Hello - I am Oklahoma Ward the director of CRAWL OR DIE.
I just wanted to come on here, say hello and answer questions to clear anything up if needed. I don't know why everybody keeps telling me I shouldn't come on here - I see no reason I shouldn't.
I see a lot of people do not like the movie - I see a lot of people that do. I'm fine with that. I'm not here to defend anything or flame anybody - I'm just here to say if you have questions as I see in some of the threads about budget etc. - you can get the real answer here.
For those of you that did enjoy the film - I deeply thank you. For those of you that didn't - well - I can respect that. I see a lot of stuff I don't like that my best friend does.
Not bad at all. I would have shortened the run time by 15 minutes though. Too much focus on the tunnel sequences, even though i get that is an integral element of the film.
The sequel starts filming this summer - currently the actor playing Tank is working on prep for the role and the massive set starts to be built in June ;-)
Thank you for watching the movie and your comment ;-)
I'll be watching your film this week, although I have a dozen other higher-rated movies available to me right now, and although your film didn't get an impressive rating... However, I highly appreciate how you're putting the effort and time to explain in person... That shows sincerity and perfectionism in work, which is tempting enough for me to give your movie a try :)
 To resist the influence of others, knowledge of one's self is most important 
This is my first post on IMDB even tho I have been here for years. I have to say that I am very impressed by this movie. Sure, its not masterpiece. But I think it is fairly unique, and it definitely brings something new to the table. And that is very rare today.
I hope we see more stuff from Oklahoma Ward!
This movie is worth having under personal collection. Claustrophobia at its finest.
Question: I think it's great that you posted your own answer and question section, but something does confuse me: usually, I would have assumed that the questions would have been asked by members of the public.
It's obvious that all of these questions (along with most of the high reviews) were written by yourself or people associated with this film.
Why is that?
In fact, if this question isn't deleted (which I'm sure it will be), this will be the only question on this entire post written by someone not attached to this film.
I was going to ask you a question about editing, but all of this scripted nonsense got me very distracted.
Wow, great that you came here, that's a unique thing to do. I very much appreciate it. I will now find you movie and see it, cause I love your approach!
It's nice to get the director's answers to all these questions. For example on the matter of monster design, strange to think that the original idea was to not even show the monster but it was added in after audience feedback.
"Man's mind is so formed that it is far more susceptible to falsehood than to truth"
I just finished this movie and I loved it. The tension was great, the lighting was very clever and added to the claustrophobic feeling of the tunnels. I am looking forward to the sequel as well as your other works. Great job.
Thank you for writing that comment - I think I replied to you by accidentally starting a new thread - but again - thank you very much for the interaction.
The sequel starts filming this summer and I do so hope you enjoy it as well ;-)
I am very sorry about the length of time for my reply. I am trying to schedule getting on here at least once a week.
I want to thank you for commenting and writing me - I am trying very hard to keep up with the thread and to let everyone know I truly appreciate this thread.
I do so hope you enjoy the movie and again - thank you ;-)
Descent, Alien (original), and Cube (not so much the last ones) are all personal favorites of mine. The tension you brought to this movie was tremendous.
Those scenes in the tunnels were intense.
I try to watch pretty much everything and what you did with what you had is truly amazing. Keep up the work , I am looking forward to your next project.
Oh, do you have a site that promotes your work and this movie?
Thank you very much Steven for the comments. I'd be lying if those three movies you mentioned did not influence me - I do so enjoy those films you mentioned very much.
Our next project is the sequel and we start filming in July of this year.
Our main site www.crawlordietrilogy.com and we are also on Facebook and Twitter - those links can be found on our website.
Again - thank you very very much for reaching out and sharing with me your connection with the film.
