DELIVERING A HIT FILM; Thriller has been shot in South Wales.

Byline: Phil Nutting

WITH its chilling river trip and duelling banjo players, Hollywood horror Deliverance may seem a world away from Cardiff's suburbs.

But a city director has come up with a Welsh equivalent of the iconic film - shot on locations including Thornhill and the Coal Exchange.

Chris Crow says Devil's Bridge is a dark, tense thriller-come survival-horror filmed on location in Cardiff, as well as in Neath Port Talbot, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire.

The plot follows the fortunes of struggling businessman Sean, played by Joseph Millson, who has fallen victim to the recession and is forced into taking drastic actions to save his business.

Along with two friends, Adam (Michael Jibson) and Danny (Gary Mavers), Sean heads to rural Wales to make a dodgy business deal to save his company.

But it's not long before things start to go badly wrong and spiral out of control for the three friends following a chance encounter with a menacing farmer William Parry, played by Tenby actor Joshua Richards, who has also appeared in blockbusters such as Troy and Very Annie Mary.

Chris, 37, said: "Devil's Bridge plays with notions of tribal and factional hatreds, fear and ignorance. It's a stylish mix of Deliverance, Straw Dogs, Southern Comfort and Wolf Creek.

"The film was partly inspired by the Tony Martin case, the farmer who shot and killed a burglar. I was interested in the isolation and paranoia that he must have felt."

Like Deliverance, Devil's Bridge places its characters in a rural unfamiliar setting away from their natural home in the city to create tension and a sense of nervousness.

Filming for Devil's Bridge - which is Chris' first feature film - took place between June and July in Thornhill and the Cardiff Coal Exchange, which provided the backdrop for a scene in a police station which features actor David Schofield - star of American Werewolf in London - as a police sergeant.

Much of the rural scenes, meanwhile, were shot in St Dogmaels in Pembrokeshire, where 400ft cliffs and roaring seas provided filmmakers with a dramatic landscape to complement the drama unfolding in the storyline.

Chris said: "Locations are vital to the success of a film and with many of the cast and crew com-ing from Wales we knew we wanted to shoot Devil's Bridge here.

"The city scenes are gritty and the rural scenes are breathtaking and dramatic.

"We shot the film on full HD and we've created a stark, gritty, cinema verite style, with fast cuts to create a claustrophobic and terrifying experience for audiences."

The independent film is a joint production by Chris' company Dogs of Annwn, which he runs with David Lloyd, and Kraken Film owned by Cardiff-born Vern Raye, who along with Chris and David are also the film's producers.

The film, which is funded by private equity investors, is currently in post-production and producers hope to complete the final cut by October this year.

Chris, David and Vern hope Devil's Bridge will show in cinemas around the world and have already attracted interest from a Los Angeles-based distributor.

It is hoped the world premiere of Devil's Bridge will be screened at a Cardiff cinema either later this year or early next year.

For more information visit devilsbridgemovie.co.uk

CAPTION(S):

Above, the poster for Devil's Bridge. Right, director of photography Simon Poulter chats to director Chris Crow on set and left, a still from Deliverance, which the film has been likened to