Director: Paul W. Franklin
Writer: Paul W. Franklin
Starring: Sian Altman, Mark Haldor, George NeLleton, Chrissie Wunna
Lisa and her family unite at a wedding venue, excited for the big day. However, unknown to the happy family, nearby lurks a nest of hungry crocodiles that have been living undetected in a local lake. As the marital festivities begin, the belligerent reptiles crash the wedding party and begin to cause a bloodthirsty massacre.
In a new exclusive interview on Blazing Minds, I got a chance to ask writer-director Paul W. Franklin a few questions about the film Croc, which will be making its World Premier at Arrow FrightFest on Thursday 25th August at 22:40hrs.
Q. Your film Croc! has been selected to play at the Arrow FrightFest Film Festival. Can you tell us what we can expect from the film?
A. A creature feature with a ton of gory, bloody deaths, and a generous smattering of British humour.
Q. What were some of your influences when writing the script for Croc!?
A. Initially, Scott [producer] asked me to write a script for a film called ‘Crocodile Vengeance’ (the original tile). And while all his other horror films have been played straight, this to me screamed ‘B-movie’, and demanded some comic moments. So, I sent him the treatment, and he asked me to remove the comedy bits. Thankfully I ignored him… and he loved the resulting script. So, I guess it was influenced by films like Piranha. In fact, even the poster blatantly borrowed from that movie (although that bears no resemblance to the resulting film!).
Q. What were some of your influences for the look and style of the film?
A. Style-wise, a lot of the crocodile moments were influenced by the fact that we had a purely VFX croc. Which meant the deaths had to be done in a certain way. So, I studied the Lake Placid sequels and similar low-budget films. Other than that, I borrowed a bit from Jurassic Park, where the Maid of Honour is outside in a car, with the croc somewhere nearby, drawn to the noise. And also Dog Soldiers, because [minor spoiler] this ultimately becomes a home invasion film, where the survivors lock up inside the house. I found a very interesting behind the scenes from Dog Soldiers, telling how they built a set based around how they wanted to shoot it; whereas with this, it was basically the opposite: I’d never been to the location and all I had to go from was photos, so I wrote it based around the layout and hoped it worked on the day (and overall, with a few tweaks, I think it did).
Q. Did you make any changes from the original script during filming?
A. Ha. After I’d written the script – about 2 weeks before filming – Scott had been shooting with some pretty red flares in Wales, and decided he wanted to base the film at night. Like, who gets married at night? That would’ve changed it a lot, so I managed to get a compromise with about half-half, day-night. But I was still rewriting until about 3 days before. So, people had different versions of the script. Then on the shoot, Scott changed a few things, without even consulting me. Including the number of crocodiles, which was meant to be a surprise. But hey, c’est la vie.
Q. What were some of your favourite moments during filming?
A. The cast was just great fun overall, there were a lot of laughs. One thing that stands out was when the Maid of Honour – played by Antonia Whillans – calls the Groom an arsehole and storms out of the room. But in a rehearsal, she got to the door, turned around and went “C**t!”. It tickled me because she comes across so pleasant and polite.
Q. Did you experience any issues during filming?
A. With a low budget film like this, shot in barely a week, you’re going to have a few problems fitting it all in and getting the shots you want. Annoyingly the ending had to change. The bride was meant to run into the pool house and swing from a rope attached to the roof beams; but in reality, the beams were a lot flimsier than they looked in the photos, so that got altered a bit.
Q. What makes Croc! stand out as something different in the horror genre?
A. I think it’s just good fun. Slasher films are making a bit of a comeback, so why not cheesy creature features too? You’ve got all your deaths and blood, with a few dark bits, but also a good dose of daft laughs. It’s entertaining.
Q. What do you hope people take away aVer watching the film?
A. Just a sense of being entertained, and maybe a couple of quotable lines.
Q. Do you have any other projects which you are currently working on?
A. I’m in post-production on a short horror called “Felt Cute Might Delete Later”, which I deliberately shot in 9:16 (i.e. vertical), which I’m normally 100% against, but since it’s all about social media, it suits it. And I’ve just wri8en a revenge action-thriller called “The Orphan” which is basically John Wick in Mexico. It could be exciting, but I can’t say anything more right now.
Q. If someone was looking to write and direct their own film, what advice would you give them?
A. Your main restraint is budget. So, find a location you can borrow for free (house, café, farm…) and write something based around that. Also, write something you really want to write, write from experience, because that’ll really show through in the writing. Have patience, expect it to take longer than imagined. And always feed your cast & crew.
You can find out more about Paul W Franklin on the website www.paulwfranklin.com
Croc will be playing at the Arrow FrightFest Film Festival on Thursday 25th August at 22:40hrs.
You can find out more about the festival and purchase tickets here: https://www.frightfest.co.uk/
Published in various websites, Philip is a reviewer who is best known for his interviews and media coverage of independent projects including; films, books, theatre and live events. Always on the lookout for something different to cover!
