Who doesn’t love a cryptid? The spooky monsters that may or may not exist all over the world and that have a healthy place in global folklore are the stuff of legend, maybe literally. It’s that legendary status that led director Anthony Cousins to bring the story of the Frogman of Loveland to the big screen with Frogman and Frogman Returns.
Ahead of the films’ screening at FrightFest 2026 in London, FILMHOUNDS spoke to Anthony Cousins about how the films came to be, the found footage format, and also The Evil Dead.
First of all, I just want to say I’ve watched both films this week and really enjoyed both of them. Congratulations on having them screened at Fright Fest as well. The first thing I wanted to ask was just about how you ended up making Frogman, and why the Frogman of Loveland story originally captured your imagination, and what led you to deciding to make a film about it?
I’ve always been a fan of cryptids. Frogman was not on my radar. I think I maybe knew a little more about cryptids than the average person, but not so deep that I knew like the D-list monsters like Frogman. And then my co-writer John Carsco and our actor friend Nathan Timishuk, who plays Dallas, we all were on set together and found out about the Frogman at the same time, and were so wildly entertained by this lore and started just like riffing on it and talking about it. So it honestly kind of started as a joke, and then at some point we’re like, you know, it’d be pretty funny to just like make a movie where Nate takes a camera and is like going out in the woods, Blair Witch style, to find the Frogman, which was also kind of a joke. And we’re so deep now that honestly, I couldn’t even tell you at what point the joke became like, no, let’s really do this. But we did, you know, and it worked out thankfully.
The found footage aspect of Frogman works brilliantly, and as you say about the kind of the nod to the Blair Witch there, I think having the the older camera that you use for it is makes it feel a bit more gritty and grounded in a way that it wouldn’t be necessarily if it was done on a digital camera. Was that a conscious decision right from the start, or was that something that just happened organically as you were planning the film?
Yeah, that was a pretty early decision. At one point we talked about it being a period piece and like taking place around ’99 to justify shooting on that camera, and it was like, God, we can’t afford to shoot a period piece! So, how do we justify shooting on a high spec camera, present day, you know. So we found this workaround of Dallas choosing to shoot on that camera for nostalgic reasons. But that was really important to me because I love all found footage. I love the big budget type of found footage too. But like clearly, we weren’t going to make that. We were working with a very low budget, and it felt like let’s lean into that. Let’s lean into the fact that this is going to be a very grassroots, low budget movie. I think those cameras…you try to shoot a nice looking movie on a super low budget and it just looks like you kind of failed, but it was like well what if you know this movie’s supposed to look like shit. It’s supposed to look like a home video. Then it looks like we made that choice intentionally because we did. So that’s kind of where that came from. And then you know, if you’ve seen the second one, you know we got a little bit more money and we were like, okay, now let’s make it look like a movie this time.
It definitely marks it out as something quite different. It looks aesthetically very different from a lot of other found footage films, which was really nice, and a quite pleasing thing to see watching it. It had a very old school feel to it, which I really enjoyed. Before we talk about Frogman Returns, I have to ask about the title card, and I’m sure you’ve been asked about this loads, but did you have plans for a sequel when you included the “Frogman Will Return” title card, or was that just like supposed to be a little Easter egg?
That was us, just kind of clowning on Marvel. We didn’t have the slightest inclination that maybe we would make a sequel, and I don’t I don’t think we even talked about making a sequel like as if we wanted to until the first movie came out because we we we were just so deep that it was like we don’t even know what we’ve done anymore. Is this good? Is this bad? Is anyone going to care? We’re not sure what this movie is, and I think once it came out and people were really excited about it and wanted to know more about the world, then we got excited about what a sequel would be. So when we put that title card, that was totally a joke to the point that when I was trying to figure out a name for the second movie, I wasn’t even thinking of Frogman Returns. I can’t… It’s ridiculous how long it took me to get to that title. We talked about Frogman Reckoning, Frogman: Revenge of Frogman. We went through so many titles. I was like, what about Frogman Returns? And then I think I thought about that title card , and I was like, Jesus! It was right there!
Speaking of Frogman Returns, Dallas’s character arc is somebody who is quite lost and trying to figure out reconciling where they are now from where they were with this thing that happened when he was a kid, and then Frogman Returns, it feels like his arc is quite different. There’s more of a heroic element to it, and almost a redemption arc for him. Then also trying to come to terms with the things that have happened, and having to leave somebody behind. Was that an intentional choice to go down that route with his character development?
