The Enemy the movie: The action packed big-budget trailer for a zombie film that does not exist
With its action-packed scenes on London's streets it could be the trailer for a big screen blockbuster.
But this short - and graphic - movie is in fact an advert for the latest novel in Charlie Higson's best-selling zombie series The Enemy aimed at teens.
The film, based on events of The Sacrifice, the fourth in the run, is the biggest and most expensive trailer ever produced for a children's book by publishers Puffin.
But the former Fast Show actor said the format is becoming an increasingly important part of any marketing strategy.
And he admitted the film - using pupils from a south-east London school - might even encourage a few real Hollywood producers to see the book's potential.
Speaking to the Evening Standard Online he said: "Publishers are making more trailers for books, particularly for kids and teenagers.
"It's got to be more visual and online to make them more excited and spread the word. And all writers want Hollywood to come knocking to their door.
"We have done it for the other books but we thought let's be a bit more imaginative and make this a bit bigger.
"It was slightly insane because we had to make this all from scratch. It's not like a proper movie where you have hours of footage to choose from."
He said the books have had some interest from television companies but they were hoping to follow in the footsteps of the Harry Potter, Twilight and Hunger Games series to be adapted into big budget movies.
The books he said were set in a post-apocalyptic London where a disease has turned everyone over the age of 14 into a zombie.
The sickness destroyed everyone over the age of fourteen. Mothers and fathers, older brothers, sisters and best friends - no adult escaped the disease’s touch. They look like animated corpses with rotten flesh, horrible growths, boils and blisters, ears and noses missing, lips gone. All across London these zombie-like ‘sickos’ are waiting – hungry, rotting predators with an appetite for human flesh.
He said: "The books are very tense and extreme and frightening. People talk a lot about films and video games but if they had any idea what was going on in children's books now with the gore they would want to ban them too.
"You got some idea of how intense they can be by the looks of fear on the faces of the young actors - the fear is genuine."
But he added that filming on London's streets was not as easy as they had first anticipated.
He said: "I've got to take my hat off to Danny Boyle filming empty streets of London for 28 Days Later.
"We got down to St Paul's at 5am on a Sunday morning and the streets were packed with clubbers and revellers."
He said he found the 15 young actors from Forest Hill School which has taken part in many such projects.
And he got the 28 adults after putting a shout out on Twitter asking if anyone wished to take part... telling them to bring their own make-up.
Among those who turned up were even a couple of "professional zombies" who fancied a bit of a laugh.
But he said the series allowed him to explore serious themes about death, disease and aging.
And on a day when a report claimed that children are reading less, Mr Higson, who lives in north London, said he believed children were actually reading more than ever.
He said: "When I was growing up you didn't have things like the internet or texting you just spoke to people.
"Now if they're texting, on Facebook or the internet they are reading. I'm not scared that books are going to disappear."
~standard.co.uk
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