Horror is lucky to have Joe Castro. He’s directed 18 films, covering a variety of sub-genres, from slasher films to religion-based horror to monster movies. As an FX artist, his trademark over-the-top gory style can be seen in countless movies, horror and otherwise. Castro’s constantly pushing himself to create new and exciting things in the world of cinema, and he shows no signs of slowing down.
We had the pleasure of chatting with the Maestro of Splatter to discuss some of his new and upcoming films and his career as a whole.
HGL: Starting with your ambitious first feature, Ceremony, in 1994, you’ve directed 18 films and handled FX on over 50 other projects. What’s your secret to staying so active in film over all these years?
Joe Castro: Well, it has evolved over my 34 years working. In the beginning, I think it’s commonplace for most artists to basically just want to have a voice and be able to express themselves, but today, after all this time, my goal is to make my producers look cool! That’s what I do, that’s my job. My job is to make my boss look cool. If I accomplish that, I think I’ve done the right thing.
I love being a part of powerful team when it comes to working on set. When I’m a team player, and I remain teachable on set, the most amazing things can happen. Things that I never dared dream of.
Today, when I approach a job, I think, “How am I best going to benefit my producers, and how am I going to make the director happy and bring his vision to the screen?” No matter what, no matter even what the budget is. At my age, I’m 48, I’ve been doing this for 34 years, one of the first things I tell the director is, whatever the budget is, my work in your movie has to be a certain caliber; it needs to look a certain quality, and I try to explain to them exactly how we should accomplish that.
There is no small job anymore when it comes to doing films and working in movies this long. Every job is very important to me, and I want to make sure they get exactly what they need.
HGL: Horror and gore fanatics may know you best for your film, Terror Toons, and the sequels it’s spawned. Tell us a bit about how you came up with these zany splatter fests.
Joe Castro: The original Terror Toons was conceived by myself and my friend Mark Villalobos. We were driving up to this movie set to do, basically, the blood and special effects for a faith-based movie about the crucifixion of Christ. We’re driving up the 5 Freeway to the Palmdale area, above Los Angeles, to work on this faith-based Christian film. We’re behind this car just putt-puttin’ up the 5, and there was this crazy zany sticker of this cartoon cat on the back of this car. Something came to us and we both had this idea, this brainstorm, together.
Mark was like, “Wouldn’t it be great if we did some crazy movie about killer cartoons?” and I’m like, “Yeah, and what if the cartoons were actually in the real world, and they would kill people with cartoon objects, so when you died it would be way over-the-top, but it would be real, with real blood and guts?” He was like, “Oh my god, that’s never been done before, let’s do it!” So, that’s how that was conceived.
Related Article: An Interview with The Master of Splatter, Todd Sheets
HGL: It is a fun and original concept, so I had to ask. In Todd Sheets’ latest film to hit video, Bonehill Road, you handled the impressive werewolf transformation sequence. In our recent interview with Sheets, he mentioned that much of your preparation for the transformation happened quickly and from across the country. Tell us a little about the challenge of engineering an effect like that under those circumstances.
Joe Castro: It was literally about 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning, Todd’s time, like 11:00 at night here. I’m riding my bicycle on a bike path, getting a little exercise in the middle of the night, and I get a phone call from Todd. He’s like, “Joe, I need your skills to do this werewolf transformation. It’s the last effect we need to produce for the film, and it needs to be good. Will you do it for me?” And I said, “Sure! Send me some pics of the actress, and y’all are gonna have to come out here, and we’ll do it.” It was basically just communication via Facebook and text messages.
I tried to design something that was very general and when the actress, Dilynn (Fawn Harvey), got here, I was able to use the pieces on her. It was the bulging face, the bladders underneath the face. Dilynn sent me pictures of her hands and her feet and I found a friend who was similar, and I made a mold of her hands. We did everything we possibly could to make it match. We only had about six hours to shoot the entire thing; we shot it out here in my home studio in Los Angeles.
HGL: All of the work paid off. You are also involved with Sheets’ upcoming film, Clownado. What can you tell us about that?
