A BASILDON actor is set to star in Southend’s famous Horror-on-Sea festival.

Roman Wood is returning to play the lead role in Halloween Girls, which has already been screened at Canada’s Alt Film Festival and Sicily’s Med Film Festival.

The short horror was filmed in Los Angeles and London on an iPhone and will be shown at the seventh Horror-on-Sea event on Saturday, January 19.

Roman, said: “The last short I was in that screened at Horror-on-Sea, called Fright Corner, was shot in England’s supposedly most haunted village in Pluckley, Kent.

“But when we shot the London part of Halloween Girls in a park late at night in February, it was freezing.

“Suddenly we were in the middle of a hailstorm,wearing just T-shirts and jackets as we had to pretend it was October for the film.

“We had to stop to protect the camera and sound gear from hail damage.

“And just as we were going to grab the equipment and run for shelter, a huge burst of hail knocked over the lighting system, nearly shattering it as the ground was nearly frozen.

“So sometimes just being on a horror film set is pretty dangerous.”

As well as having starred in both Fright Corner and now Halloween Girls, Roman, who went to South Essex College as a teen, has recently been doing voiceover work, and written a short thriller which he will be co-directing and appearing in next year.

Horror-on-Sea’s six days of films runs from Friday, January 11 to Sunday, January 13, then the following weekend from Friday, January 18, to Sunday, January 20.

Films being shown include: Killer Donuts, Hookers with Hacksaws, House Sharks, Leaf Blower Massacre II, Space Babes from Outer Space, and 6 Headed Shark Attack.

The festival has grown year on year and celebrates the horror genre and independent film making.