Joe Lo Truglio’s Outpost - Joe Lo Truglio with DP Frank Barrera and AD Kevin Brown
Gravitas Ventures

Joe Lo Truglio may be known for his comedic roles in shows such as Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Reno 911, but his latest film is no laughing matter. Outpost is Truglio’s first feature as a writer and director and, as you can read in our review here, is a solid entry in the psychological horror subgenre.

Beth Dover (Orange Is the New Black) stars as Kate, a woman recovering from an abusive relationship. She lands a job as a ranger in the Idaho wilderness with the help of a friend, where she must live alone in a watchtower and report wildfire sightings. However, Kate’s solitude and PTSD twist the plot in unexpected ways.

Outpost will be in theaters and On Demand on May 19th via Gravitas Ventures.

Horror Geek Life: Outpost may surprise fans who have followed you for years on comedy shows that many of us turn to for comfort. What inspired you to make your first feature a horror film?

Joe Lo Truglio: Well, surprisingly, horror was my first love. I would make horror films at 11, 12, and 13 years old. I kind of discovered both writing and movies through horror. Stephen King was at the forefront of that, and Fangoria Magazine, alongside Mad Magazine. So there was some overlap in terms of my age there, but it was always horror movies for me. I always loved being scared and watching movies that scared me. And then I kind of fell into comedy.

I enjoy comedy, but I was a late bloomer for all the classic comedy. Full disclosure, I didn’t really see any Monty Python until college. I knew who they were, and I’d seen clips but didn’t really appreciate them until then. Same with early SNL. I was not watching that when it first came out. I’m half Irish, half Italian; we have a loud, funny family. So I think a lot of my humor came through that. I still love it and will continue to stay in comedy. But horror was there before that.

I’ve had so much fortune and luck in the comedy world. I’ve been able to save up some money and really do this passion project that I hope continues for a while.

Joe Lo Truglio’s Outpost - Kate (Beth Dover) with an ax
Gravitas Ventures

Horror Geek Life: I’m glad you mentioned Stephen King since the themes in Outpost – trauma, isolation, and madness – reminded me of The Shining (1980), but with a female protagonist. I wanted to ask if that story or others like it inspired you.

Joe Lo Truglio: Yes, The Shining was certainly a movie that influenced Outpost, as well as a movie called Repulsion (1965) by Roman Polanski. And then there are nods to many different horror movies in Outpost. But in terms of when we were approaching the project, Repulsion and The Shining were at the forefront. But then there are movies like The Amityville Horror (1979), which kind of really instills the threat and danger of a structure. And the 1978 Invasion of the Body Snatchers; there’s an element of paranoia in that movie that I think is just phenomenal and very palpable. And that was something I wanted Outpost to have as well. So there were some kind of big movies that were guideposts for Outpost. The Shining is at the top of the list for sure.

Horror Geek Life: As someone who worked in a domestic violence shelter, I felt like there were moments in the film that highlighted PTSD caused by abuse in a way that isn’t typically depicted in horror films. How did you prepare to tackle these topics once you began writing? Did you speak with any survivors?

Joe Lo Truglio: That’s a great question. I knew those were important issues, and they were going to be brought up. But to be clear, I didn’t approach making this movie as to specifically talk about that per se, although it is a gigantic part of the film. I knew it was a sensitive subject, and being a fifty-year-old white cis male who knows nothing about domestic violence on any personal level, that would be a challenge. And I had to be careful how I navigated that. I did a couple of things.

We had a stunt coordinator I sent the script to, and this was before I knew that she was an abuse survivor; I just sent her the script. After she read the script, she opened up and shared that with me. And I was really floored by that openness. And she was very impressed by the way the script handled that. She recommended a book called The Body Keeps a Score (by Bessel van der Kolk, M.D.), which is an incredible book. It talks about PTSD and how the body keeps track of that. And I knew that was a big part of the movie of Outpost. So I approached it as PTSD is a living nightmare. The trauma could come back to them in a very real way at any second in the day. And so that nightmare was something I thought hadn’t been explored in horror movies in a way that was very visceral and very real.

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That was a lot of the research I did about the effects of PTSD on the body and what that does to the mind. And then separately, how violence against women can be incorporated into this movie carefully. I knew that I was going to get a little bit of pushback and probably will from people who may misread what this movie is saying. And I knew that the main criticism was going to be about, oh, well, if a woman is beaten or abused, she’s going to turn into something bad.

