When Brighton screenwriter Graeme Scarfe finished his first movie, he proudly sat his wife Rachel down to watch it.

But as the closing credits rolled, she warned him: "Don't you ever write anything like that again!"

Graeme's film, Lighthouse, which is premiered in the UK later this month, is a horror movie of the scariest kind.

The action takes place on a dark and stormy night. A ship transporting a group of prisoners is pounded by the sea and the psychopathic Leo Rook, a blood-thirsty Hannibal Lecter-type character, escapes.

The ship smashes on to rocks at the foot of a lighthouse and the survivors struggle ashore. When they discover the decapitated corpses of the lighthouse keepers, they realise Rook is on the loose.

And so begins a terrifying night as Rook begins to pick them off, one by one.

The £3 million movie stars James Purefoy from Maybe Baby, Don Warrington from Manchild and Chris Adamson as the psychopath Leo Rook.

Graeme, 35, of Dale View, Hove, describes the movie as "a traditional stalk 'n' slash horror film".

He said: "It is film noire and has a Halloween-type feel to it. It was given a 15 rating but I don't think I would want any 15-year-old of mine to see it. It certainly scared Rachel.

"I'm not particularly into horror, I actually prefer to write comedy, but this was a commission."

The film, a joint production between BSkyB and The Film Council, has already won awards in Rome and Luxembourg and has been showing in the USA.

Graeme has also written the screenplay for two other films, a comedy thriller called Gambit, which is being made in the US, and a black comedy called Seagulls On Speed.

Despite its name and the setting on the South Coast of England, it has no connection with Brighton and Hove Albion. It is a British production and is being made at Pinewood Studios.

Graeme, who moved to Hove five years ago "to be near the sea and watch Fred Dinenage on TV", writes from home.

He said: "As long as I'm sitting at my desk, I get into the flow. I don't have any trouble switching off."

Adapting a book into a film script takes Graeme about four weeks. But writing from scratch takes up to three months for a first draft.

"Adapting a book, like I did for Gambit, is fairly simple. But with something like Lighthouse, there is a lot of idea-bashing that goes on before I start to write on an agreed idea."

Graeme did a media degree at Bournemouth University and worked as a sound recordist before deciding to try his hand at screenwriting.

"I had worked with a director called Simon Hunter before and he asked if I knew of anyone who could write and I said I could. He called my bluff, although it was a leap of faith on his part."

Lighthouse will be premiered at the Odeon in Panton Street, London on July 19. It is not yet known if the film will eventually find its way to screens in Sussex.