I think we put ourselves in an interesting position for a sequel because not very often in found footage movies do you leave characters alive by the end. So when it came to doing a sequel, it was like you know we kind of we have an opportunity to do something really fun here and bring Dallas and Amy back, and you know, experiment with like how the first movie affected them and where that where they would be at, you know, like a year later. And so, yeah, I think Dallas very much starts the movie where we leave him at the end of the first one, which is like he still really hasn’t learned anything. He’s kind of aware of the repercussions of his actions and his obsession now, but he doesn’t really like that he hasn’t learned from it yet. He’s aware of it, but he hasn’t learned from it yet. So I think the his arc of Frogman Returns is definitely about him learning the lessons of what he went through, and yeah, I think you know, I think he ends in a in a somewhat heroic place, and I really hope we get to experience what “Hero Dallas” looks like in a third movie if we get to do that.
The first film was shot on a relatively small budget before having that larger budget for Frogman Returns, and it becomes obvious that you know from very early on that there is a bit more effects work in the second film. Did that bring any challenges in itself? Transitioning from that very gritty, tightly shot, found footage style into something that had a bit more of a budget and almost goes in a science fiction direction as well at various points?
It took a lot more work on the front end when it came to pre-production and planning, much more work was put into Frogman Returns than the first Frogman, and there was so little work was put in on the front end of the first Frogman. We were a week or two out from filming, and people were like, Anthony, can we even do this? What are we doing? Are we making a movie or what? So, so beyond that, when it came to shooting, I’d say because of that preparation we took on Frogman Returns, making the movie was so much smoother and so much easier, even with how much bigger it is and how all the different elements it has that the first Frogman doesn’t have. I tried to make the first Frogman with such a loose grip that it actually made things more difficult, and the second one was a much much nicer process. We shot it with double the budget of the first movie, which still amounts to barely anything. I think this movie looks like it probably cost 10 times what it actually did, because it was made by friends. There’s not a single person in this movie that isn’t a friend behind or in front of the camera. So there was a lot of sweat equity put into it.
Do you think there’s a possibility of a third Frogman outing? Because I feel like there’s a lot of territory to explore there, and obviously without giving any spoilers, where the film ends certainly suggests there’s a lot more to explore, and even the storyline with like the Children of Frogman it feels like a lot of ground potentially to be covered there. Have you got any ideas for a third one, or is that something that maybe is in the offing?
Yeah, I’m going to sound like a crazy person, but I have about roughly seven or eight movies planned! They’re all within the Frogman world, but they’re not all Frogman-focused movies. So, it’s funny you mentioned the Children of Frogman because my co-writer John, he’s writing a Frogman prequel right now that would focus on the cults and be kind of like a ’70s-esque, like Wicker Man type movie. And then I’ve outlined Frogman Three, which I mean, to Frogman Returns: Evil Dead Two, Frogman Three would very much be like the Army of Darkness to that. Really excited about that. But the first thing, the next thing up is in December. I’m shooting a movie called The Kentucky Goblins, which is going to be like a spinoff. It’ll be in the same world as Frogman, but focusing on a different cryptid.
Just as you mentioned it there, actually, I did wonder whether the shot at the very end of the film was a little bit inspired by Army of Darkness. The very end shot definitely had a bit of a feel of Ash being transported back in time.
For sure, we well we talked a lot about our favourite sequels, and you know the dream is that we do get to do a Frogman Three and hopefully even more beyond that. And I wanted to tease what would come next, but I didn’t want to do it in a way where if we never get to make that movie, it’s not unsatisfying. That stuff drives me crazy. When I think about Evil Dead Two, that ending, of course, I want to see what comes next. I want to see Ash in medieval times. I want to see what that next adventure is. But at the same time, what I love about the way that movie ends is, I can imagine where that goes if that movie never gets made. You know, it’s still a satisfying ending to me to be like, okay, that chapter’s closed, and that that character I love is going to go on another crazy adventure. You know, which is kind of what happened with the Ash vs Evil Dead show. Ironically, it sort of ended in the same way, where it’s like, “Oh my god, I can’t wait to see what happens with Ash next, and we’ll never get to see that. But, it’s still a satisfying ending to me, because what I don’t want is, and this has nothing to do with Frogman, I’m just talking about sequels, but I want to end with Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, where it’s like Indiana Jones is still Indiana Jones, and he’s still capable of going on adventures, and who knows what happens next. I don’t want Dial of Destiny, where it’s like, oh, my hero is now washed up and alone and sad and too old to go on adventures. I don’t want to see that.
Frogman and Frogman Returns will screen at Frightfest 2026
