IT'S great fun to see a big screen fantasy adventure which starts with a chase through the centre of Hereford on a council road sweeper.

When you only have £26,000 to spend and most of that your own savings, as did former Chase pupil Neil Oseman when he made his already highly acclaimed film Soul Searcher, you have to cut your cloth.

Despite the limited budget, the film looks and sounds amazing and has a mass of special effects - it's remarkable what can be achieved with a bottle of milk and a fish tank!

The chase scenes get more ambitious, the conclusion involving a Mustang and a fight on top of a steam train, filmed at Rowden Mill Station, near Bromyard.

Soul Searcher is a cross between Highlander and The Lord of the Rings.

In keeping with the genre, the plot, in which our hero and friends try to stop the villain from getting hold of the last link of a chain that will turn Hereford into hell on earth, is a little ridiculous (or perhaps it isn't!).

A lot of the tongue in cheek humour and well observed script which make the early part of the film so enjoyable is lost in the endless fight scenes as the films goes on, although these are very well done.

The swordfight in the Widemarsh Street multi-storey was so realistic it even prompted a call to the police during filming.

Despite all the memorable action, the film is at its most engaging during the scenes between the hero Joe, played by Ray Bullock Jnr, and the girl he loves, Heather (Katrina Cooke), with its theme of how difficult it can be to let go of love, even unrequited love.

Soul Searcher is a remarkable achievement and one which deserves a much bigger audience than it got at The Courtyard last Saturday.

NICK HOWELLS