A masked avenger stalks the night meting out justice to villains, but these are the streets of west London, not Gotham City.

A team of young film makers are bringing a touch of Hollywood to Hounslow with their gory tale of one man seeking bloody revenge for the death of his beloved pooch.

Hound is the work of Simba Masaku, Jimm Stark and Oliver Kausar, who have teamed up to form Totem Films in an attempt to realise their big screen ambitions.

Shot on the borough's housing estates and shopping parades, and cut in their bedrooms, the film is an antidote to the lush period dramas commonly filmed on Hounslow's country estates.

Osterley House may have stood in for Wayne Manor in the latest instalment of the Batman franchise, but the last feature to showcase the real Hounslow, warts and all, was Bend It Like Beckham.

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The 2002 story of a football starlet beating the odds to realise her dreams propelled a young Keira Knightley to stardom, and Simba Masaku hopes Hound can do the same for him and his co-producers.

"There's so much talent in Hounslow and I'm fed up of hearing people say 'I could've been this, could've done that'," says the 31-year-old, of Hounslow West.

"You hear a lot of negative comments about Hounslow but it's got so much character. It's easy to get lost in people's perceptions of the area but it makes the perfect gritty setting for a fantasy film like this.

"The score for the teaser was composed by a friend from Boston Manor and performed by a violinist from a local orchestra, and it's amazing. You wouldn't know it had been recorded in a bedroom in Hounslow."

Aidam Largey Poland, Simba Masaku and Jimm Stark take to the rooftops to film a scene for Hound, a new crime thriller being shot in Hounslow

Simba was an extra in zombie comedy Shaun of the Dead, shot at Ealing Studios, and he and Jimm met dripping with blood while trying to scare the wits out of thrill seekers at one of Thorpe Park's Fright Nights.

Hound, which allows the pair to indulge their shared love of horror, adopts the micro budget ethos of Colin, a 2008 zombie movie told through the eyes of its walking dead protagonist, in which Simba also appeared.

Depite being made for just £45, Colin was showered with critical praise, earning it a coveted screening at the Cannes Film Festival, and Simba hopes to surpass its success.

As a student at Hounslow Manor School (now Kingsley Academy), he would borrow his mum's Sony Hi8Camcorder, much to her consternation, to film short homages to 70s cop shows and kung fu flicks with his friends.

"We didn't have much money to go the cinema or the ice rink so we'd shoot these films around our neighbourhoods and invite our families round for premiere nights with popcorn and everything," said the single father-of-two, who co-wrote Hound with Carl Harvey.

That love affair with the silver screen has never dimmed and, after completing a degree in drama and video production, he fits filming for Hound around security work at Thorpe Park and his other job as a personal trainer.

The director's debut feature film follows the story of an unemployed alcoholic, who is pushed over the edge after his pet is killed when he steps in to protect a woman from gangsters.

"He's a bit of a hermit and his dog is his best friend so this is too much for him to take. He becomes the Hound, a fighting machine picking off those responsible one by one," says Simba, who appears in the film as a gang member.

"It winks to films like Death Wish, Dead Man's Shoes and Robocop. The hero mirrors a lot of people I see around me in Hounslow who are out of work and spend their days drinking on benches. He goes on this amazing journey, becoming someone new and learning a lot about who he really is."

The idea of a man donning body armour and a dog snout to wreak vengeance on his pet's killers may sound faintly ridiculous but the two-minute teaser Simba and co have produced is definitely more chilling than camp.

A folded over mattress is the only protection on offer during filming for a stunt in Hound, a new crime thriller being shot in Hounslow

You may recognise some of the backdrops from the promo, with scenes having been shot on the Beavers estate around the corner from Simba's home, Hatton Cross tube station and Hounslow train station, among other locations.

Hounslow is no stranger to film crews, with Vanity Fair and Never Let Me Go among the hits to have been shot, at least in part, around the borough.

It is also a popular setting for Bollywood videos, and the production crew for 24: Live Another Day recently set up camp in Brentford's former Gillette factory.

However, the leads are usually imported - even if Keira Knightley did grow up just over the border - and there's rarely much effort to harness local talent.

That's not true of Hound. As well as begging for and borrowing equipment like booms and lights, Simba and his friends are casting the net wide in their hunt for talent. When I spoke to him, he had just visited an Indian restaurant in Hounslow searching for extras.

He is turning to crowd-funding site Kickstarter to fund the project's completion, and he hopes to secure a debut screening at Watermans, in Brentford.

Should Hound take off, Hounslow could have its own homegrown action man to rival the likes of Batman and Jack Bauer, who were just passing through.