OXFORDSHIRE provided the backdrop for a new comedy horror film which its creators hope will help secure them finance for future projects.

Chop, a 20-minute short film with a budget of just £1,000, is now being edited after filming took place near the Oxford Business Park in Cowley and on a farm near the Blenheim estate in Woodstock over the Bank Holiday weekend.

The film’s co-writers, Martyn Chalk and Simon Porritt, hope to show the movie at 50 film festivals and present it in Oxford cinemas in a bid to secure funding for a feature film.

The pair have plans to produce a full-length movie, The Cowley Road Drinking Club, about a stand-up comic who uses the East Oxford road’s pubs as an escape from his ongoing divorce.

Mr Chalk, 35, of Reliance Way, East Oxford, said: “Chop is about an evil act of revenge.

“A high-powered businessman is phoned by a lady who wants to see him, but he refuses because he wants to see a friend.

“There is a driving scene and he is kidnapped and wakes up in a barn shackled to his daughter or step-daughter — which you later find out — with just a machete between them. They then have to decide whose hands to cut off.

“It’s a dark, comedy horror.”

Mr Chalk and Mr Porritt managed to get professional actors Rebecca Todd and Steve Dineen, as well as experienced crew members, to give their time for free on the strength of their script.

Mr Chalk said: “It’s got a budget of just under £1,000 but it will look like a £15,000 film. We’ve written a feature, and on the belief that we are going to bring something professional out, the crew gave up their time for just expenses.

“This short film is a vehicle for us to secure funding for a feature film. That’s the next step, once we’ve sent this out.

“Hopefully we can show it in local cinemas and we will be taking it to about 50 film festivals. We’ll also show it online.”