First off, I have never in my life felt the need to contact someone regarding their film before, but in this case I feel I must. I just finished watching Crawl or Die for the first time, and must commend you on the piece of art that it is. Obviously it was a labor of love for you and all involved, and that did show through in the finished product. I found your movie by accident. I was curious just what a guy could pull off with a rumored $8000 budget; quite a lot is what someone as talented as you can. I have read through most of the reviews and post about this movie and not much is left to be said, that hasn't already. I would like to acknowledge that your choice to use the lighting sources you did really made this a beautifully shot movie. The story is perfectly acceptable for the genre. I myself have wasted many hours watching big budget Hollywood movies with much less story and obviously less heart than this picture. The acting is far from Oscar worthy, but I’m sure that’s not what you were going for in the first place. The acting however is very believable for the most part, and the female lead is able to carry the weight of nearly all of her scenes with ease. I have seen a few people complaining of the similarity to the monster in the Alien saga, to me it seems more of a homage than an out and out copying. I’m not sure there are any combinations of alien life forms left that haven’t been on screen before anyway. In closing I look forward to seeing the other parts of this trilogy in the future and will share this movie with all of my circle of friends. I just hope that with a bigger budget, and more suits involved, you are able to control the vision of your baby the way you want to.
Who would have thought that watching a very pretty blonde punkette crawling through tubes, tunnels & other assorted "tight gaps" while being pursued by a spider-like creature would be able to maintain my interest for 90 minutes?
I'm not gonna lie - your comment actually made me spit out coffee laughing while I was reading. I was reading your comment and went - oh - here comes someone getting ready to slam me and then bam - a compliment.
Thank you. I mean that. I truly do appreciate the people that write me and reach out and interact. I've learned over the last year - the internet is full of good and bad - it's so easy for one to put something out in the world and only focus on all the bad - and while it does toughen the skin - to be brutally honest - for me anyway - focusing on the people whom do reach out and give compliments and/or interact - gives me so much strength to keep moving forward that I try to reply back as much as possible to let the people know that the time they took to write me is not unimportant to me - but rather - fuel for me to keep moving forward.
I truly do thank you again - and very very glad you enjoyed the movie.
I agree - not much more can be said - but I do appreciate hearing thoughts by fans/or people whom like the movie.
To the point of money - money/budget does of course limit what one can do in many realistic ways - can't afford true dolly shots or flying grand scenes of scenery etc. What I find is - most of the time - those obstacles force one to come up with different ways to shoot the movie and still get the point across. At least that's what I had to do. It actually forces one to be very creative in filming - no don't get me wrong lol - money would be very nice lol - but - waiting on money to make something is a killer and stops many from moving forward imo. Truth be told - the largest lesson I learned was that money really directly influences time. Had I had a larger crew I could have shot faster - or had enough money to hire set builders the set would not have taken a year to build etc.
But in the end - it all came together and I'm extremely proud of what I and many other whom helped - were able to create.
I agree with you about the 'suits' I've already run into that exact scenario with offers for the sequel - there is always a price attached with money - and that price is usually more cooks in the kitchen. For that reason alone I have turned down offers that at the time made the people around me think I was nuts.
But - thankfully - I have been able to secure a team for the sequel that gives me the full strings to create the sequel the way I feel it need be - and that is due to the fans and my love for the character Tank.
Again - thank you for kind words and for writing and I truly hope you enjoy the sequel as well ;-)
I will hook myself and say that i was ready to write this one off but I hung in there and I am impressed. I think people forget what the industry is like and how much filmmakers have to answer for. It isn't like the old days of Don Coscarelli where someone can spend six years making a film out of pocket (and we saw what a comparative disaster we had when Universal got it's fingers in it).
Sometimes I think we've just become so desensitized. Everyone wants more, although I've noticed a trend toward minimalist horror even when there is money thrown at it. The problem is, the crews don't seem to have your dedication.
It's amazing what someone can pull off with dedication, skill, and without billions (which, incidentally, people forget also comes with even more fateful compromises, if not an all out takeover by executives).
I don't know if you'll see this but I have to commend you on your work, and you've at least one more audience member for the next installment.