Now available on DVD, Andrew Traucki?s Black Water will probably make you think twice before wading in a pool of murky Australian swamp water. And if silly CGI and animatronic crocodiles seem passé to fans of the croc-subgenre, then Black Water?s real-live human-devouring croc action might just be their thing. We caught up with co-writer/co-director Andrew Traucki earlier this week so he could fill us in on working with real ?rip your flesh to pieces? crocodiles and why the police showed up on set!

What was it like working with real crocodiles for the film?

It was hard, and at times very frightening. We were up in the North of Australia where it was really, really hot every day. Crocs rely on the element of surprise to catch their prey, so you?d never know when they were suddenly going to explode out of the water, or indeed do nothing and just keep you waiting.

What sort of challenges did that provide?

What?s that saying? ?Never work with children and animals?? They?re not good actors, they missed their cues a lot, and they?ll try and eat you. I had to run away from a 12-footer one day. And, on another day, Stumpy, a big bad 15-footer almost ate our camera. You can see that cool footage in the making-of on the DVD.

We only had five days to get all of our croc shots. By the end of day four, we were starting to get worried. Luckily we got some great stuff on the last day. In the end we had a huge shooting ratio, 7 hours of footage for a couple of minutes of screen time.

Were there any other challenges in shooting the film?

Well, being a low-budget film, everything to do with money was a challenge?i.e. everything was a challenge. My five pillars of filmmaking are story, cast, coverage, editing, and sound. So for me the biggest challenge was making sure I got these right. Production-wise, our location was a big challenge. We had to find a mangrove swamp within 20 miles of Sydney. We spent 6 months looking for that location, and finally, well into pre-production, we found it. Phew!

In the past couple of years, many films with a croc/alligator theme have come out--like Lake Placid 2, Primeval, etc. What makes Black Water different?

The poor croc film. There have been so many bad ones made that when I mentioned I was writing a croc film people would laugh at me? I live in a country where people get attacked by a salt-water crocodile every year. In some parts of Africa there is an attack every second month. Black Water is different to every other croc film made because it?s based on true events, and we used real crocodiles, not poor CGI or animatronics; and it?s realistic and grim, not ridiculous and cheesy.

I guess we took this film seriously whereas every other croc film I have seen hasn?t done that.

What films inspired your work on Black Water?

In the thriller/horror area I am a big fan of David Lynch, Sam Raimi, the Cohen brothers, Stephen Spielberg, Ridley Scott, Hitchcock, George Miller and Stephen King. So some of the films that inspired me were Evil Dead 1 and 2, Blue Velvet, Fargo, Jaws, Alien, Psycho, Strangers on a Train and Mad Max 1.

What do you hope fans take away from Black Water?

In films like Black Water, that are based on real survival stories, I like thinking, ?What would I do in that situation?? If people are playing that game whilst watching the film and wondering how they?d get out of this bad-arse day, that?d be good. Of course, I hope fans walk away with some shocks and thrills and they enjoy the film, but ultimately what they take away from it is up to them.

After this experience, would you consider working on a film with live animals again?

If the script was good enough, sure.

What?s your favorite on-set memory?

The police turning up. A neighbour near our set rang them up saying she thought there was a murder going on in the mangroves because she heard women screaming. The police turned up an hour after we shot that scene?so I guess if there had been a murder they wouldn?t have caught the killer.

Do you have any other projects that fans can look out for from you in the future?

I do have other projects, but I don?t like to talk about them till the money is in the bank.

Are you a fan of horror?

I like films that look at the dark side of human nature, or play with notions of mystery and mysticism. Some horror films do this really well. So, yeah, I am a fan.

Do you have a favorite genre film?

I have a few. My top five would be Rosemary?s Baby, Evil Dead, Psycho, Jaws and The Exorcist.

Obviously you don?t fear crocodiles, but what is your biggest fear?

Human stupidity?look what we?ve done to the place.