But that isn’t the case. And I had to make sure that in the movie, it was very clear that this character was making a terrible choice in that she wasn’t getting help for herself. I firmly believe that there are certain trauma that you cannot handle by yourself. And if you try to, you will probably fail and hurt many people around you. Her best friend at the beginning of the movie says, hey, this isn’t the way to do this. And you need to have a main character who you want to sympathize with and you want to root for, saying, no, no, no, I can handle it. And so it was tricky to navigate that. But hopefully, people can see what I’m trying to suggest, as well as have just a scary movie.

And I think the third act kind of steers it in a direction that people are more familiar with and more open to enjoy.

Joe Lo Truglio’s Outpost - Earl (Ato Essandoh) and Nickie (Ta'Rea Campbell) look up at the tower
Gravitas Ventures

Horror Geek Life: Location is important in the film because it isolates Kate, leading to the stressful third act. Filming on location in Idaho was an excellent choice. Was it challenging to navigate?

Joe Lo Truglio: Yeah, that was obviously the biggest challenge of the movie. The DP is a friend of mine that I’ve known since I was 17, Frank Barrera. And he and I have been wanting to do a movie for a very long time. And this script, we both decided that we’re not going to do this movie unless we do it in an actual tower. The story isn’t that original or different; it’s a story about a descent into madness. We’ve seen isolation movies; some are great, and some are not. But what was going to separate this was the location.

So it took a while for us to find that tower. And then we worked very closely with Dan Brown, who was the head of the Idaho Department of Lands, and we established a great relationship with him over the course of a year and a half, two years before we even shot there. So it presented its own challenges for sure.

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But the production value was key, as this is a low-budget movie, and I needed something that was going to have it stand out. I knew that if we had an incredible view, that would help. Of course, I didn’t think about the logistics of shooting on a mountain immediately. My producer and UPM, when they went up there for their first scout, were like, what are you doing to us? My producer was like, had I gone on that first scout, we wouldn’t be here. But we had a terrific crew of locals and some keys that came from Portland, Oregon, and a couple from LA. We needed it to be a small crew for safety reasons and for cost reasons. We had a terrific stunt coordinator Mallory Thompson, who also plays Beth’s double in the movie. So many things happened right in this movie.

I can’t say enough about this location and the people of the community there in Priest Lake, Idaho. We couldn’t have done this movie if they didn’t want us to be there. And they were just incredible hosts. And I hope that we were very considerate guests; I think that we were.

Joe Lo Truglio’s Outpost - Mallory Thompson and Beth Dover
Gravitas Ventures

Horror Geek Life: Will we see more horror projects from you?

Joe Lo Truglio: Yeah, absolutely. I have a couple of scripts already and trying to shop one around and get it out there. Outpost was unique because I had written quite a number of other scripts, and this one came as a result. I thought all right, it looks like I’m going to have to finance this. And so it’s got to be really small. I kind of worked backward with Outpost where I needed a small cast. I wanted Beth involved as it was going to be in our household for a number of years. Also, she’s amazing. The other scripts I had written were slightly bigger budgets, like three to five million. So that’s always tough to find funding for. But it’s still in the works.

I hope this movie gives me some visibility to people with money who say he can do this. So knock on wood.

 Horror Geek Life: Before we wrap, do you want to mention any other upcoming projects to our readers?

Joe Lo Truglio: It’s been a pretty scarce few months workwise, but I’m hoping that a project that was announced gets picked up. It’s an animated show called Bedrock. With the strike, I don’t really know how soon that will happen. It involves a lot of incredible talent, Stephen Root, Amy Sedaris, Elizabeth Banks, and her husband Max (Handelman) will be producing that.

It’s basically a spin-off of the of The Flintstones. I’ll be voicing Barney Rubble. That’s a fun time because of the people involved and producing it, and some great writers that should get paid are also doing it. So we’ll see what happens.

Horror Geek Life: Speaking of Elizabeth Banks, Cocaine Bear, and Outpost would be a fun double feature. It would be the perfect wilderness-themed comedy chaser for your film.

Joe Lo Truglio: I worked with her when she directed Pitch Perfect 2, and she just was such a champion. That was a big movie, and she just does a terrific job working with actors and also has a great vision. So I was excited. I think Cocaine Bear delivers on all fronts. I had so much fun with it.

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