Photographer Carter Smith made his feature directorial debut on the 2008 film The Ruins (watch it HERE), and over the last thirteen years has only directed two more features – Jamie Marks Is Dead and Midnight Kiss, the latter of which was an entry in the Blumhouse/Hulu anthology series Into the Dark. I was expecting, and hoping, to see a lot more from Smith after The Ruins, so I count it as very good news that he has taken to social media and his website AlltheDeadBoys.com to announce that he has wrapped production on a new movie. It's called Swallowed, and happens to have The Ruins' Jena Malone in the cast!
Malone's co-stars include Cooper Koch, Mark Patton of A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge, and an actor whose first name is Jose, but Smith didn't give his last name, just linked his Instagram account: thelightingaintright. Jose was Smith's muse when it came to the writing of Swallowed. Smith had taken pictures of him for his website, and while he was looking at the pictures a character named Dom came to mind. Dom is the character Jose plays in Swallowed.
Smith didn't reveal any plot details, but described Swallowed as a "slimy wild queer horror nightmare of a movie". This was a micro-budget production shot in Smith's home state of Maine, with a crew of 8 and a filming schedule of 16 days.
Smith said,
It was an experiment. Could I write a feature film script that used only the things I had at my disposal? Everything you read on indie filmmaking preaches to “use what you’ve got.” It makes perfect sense. But my scripts always seemed to veer off that path and beg for more “cinematic” elements. Elaborate creatures or SFX. Expensive locations or extensive cast. They were NOT wildly grand stories requiring millions and millions. But they DID always face roadblocks when I tried to get them made:
Too gay. Not commercial. Not gay enough. Not horror enough. Too violent. Too indie. It was always something.
Because I needed other people (investors/studios / A-List movie stars) to get them made, I was always at the mercy of what other people thought. But if I learned anything from ALL THE DEAD BOYS it was that I was happiest when I was creating for myself. If it was true with stills, why wouldn’t it be true for filmmaking? Even if it meant stripping away all the bells and whistles, I was ready to try my hand at micro-budget filmmaking. Because I was so f*cking tired of waiting for someone’s PERMISSION to make the movies I wanted to make."
And once he decided to stop waiting for someone else's permission to make a movie, he was able to make one on his own.
We did it. We made SWALLOWED exactly as it was meant to be made. Using only what we had. From locations and props to actors and gear and crew it was 100% DIY. And I couldn’t be more excited about it."
I look forward to seeing how it turned out… and to finding out what it's about. We'll keep you updated on Swallowed as more is revealed.