By: Kara Tornquist
Whether you peek through your fingers or not, the world of Horror Films just turned up the dial on gore! The Summer of Massacre is the anthology child of Director Joe Castro. With the partnering of Executive Producer Steven Escobar and Cult Movies Magazine Publisher, Shroeder, The Summer of Massacre broke records with over 100 killings onscreen beating out the body count on all the Friday the 13th movies combined. Right now the new gore epic has been submitted to The Guinness Book of World Records hoping to be accepted for the most onscreen killings in a single film.
“The Summer of Massacre is more of a slasher film than a horror film,” explains Executive Producer Steven Escobar. “Joe Castro, my partner and Director of the film, and I have been making different horror films throughout the last 10 years and we wanted to do something different and original.” Original they did! “The Summer of Massacre is a 100pmh slasher/gore ride that takes you on an adventure through the eyes of not one, but eight maniacal killers.”
For Joe Castro, this has been a long time coming! “Over the years I accumulated ideas/synopsis’s for a splatter/slasher epic,” said Castro. “As an artist and director, I chose to create a film that would be an anthology incorporating all my ideas. Like a father, Herschel Gordon Lewis always told me to make something that is truly original and that is why I wrote and produced The Summer of Massacre.”
Anthology it truly was! “Joe has always had many original ideas, so we decided to make four movies and combine them into one gore epic!” said Escobar. “When we realized that with people’s attention spans getting shorter, YouTube and other internet streaming, we felt that making an anthology film was going to be our best bet for a new kind of splatter film.”
When it comes to the record breaking kills onscreen, Escobar admits that it was all part of the initial concept of the film. “We had always intended to break the record for the most kills onscreen,” said Escobar. “It took nearly three years to complete The Summer of Massacre and Joe and I are very proud of our accomplishment. We hope our audiences will enjoy it as much as we put our heart and soul into making it.”
Since its world premier in May 2011, the film has won ten awards including: Best Horror Film, Best Director, Best Experimental Director, Best Experimental Film, Best Experimental Production Design, Best Experimental Costume Design, and the award of Merit for Experimental Film. The film has also been shown at top film festivals such as the Philadelphia Independent Film Festival, American Independent Film Festival, Indie Gathering International Film Festival, The Accolade Competition and Los Angeles Reel Film Festival.
So, what’s next for the horror film duo? Currently the two are working on Terror Toons 3, which is the third installment of their Terror Toons series. After that, a change is coming to the lighter or more comedic side.
For more information visit: thesummerofmassacre.com
