For Katoomba actress Kiara Thomas, who recently rubbed shoulders with zombies during filming of the horror-comedy Dead Down Under, that ‘something’ was live audiences.

“It’s not as nerve-racking as the first time I did theatre,” the 16-year-old said of her experience in front of the blood-spattered camera.

Considering her theatre debut was at age eight with the Out of the Blue drama school (now the Q Theatre Drama School), it’s no wonder her knees were trembling. Nowadays however, performing onstage is a welcome thrill.

“I love theatre, just that adrenaline factor — it’s amazing,” she said.

Despite a few stomach-turning scenes and long hours in the school holidays shoot, Kiara said working on Dead Down Under has been equally rewarding.

“The experience I’ve gotten doing this film is so much wider than doing commercials and theatre,” she said.

“Seeing the prosthetics and bloody make-up being applied, you shudder at first but you get used to it.”

While Kiara’s brush with the make-up department extends to simply donning a wig, she hopes to sport some rotting flesh and shuffle about the set in a secondary role.

“"I’ve asked (the director) if I could be a zombie later on in the film because I've seen all the make-up work that goes on and it just looks so cool,” she said.

The independent feature-length movie is set in a post-apocalyptic Sydney where a mutant virus has wiped out civilisation.

Kiara plays one of a handful of survivors who are being interviewed by a British documentary crew.

The cameras are still rolling on Dead Down Under, but director Jason Carthew said he expects to submit the finished product to festivals early next year.