Something sinister has been going on in the Surrey countryside, with a mad scientist experimenting on human bodies.

The forthcoming movie Victor Frankenstein - released on Thursday, December 3 – filmed at Longcross, Shepperton and Twickenham Studios.

Loosely inspired by Mary Shelley’s gothic horror classic, the film stars James McAvoy (X Men: First Class, Atonement) and Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) as scientist Frankenstein and his – in this version – equally brilliant sidekick Igor as their research into immortality leads to horrifying consequences.

It is directed by Paul McGuigan, who has form for working on new versions of cherished texts, having directed episodes of Sherlock and that show’s Andrew Scott (who played Moriarty) also features as Inspector Turpin.

London-based production designer Eve Stewart, whose credits include The King’s Speech and Les Miserables, created a castle at Longcross Castle.

Locations used in the movie include Greenwich’s Old Royal Naval College andCrossness Pumping Station in Thamesmead, south east London.

While it may seem odd to shoot a movie at a sewage works, it was designed by the famous engineer Sir Joseph Bazalgette and is regarded as a Victorian gem.

It was and features ornamental ironwork that was described by famous architectural scholar Nikolaus Pevsner as ‘a masterpiece of engineering – a Victorian cathedral of ironwork’.

It was also used as a location for Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes in 2009.

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Recent blockbusters that have filmed in Surrey also include Ritchie’s Man from UNCLE, which used Hankley Common in Elstead to double as an Italian valley, and this year’s Marvel hit Avengers: Age of Ultron shot its dramatic opening at Bourne Woods.

The Krays flick Legend, starring East Sheen’s Tom Hardy in both lead roles, used Kingston County Hall and Kingston Cemetery. 

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