GATORBABY

When Maggie and her twenty-something cousins are invited to their wealthy great grandfather's private island off the coast of Florida for his 104th birthday party, each hopes to be included in his will. Soon they begin uncovering family secrets, including a vicious half man / half alligator that may be a long lost relative. The terror of JAWS meets CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF in one horror-filled week trapped on an island with a monster... and no way to escape it's powerful jaws. Every family has its secrets... this one has teeth!

That picture is of an actual side-show freak, Jake The Alligator Boy. His body is on display at a side-show museum in Washington. Freaky, huh?

This script was written to take advantage of an actual mansion on a private island off the coast of Florida (Burgess battery family) that is maintained by a freind of mine's Aunt - and we have permission to film there. Through my friend we also have access to other locations in Florida. This is a fun horror movie, similar to the film SLITHER, which was one of the best reviewed films from a couple of years ago (really). Instead of aiming for studio theatrical release like SLITHER, we're looking at Sci-Fi Channel and DVD original made on a reasonable budget - in the quarter million to third million basic range - more if we "cast up". One great thing about the script is that it features a young cast, with a handful of older cameos which can be cast with genre favorites (I know and have access to some names) plus a key character who can be cast with a name or pop culture name.

GATORBABY is not just targeting the horror audience, it's also targeting the critics - it's a Southern Gothic story about family secrets... much like the work of Tennessee Williams, and the characters and some of the situations echo Williams' work. One of the reasons why The Washington Post gave my NIGHT HUNTER film three out of four stars (better than many big budget Hollywood films) is because the reviewer noted the hidden refernces. Clever references like this cost nothing, yet manage to get free publicity through good reviews in major US newspapers.

After the last few years of "torture porn" horror, the time is right for a good, fun, scary monster movie!

CAST *** SYNOPSIS *** CREW *** SCREENPLAY

MOTION PICTURE PRODUCTION

From Script To Screen And Everything In Between

copyright 2009 by William C. Martell