A group of college researchers go camping deep into the Florida Everglades .While entering forbidden Native American territory against being advised not to they encounter the Swamp Ape.
Actor Geoff Ward has starred in feature films, a few TV series and he also makes his own short films. Soon after starring alongside Brooke Hogan in Chris Olen Ray’s TWO HEADED SHARK ATTACK, he began writing his own screenplay SWAMP APE. Without any studio prospects lined up to produce it the best way to get SWAMP APE made was by doing it himself. SWAMP APE had a $20,000 budget and all the money was raised by Geoff himself as he shares, “I earned the money by working as a commercial actor in Florida and by making YouTube videos. I specifically started making YouTube videos with the goal of getting the money to finance Swamp Ape. After a few viral hits like Lion Prank!!!, Shark Prank and Walmart Warfare, I grew a pretty steady source of revenue through from Google AdSense earnings. Best part about YouTube was I learned a little bit about producing videos.”
As Geoff mentioned he learned a lot about producing short videos, but knew there were much greater challenges to making a full feature film. It was a tedious process to properly allocate the funding without shortchanging the cast and jeopardizing locations, props, and effects. “A lot of the budget was spent on food, snacks, cabin and boat rentals, vans, costumes, props etc.” shares Geoff. “The MVP of the shoot was my YouTube sidekick David Koenig. He did everything from camera operating, keeping track of shooting schedules and building some of the props with me on off days, aside from Big Derek Russo, who played the Swamp Ape for the main killing spree. David also played the Swamp Ape nearly a dozen times.”
Wanting to establish himself as a reliable and trustable filmmaker, he made sure the cast was compensated on a daily basis. With a fun and enthusiastic cast in place, Geoff gave them freedom and encouraged their input on the screenplay. This resulted in some creative and very comical moments. With virtually no crew, the cast doubled as the crew members on set. Everyone was as eager as Geoff to get the film made, even on those days that ended up being over 20 hours in duration. Geoff talks about the entire filming period, “The length of complete pre, active, and post production was about 15 months starting back in October of 2015 to December 2016. The main ensemble cast shooting was about 7 days plus lots days of inserts, reshoots and smaller scenes. The total days of shooting was about 25 days.”
When it comes to low budget films, there will be quality issues that the audience needs to understand prior to watching, even when high quality production equipment is used……kinda, “Equipment was a Sony consumer camcorder and an outdated rinky dink Sony DSLR. We shot a lot at night so we strung up rechargeable led work lights and flashlights outdoors, “Geoff shared. This also applies to dire situations when special effects supplies are not available, “On one occasion were shooting some of the night water attacks and I forgot to pack my fake blood. We went to the nearest beachside restaurant that was closing their doors and explained our situation and they gave us a huge bottle of ketchup. It turned out looking pretty good.” The movie has no CG with the exception of some gunshot flashes. The limbs that were torn off had Vanessa (whom plays Lily) assisting on that one and the decapitation scene, quicksand FX, and the disturbing extended ape private parts was all engineered by Geoff. In some cases instead of relying on the effects, some of the brutality lets you use your imagination when cringing sound effects were used. The special effects of the insects attacking the characters having them swat them and itching were complementary by the non-union Florida mosquitoes.
When producers value out costs to save a few dollars sometimes it ends up costing more. However, a professional filmmaker will always know what to do as Geoff explains how he cordially handled a crisis, “We had a rental van and Dave smashed into it way too hard making huge dents after I said “to be careful”. I blew up and yelled out an angry curse fest. A real Christian Bale moment. Problem was the van had to be returned the next morning and I didn’t buy the insurance. Luckily we found a dent repair specialist that came and fixed the van on set and I returned it with no issues.”
What’s nice about SWAMP APE is the production quality is compensated by the abundance of comedy delivered throughout. The sarcasm is subtle and constant throughout the film. Lead actress Vanessa Capriglione who was Lily in the film provides quite a few of the comical, sarcastic, and some raunchy comments. She shares how she got the lead role, “I obtained my part by responding to a casting notice to do a trailer for the movie before it was filmed. After shooting, Geoff graciously offered me the lead lady role of Lily & I was stunned and immediately accepted.”
Vanessa is a real trooper, she had to endure some traumatizing moments in the film. “I never thought I’d ever have a penis pump in my hands, let alone around my mouth in a van.” Vanessa shares. “I told Geoff I’d kill him if he had used it previously!!” In that case Vanessa had all the rights to threaten the Producer/Director. That’s not all she had to undergo, she had more moments taking her by surprise and yet she was professional and just rolled with it, “Being trapped in the cage with Anna Marie and Swamp Ape was terrifying because Derek Russo acts to his own drum. As soon as he brought the dead fish near my face (unscripted) I slapped it into the dirt instinctually and that was the end of that scene.” She did an amazing job delivering her lines in one of the film’s funniest scenes, but apparently it was not easy for her, “Feeding lava hot Cheetos to Carl while his arm was ripped out was hard to act serious. It didn’t help that they were fiery red in color and he had nothing to drink which is why he screamed at me to leave.”
Adam Brudnicki plays the role of Ranger Steve and knowing Geoff, he knew SWAMP APE would be a fun experience with great results as he shares, “I’ve known Geoff for a few years from working in the biz. His character on set & off has always been super positive, energetic and magnetic, so it was an easy call to decide to work with him. He gave me some plot points and character description and let us run with it, and we knew he’d back it up with awesome writing and hilarious effects – the film in my opinion is a success because it embraces what it is, doesn’t try to be an award winner or amaze anybody, and excels at just that. A hilarious, skin- and sarcasm-filled romp of the horror genre that was our enjoyment to be a part of and watch on screen.”
Same goes for Jamil Malik who played Chief Nadjo, “I signed on after my first conversation with Geoff. I didn’t have to see the script, I knew it was going to be GREAT! Being a low budget film, I was very surprised by some of the locations, especially the use of the gift shop in The Everglades. The owners gave us full run of the shop. Overall, it was one of the best experiences I’ve had on a set. I hope to work with Geoff in the future.”
Swamp Ape is worth the watching, so get ready for some limbs lost, eye candy, quality kills (unfortunately starting off with a cuddly kill to break your heart), plenty of cheesy moments and outrageous dialogue to compliment it and of course some nasty dirty swamp sex. After all that, Ranger Steve provides an important message about swamp life…….just before his final plunge.
SWAMP APE is available on Amazon.com free with Prime or for rentals and downloads.
