UN: I was curious to ask how you got your start doing horror make-up and gore effects?

JC: I got started doing horror make-up and gore effects at a very early age just like most young make-up freaks I used my Halloween store bought make-up to experiment and create with. It started as a young gay male child putting my on my mothers make-up. I remember one Halloween, I think I was 10 yrs. old, I wanted to be the Wolfman for Halloween and I wanted to glue hair on my face. In Alan Orbsys make-up book it explained that in the original Wolfman film, Chambers used yak hair glue on Lons face. So my mother trimmed her long hair and I used that glued to my face with Duo eyelash adhesive how Freaky is that?! Im kind of grossed out just explaining it to u. Since then Ive always been fond of using real things in my effects.

UN: What would you say were the initial movies that got you interested in pursuing it professionally?

JC: This is an easy Question. There was one and one only that started it all at the age of 7 on a Saturday afternoon. Knowing that I was obsessed with dinosaurs, my dad literally put me in front of the TV and made me watch Godzilla Vs. the Smog Monster. The Creature Features showcase unleashed the dream that I have been living ever since.

UN: Teenage Exorcist was one of the first movies that you worked on in the special effects field. Do you remember a lot about the shoot?

JC: Yes I do remember quite a bit. I remember that I had literally like 4 days to produce all the FX for the film. The principle photography on the film was rushed and I slept very little it happened all so fast. I really had no time to relish one of my first key FX positions. I made a demon full head with horns and hands, 3 or four zombies, plus gore. I remember the directors mom paid for the film and I was so pissed that they werent letting me direct the FX shots.

UN: It must have been very cool to work with Michael Berryman as he is considered to be quite the horror icon.

JC: I remember talking with him and he was so kind and real with me. I was instantly compelled to respect him and listen to his wisdom and stories he shared with all of us on set.

UN: You directed your first film in 1993, but didnt return to directing until 1997 with Legend of the Chupacabra. Was there a reason behind the wait or were you mainly just concentrating on effects work during those years?

JC: I think the main reason was that it took 2 years for me to complete the first film and it was a very harsh reality making a film in Hollywood as an outsider with no formal film education or training. It took many years to come up with an idea that would fit my budgets

UN: I was curious to ask if you prefer directed over special effects work or vice versa?

JC: I think both jobs go hand in hand for me because I used to direct and produce my own FX videos as a child. I do enjoy creating FX for others film though very much. I think when I create FX for some one elses film, the pieces are fair superior than my own because I have less responsibility with one position and can focus deeper on just FX.

UN: It seems like you do effects for all of the movies you direct anyway, so you must have to do twice as much work for the films you direct as well.

JC: As I said before yes this is true but I feel like the FX in my own films are more effective to the film than in another directors film. I specialize on affecting my audience with effects.

UN: How did the original idea for the TERROR TOONS series come about?

JC: Well Mark Villalobos started the original concept and I ran with it and developed/produced it. The tale of this can be seen on the behind the scenes of the original TERROR TOONS DVD. Mark and I both explain our cross collaboration.

UN: Did you always plan on doing one or did you decide to make sequels after the first film was finished and you liked how it turned out?

JC: No I never intended on producing a sequel but Michael Kovacs was so impressed with the initial film and its return/profits that he gladly paid to see a sequel made.

UN: TERROR TOONS 3 is the next installment in the series with Herschell Gordon Lewis being involved in the film. You must be excited to be working with the man who pretty much invented splatter films. Would you consider his classics to be an inspiration?

JC: Of course Herschells art form is deeply imbedded into the fabric of my craft. He taught and inspired me more in 13 days on the set of Blood Feast 2 than my combined 15 or so years before in the industry.

UN: You did effects on the sequel to Blood Feast, which was long overdue in my opinion. Would you say it was an honor to work on the sequel to what some consider to be the best gore movie of all time?

JC: Lets just say that when I returned home from the set of Blood Feast 2 (shot just outside of New OrleansI live in LA) I could have died and been a happy camper!

UN: What can you tell us about Behind the Toons? I know that it deals with the struggles of low budget filmmakers. What directors do you plan on having in the film?

JC: Well it is a project that is currently shrouded in secrecy due to the intense levels of information being obtained for it so I really am going to keep this all hush hush. But I will say to purchase it got to:
www.terrortoons2.com

UN: A big parts of the horror community are the conventions. Do you enjoy taking part in conventions?

JC: I love the conventions. Conventions really give me a chance to connect with the people my films truly affect. Recently I had the honor to meet Jesse Newton, the # 1 fan of my film, The Jackhammer Massacre. He was so charming and he truly inspired me to be a better person as well as a better filmmaker.

UN: It must be cool to get out there and talk with the true fans of the genre, not to mention you must get to meet some pretty cool horror icons in the process.

JC: It truly is moving and inspiring.

UN: I read that you have been doing demonstrations of Italian style zombie make-up. Would you agree that Italian zombie films had some of the most rotten and disgusting zombies ever committed to film?

JC: Yes I totally agree that Italian zombie set the highest standards of gross out zombie factors no one has come close in the recent years of zombie films. They have all been terrible disappointments.

UN: When you see the worms wiggling on the corpses in Zombie it is pretty damn convincing, cant beat the splinter in the eye scene either, but that has nothing to do with zombie makeup really.

JC: Well it does, to me, because zombies/the living dead do have an evil intent brooding through out their entire body. Zombies commit horrid acts of mutilation and ravenous murder so to me it is all a part of the effect the film has on us as a zombie film.

UN: Aside from a few films, pretty much all of the films you have worked on and directed have been horror films. What draws you to the genre time and again?

JC: Probably the deeply troubled past of a tormented childhood by my relentlessly abusive backwoods hick clan/family and violent bloody upbringing as life on a 44-acre goat ranch with Slaughterhouse can be.

UN: Do you feel like there is still a lot that can be done with the genre?

JC: Yes and I intend to do it personally

UN: Whats next for you after Terror Toons 3 is completed? Do you have anything written and ready to go or any effects jobs lined up for the future?

JC: Yes I do have one dream project that is in its 6th draft and another dream project that is in its middle stages of negotiation with the foundation of another artist. So if any investors out there read this article and want to invest in a truly original filmmaker and my movies that change lives contact me at:

Official Joe Castro Myspace Page