JOHN R Walker has always been a man of many parts - prolific TV extra, author and Dudley supermarket fish counter worker to name but a few.

And now he can add the title of international film director, with the release of his first movie, a horror based in the American village of Amityville.

The film, The Amityville Playhouse, was originally intended to be set at the former Dudley Hippodrome but he was unable to gain permission for that.

He then set his heart on filming it at Walkers bingo hall in Wednesbury but that burned down - so many of the scenes ended up being shot in Manitoba, Canada, late last year.

John's film is now playing at Showcase Cinemas in Manchester, Liverpool, Derby, Leeds, Bristol and London and is also available from DVD outlets.

In June, it will be released in the USA, where it will be called The Amityville Theater, because playhouse in America means a kind of Wendy house.

Despite being the creator, director and backer of a global film, John, aged 43, of Holly Road, Dudley, is still working as counters manager for Tesco Extra at Burnt Tree - and can still be seen selling fish there.

"I've managed to do it all - directing the film, going on shoots, writing my second book, being the father of a nine-week old baby and still working at Tesco," said John, former video production manager for Morrisons plc, who also plays a part in The Amityville Playhouse.

He added: "I've gone to shoots and meetings in my spare time and Tesco has been very good about fitting in my time off around the schedule."

John, who has had walk-on roles in programmes ranging from Coronation Street, Emmerdale and EastEnders to Dr Who, Ashes to Ashes, Scott and Bailey and Midsomer Murders, is a long-time fan of the Amityville films and he decided to write a synopsis for one of his own - the 13th bearing the series name.

He gave the screenplay to Steve Hardy to write and he says the production contains many small touches that Amityville fans will spot from earlier films.

It is about Fawn Harriman, played by Monele LeStrat, who counts herself lucky the day she inherits a disused theatre in the small town of Amityville, Long Island.

Her sights are set on a new life in the theatre and she invites a group of friends to join her there for a weekend adventure - but it leads them into the terrifying clutches of an ancient pact between the mysterious locals and a malignant presence "from the very bowels of hell".

As the stranglehold of evil grows tighter, Fawn's teacher, Victor Stewart - played by John R Walker himself - races to Amityville in a desperate attempt to rescue the party and put an end to the town's frightening legacy.

Among actors featuring in the film are Gary Martin, who was the voice of the Honey Monster, Ania Marson, who had a part in the 1971 crime thriller Puppet on a Chain, and Lesley Scoble, who was in 1960's Village of the Damned.