn’t so long ago that a pleasant Sunday afternoon during school holidays could be spent at Erindale  Theatre watching kids’ shows such as “Puff the Magic Dragon”.

Those days are gone, as I found when I spent my Sunday afternoon on the state of Canberra’s own zombie movie, “Theatre of the Dead”.

Several months ago “CityNews” reported on the launch of the movie’s crowd-funding campaign online at  www.indiegogo.com/Theatre-of-the-Dead and now it was time for me to see the results.

The elated production team was happy to report that they had over-shot their funding goal of $15,000, and that was mostly from keen Canberra film-lovers.

The signs outside Erindale Theatre warned against photos, but it was no problem, as I was the guest of the production team. One of the producers, Daniel Sanguineti, took me on a guided tour through the rabbit warren of rooms and studios set up for the movie, singing the praises of the theatre management for their cooperation.

Production manager Patty Collins showed me the gruelling 17-day shooting schedule. Sunday was day 10, so they needed to move fast to get everything completed by next week.

Meantime, cheek-by-jowl the same office was another producer, the Canberra audio expert and music producer James Cougar, editing some scenes on the spot and looking forward to the post-production he would do on the sound.

Cougar explained the intricate processes scriptwriter and director Patrick Gallagher had gone through in deciding on the shooting sequence.

It is easily the most entertaining Sunday I’ve had in a while.

As I arrived I bumped into a junior zombie, Audrey McGrail-Bateup with her father the actor Joseph McGrail-Bateup. She could hardly keep the smile off her face as she enjoyed some afternoon tea in the zombie canteen.

Once inside the theatre proper, I ran into Andy Minh Trieu wearing a zombie bite-proof gaffer suit that he swore was human bite-proof, too. Trieu works for Channel 9 in Sydney, but comes from Charnwood.

Near him was Christina Bush, a stunt-double  from “Clear Vision” Films stunt team, while down on the floor, special  effects make-up expert  James Moudakis concocted entrails on the stomach of a willing victim.

Wardrobe supervisor, Hannah St James, was assisted by  Ryan Fernandez in messing up actor Kate Munk’s costume to achieve just the right zombie touch. There seem to be a huge crowd, and indeed Sanguineti assured me that they had 40 extras on day 10 and 150 zombies in all.

While I was impressed by the cinematic expertise that the producers had gathered together for this, including the brilliant Christian Doran as first assistant director to Gallagher, it was also good to see Canberra’s theatrical community taking part.

Andrea Close is cast as a TV studio interviewer, while well-known performers in Canberra musicals, Pete Ricardo, Jordan Kelly and Jonathan Garland play other roles.

Once on the Erindale stage, Sanguineti  explained a little bit about the plot of “Theatre of the Dead” as he guided me around the circular set from hell, from which he explained zombies, light and smoke would come pouring out.

“It’s show within a show – there’s a play called ‘Angels In Hell’ – the cast and crew are  locked away in the theatre, outside the zombies have taken over.”

He went on to explain that the main character Cassie, played by Emma Gleason, is an aspiring actress in the show.

Later, Cougar let me view a small sequence where the blood-covered Cassie attempts to escape, but I’m sworn to secrecy. Not to worry. After such a pleasant Sunday afternoon with the zombies, I have no doubt that the producers and the crew will be inviting “CityNews” back, as the plot thickens.

If  zombie films are your cup of tea visit http://theatreofthedead.com.au/