Hi Carter, I loved, loved this movie. It was so good.
Carter- Thank you.
The cast was amazing. Cooper and Jose were great.
Carter- So good, right!
Yes, I was so hoping they were going to be okay.
Carter- Yes.
How did this manifest for you?
Carter- I wanted to explore a new way of making a movie. A micro-budget, super small production. It was written that way, it was written to be that type of production. It was created to be this small little movie that it was. I wanted to center it around a love story.
What can you tell us about the effects, and why you decided on these bugs. It sort of felt like a wild warning.
Carter- Yes, I have always found horror that is based in reality more fascinating. The idea that is a story that is a half of step removed from what could be real. So, the idea of keeping it close to reality was always my intention from the beginning. It is a lot more frightening when it’s based in reality.
How did you get everyone prepared and what can you tell us about the special effects?
Carter- Dan Martin did the special effects. It was all practical effects, like 98% practical. He is an incredible London-based special effects artist that I met at The Overlook Film Festival. He created everything in his studio in London, and then shipped it over to us in Maine, where we were filming. We did a zoom lesson on how to puppeteer them properly. It was a big learning curve. We used pictures of real bugs.
They were gnarly. I loved the special effects.
Carter- Thank you.
What was it like working with this cast? They rocked.
Carter- Oh, they were great. I worked with Jena Malone before because we did The Ruins together, and I photographed Jose Colon who plays Dom. That’s how I met him, and I sort of wrote the part for her. Mark Patton was someone that I never met but I had seen him in A Nightmare on Elm Street 2, and the Scream Queen documentary. I wrote the part specifically for him, and never in a million years did I think I would get Mark. I sent him a DM on Instagram, and he was down for the challenge. Cooper was someone I had met before but we never worked together. We all needed to function as a team.
Dom, Cooper, and Jena’s character totally took me to Doom Generation. They just did such an awesome job.
Carter – Oh yeah, you are not the first person to pull a Gregg Araki reference out.
What do you want to say to everyone that will be watching Swallowed?
Carter- From a filmmaking stand point, it was such an incredible experience. It is a film that is entirely my own. I hope people connect with it.
What is next for you?
Carter- I just finished post-production on a movie called The Passenger for Blumhouse, with Kyle Gallner, and Johnny Berchtold.
Thank you so much Carter. I loved Swallowed. It was great. Oh, I loved The Ruins too.
Carter- Thank you.
CARTER SMITH
![Australian Vengeance is Sweet in the International Premiere of Penny Lane is Dead at Fantasia Festival [Movie Review]](https://ihorror.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Penny-Lane-4.jpg "Australian Vengeance is Sweet in the International Premiere of Penny Lane is Dead at Fantasia Festival [Movie Review]")
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