A FAMILY of budding actors are set to star in a groundbreaking new film ... about a zombie apocalypse.

Frinton author Kevin John Saitta and children, Mikey and Kathryn, have been fleeing the undead as they shoot scenes for the gruesome fright flick.

Virus of the Dead is the first zombie movie to be filmed entirely on smartphones and webcams.

Producer Tony Newton invited actors and film-makers to submit their own scenes, using everyday technology.

Kevin signed a deal to shoot a five-minute scene of zombies invading Walton’s Naze.

Hamford Primary pupils Mikey, aged ten, and Kathryn, eight, joined their dad for filming near the tower and at the concrete bunkers, before heading on to the beach by Stone Point.

Their part of the story is about a dad and his two children running away from a zombie apocalypse.

The film, called Running away with Zeddy, sees the daughter go back for her lost teddy-bear, resulting in a race against time as her family desperately tries to find her before she is infected.

Kevin, 49, said: “We basically avoided the cliches of this genre and didn’t even use the ‘Z’ word.

Running away with Zeddy is just a film about a father trying to protect his children.

“Mikey and Kathryn were brilliant and I’m very proud of them.”

The movie will be stitched together from scenes shot around the world and should be out in time for next year’s film festivals.