The 1958 film of Dracula was recently celebrated on a Royal Mail stamp

Hammer Films has begun shooting in Donegal on its first production in almost 30 years - a horror thriller entitled The Wake Wood.

The film - about a couple who try to resurrect their dead daughter - stars Timothy Spall and Aidan Gillen.

It is the first feature from the cult British company since it was bought last year by a Dutch consortium.

Hammer became synonymous with the horror genre in the 1950s thanks to films like Dracula and The Mummy.

Other famous Hammer films include The Curse of Frankenstein and The Curse of the Werewolf.

Commemorative

Hammer's last feature production was The Lady Vanishes in 1979, a remake of the Alfred Hitchcock classic starring Elliott Gould and Cybill Shepherd.

Its last horror title, To the Devil a Daughter starring Christopher Lee, came out three years earlier.

Backed by the Irish Film Board, The Wake Wood is tentatively scheduled for a UK release in autumn 2009.

Earlier this year, the Royal Mail released a series of commemorative postage stamps celebrating the 50th anniversary of Hammer's first Dracula film.





