Bristol-born writer director Christopher Smith is about to become an overnight success thanks to his debut horror feature, Creep. But one person who won't be there to cheer the 35-year-old on when the film opens today is his mum. "She can't watch even the mildest bit of horror, so she'll have to wait until I've done a romantic comedy," laughs Christopher. "Mum knows me though - and my sense of humour! "I've always loved horror films. I remember creeping downstairs and watching Curse of the Werewolf when I was about seven. I ran back upstairs and had to get into mum's bed, but I've never forgotten how movies can send you this way." As a teenager, The Exorcist and Texas Chainsaw Massacre left their mark on his brain and now he's had the chance to carve his own niche. "We've sold this film to every country in the world except China and India because they don't like horror movies," says Christopher, who studied film production in Bristol after taking an MA in film at Derby University. "It cost £3 million so the investors should get all of their money back. I'd like to make a sequel, with Craig (aka Creep) having brothers and sisters." One of the most remarkable things about Creep is that the shoot barely lasted seven weeks yet 30-year-old star Franka Potente missed three weeks of it following an emergency operation to remove her appendix. "Her first day back was the tank scene and she was brilliant for us," says Christopher. "Franka was the first actress I went for and this taught me that when it's meant to be it's meant to be. "An earlier film I'd tried to make kept getting close to being funded but never was. "Her absence enabled us to regroup and take a look at what we were doing and how we would end it, but if Franka had been off for six weeks, our insurers would have closed down the film." Christopher spent a year working with actor Sean Harris to perfect the Creep character and is delighted I loved the sink scene so much. "It was only a small thing on the page and it was shot as you see it. There's no slow motion or anything like that. "I said when we'd done it: 'That's going to be our equivalent of the ear-cutting scene in Reservoir Dogs'." Despite the nature of the film, Christopher had no problems getting permission to shoot mostly on a disused bit of the London Underground at Charing Cross. "They are keen for more films to be made there so that maybe more people use it for travelling on. And if they let us use it for this, then filmmakers might think you can do virtually anything there. "But what London Underground won't allow you to do is to film people being shoved off the platform." | 
