Dublin’s huge Cineworld complex played host to a star-studded gala screening of Irish horror Wake Wood last night. Attending as part of the Dublin International Film Festival were the film’s director David Keating and cast Aidan Gillen, Timothy Spall, Ruth McCabe and newcomer Ella Connolly…

The supernatural horror focuses on the parents of a recently deceased child who are given the chance to bring her back to life for three days using an ancient ritual known only to the Wake Wood community.

Shot in County Donegal and Osterlen in Sweden, the bleak landscape provides the backdrop to a horror that has disturbing echoes of The Wicker Man while delivering some serious gore – and we’re not just talking humans. This is one naughty re-animated little girl…

Afterwards, director Keating revealed he discovered writer Brendan McCarthy’s story while he was assessing a screenwriting MA course.

“I was somewhat concerned about reading this script of a friend of mine,” Keating said.

“But when I did I thought it was a film. It was very early in its development and when I told Brendan how much I liked it, he asked me if I would direct it. I gave that really serious consideration for about two seconds and said, “Yes’, and we started to work on it together.”

The film is another horror from the recently re-animated Hammer Films strand, which launched with Let Me In, starring Chloe Moretz and Kodi Smit-Phee – a remake of Let The Right One In.

McCarthy explained that he had been planning to make the movie on a lower budget, until he mentioned it to friends in London who suggested he approach Hammer Films, who were looking to start up again.

“Being in this business and being aware there had been many efforts to reboot the Hammer brand, my initial thoughts were, ‘Yikes, no fucking way’!’ McCarthy explains.

“But they came back to us really quickly and said, ‘This sounds like a great idea’ and I think their expression was, ‘This has Hammer DNA on it’.”

Wake Wood is released in the UK on DVD on 28 March 2011 by Momentum Pictures Home Entertainment.