NEWBURGH — Strange creatures lurked within the walls of 4 Clark St. in Newburgh this weekend. A werewolf, a cheerleader vampire and a vampire hunter were just a few of the characters running around the empty, industrial-looking building Saturday afternoon as a group of horror-loving friends filmed the latest episode of their vampire-themed web series, Vampz.

The brainchild of Omar Attia, Vampz began four years ago when Attia and his then-boss at a telecom company, Lenny Buccellato, decided to combine their love of horror and writing into a film collaboration. They enlisted family and friends to join their team, and shot five short episodes about a character named Simone and her roommate Ashlee, who turns out to be a vampire.

They thought Vampz might really take off, Buccellato said, but despite positive feedback on YouTube, nothing happened. Until this August, when Attia realized there was a months-old email sitting in the Vampz email account from a distribution company interested in continuing the Vampz story and blending the episodes into a feature film.

With a burst of motivation to complete a full-length story, Blooming Grove native Buccellato began location scouting, and found that Jeff Link owned the perfect location in Newburgh and was willing to rent it out for the weekend. Attia and executive producers Ramsey Attia and Simone Tan flew in from Texas and friends came up from New Jersey to reprise acting roles from years ago in a three-day marathon filming session.

It’s exciting to work with friends and watch the characters they have worked so hard to create come to life on set, Buccellato said.

“When these characters come alive right in front of you, not only is it inspiring… It’s just special,” Buccellato said. “It sounds corny, but there’s no other way to say it.”

It’s an incredible amount of work, Buccellato said, but they’re having so much fun. Attia and Buccellato dream of seeing Vampz on Netflix, or selling their next screenplay.

“Now we feel like this could be it,” Buccellato said. “We’re on the cusp, that this could be something.”

Their shoestring budget is stretched to its breaking point, Attia said, but they’re doing anything they can to reach an audience with their labor of love. If you’re passionate about a project, go for it, Attia said. Research and know what you’re doing. You can’t reach anyone if you don’t try, Buccellato said.

“Whatever it takes to get it done is how we’re doing it,” Buccellato said.

alovizavickery@th-record.com