Joe Castro: Todd is a close friend of mine, and I respect what he does. He doesn’t hold back when he writes his scripts. He writes it as though he’s got a gajillion dollars then he tries to accomplish all of that. Which is a great way to make a movie. When it comes to working with Todd, he basically says, “This is what I need, Joe,” and I’ll put something on paper, I’ll actually design something, and I’ll show him, and he’ll say, “Yes, that’s it,” or he’s like, “Just run with it,” and he lets me do what I need to do to accomplish this giant huge vision.
As far as Clownado is concerned, we’ve been tossing around some ideas. Todd is a big stickler on doing all practical special effects in his films, and that’s a favorite thing of mine. He tries to make everything as practical as possible. Now, I do both practical and digital FX, but I tend to like to start with something real, and if I need to enhance it digitally, that’s what I’ll do.
So, he’s asking me to make the actual tornado in the film. And I’m going to create it practically. We’re actually going to build a tornado. That’s something that hasn’t been done in a couple of decades. So I want to do it. This tornado has got to have character; it’s a living, breathing thing in this film, and it needs to be evil. It needs to convey that all in a practical effect.
HGL: Wow, that’s awesome.
Joe Castro: (Laughs) Doesn’t that sound exciting? I really dig when directors come to me and they’re like, “Joe, have you ever done this?” and I’m like, “No, and that’s exactly why we gotta do it.” If you give me a challenge of something that’s never been done before, we will make it happen.
Related Article: ‘Bonehill Road’ is an Ambitious Creature Feature that Delivers
HGL: Let’s talk about your Halloween costumes. Anyone who follows your Facebook page is very familiar with the horrifying and utterly jaw-dropping transformations you undergo for Halloween. What can you tell us about the process you go through to turn into such terrifying creatures?
Joe Castro: Halloween has always been my favorite day of the year because it’s the one day I ultimately get to be my true self. I know that day, whatever I dress up as, whatever I do, I know it’s the right thing to do. If I can use my art to make other people laugh, smile, and be happy, I’ve done the right thing. That’s what I try to do when I put my Halloween costume on. I’m sure it’s shocking to a lot of people, but that’s part of the fun. Basically, I’m doing stuff that people want to do, but maybe I just don’t know how to do it.
After 34 years of experience, I kinda know how to go about designing a costume where I can walk out in public, where I kind of look like I’m completely naked, but I’m not actually naked at all. It definitely brings out a giant applause of camaraderie when I’m out in public. How I go about designing it, the actual costume has evolved over the years.
I basically make the same costume every year; I just design it further and make it more risque and outlandish and see how far I can push the envelope. Ultimately, if you look at all the costumes, it’s all my inner demon, all my inner doppelganger. People ask me, “What are you supposed to be?” and I say, “I’m ME!” (Laughs)
I’ll definitely go out of my way to make sure the costume is something that’s never been seen before. This year, I tried to be like legion, a number of demons all together, coming out of me. Almost all of them have to do with Dante’s Inferno or something from Hell. There’s plenty of inspiration when it comes to that old ancient artwork of Hell and Halloween. I like to make costumes that are truly classic to the original theme of what Halloween was all about.
HGL: Lastly, with so many films under your belt, where would you suggest new viewers start on their journey into the world of Joe Castro?
Joe Castro: Right now, you can see all the Terror Toons movies that have been released on Vimeo. Terror Toons 3 is also available on iTunes, Google Play, Vudu, and Amazon On-Demand. Then there’s The Summer of Massacre, most people have not seen this movie, it was released in 2012. It actually has the Guinness World Record for the highest body count in a slasher movie in motion picture history. Now, the category is highest body count in a slasher movie, not in an action film or fantasy film, just in a slasher movie. The body count is 155 on-screen kills. So, you will literally see 155 people dead on camera. It’s a very bloody film. I believe it’s on Amazon On-Demand and also Vimeo.
The rest of my films, most of them are out-of-print. I know they were going to re-release Ceremony very soon, which is my first feature film. They’re also going to re-release the director’s cut of The Jackhammer Massacre, originally titled Jackhammer. That came out in 2004. That movie was supposed to be released uncut and unrated, but when it was released into Blockbuster, the distributor cut all the gore out of the film. So, there’s a lot left out that I want viewers to see. You can still get copies of it online, and there are still people who are trading copies of these films.
