Joe Castro (filmmaker)

Joseph M. Castro is an American special effects artist and filmmaker best known for directing the films Terror Toons, Maniacal, The Jackhammer Massacre, and The Summer of Massacre, which holds the Guinness World Record for the highest body count in a slasher film.

Personal life

Castro was born May 17, 1970 to Christine Castro. He grew up in Helotes, Texas and graduated from John Marshall High School in 1988. Castro later moved to Los Angeles, California and married film producer and collaborator Steven Escobar.

Career

Castro started making masks and other molds using latex when he was 12. His influences in special effects started after he got his first copy of Fangoria magazine and watching the films Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster and An American Werewolf in London. He started making films on his family's property and at Hill Country.
When he was 15, Castro won Forrest J Ackerman's national mask making contest with Monsterland Magazine. It allowed him a five day trip to Hollywood to learn techniques for gore makeup alongside filmmakers Joe Dante and John Carl Buechler. When he was 17, he was featured in the television show PM Magazine for a werewolf transformation effect and did the special effects for a seasonal March of Dimes charity driven haunted house. In 1988, he designed an 11 room haunted motel to raise money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
In 2010, Castro was in pre-production for a film he was to direct The Summer of Massacre. It went on to hold the Guinness World Record for the highest body count in a slasher film.