Interview with Joshua Reale, Director of ‘Necropath’

Check out our interview with Joshua Reale, the director of the new award-winning horror film, Necropath. Learn about how he got involved in filmmaking, the inspiration behind Necropath, the casting process, and more!

PopHorror – Hey Joshua, I hope you’re doing well. The first question that I have for you is how did you get involved in the filmmaking business?

Joshua Reale – Trying to get involved in the filmmaking business was a very hard thing to do. I had two major obstacles against me. First, location, most filmmaking happens in California as I thought and also where all the action is. Secondly, I wasn’t the kind of person to find opportunities or network within the film industry to get random jobs on other people’s films. That may be an introverted issue of mine? So I figured the best way is to start myself, making small commercials for my Halloween attraction, all the while writing scripts for when the time came to produce them. Soon enough, someone named Geoff Orlowski asked to shoot a scene for his film at the Halloween location, so I took that as an opportunity to network with Geoff to making a film of our own. We started meeting up, discussing ideas, and a filmmaking contest called Empire State of the Dead came about to do a short film about zombies. We worked together making our own shorts, mine was called Necropath and his was Occupied. Necropath won first place, so we continued to make two more shorts and developed the full-length film. So long story short, the best way to break in is to just start doing things on your own until the outside world starts to notice and connect itself.

PopHorror – That’s awesome. Was filmmaking something you always knew you wanted to do?

Joshua Reale – Filmmaking is something I have always wanted to do since I was a child, being heavily influenced by Arnold Schwarzenegger in his 80’s films alongside all the horror films I saw. The first-ever episode of Tales from the Darkside called Trick or Treat sold me into Halloween. That sold me on horror and Arnold sold me on acting. As time went on, I ended up doing a Halloween attraction while incorporating filmmaking.

PopHorror – Hell yes! You’ve dabbled in several jobs within the film industry such as art department, set department, writer, producer, director – is there one you prefer over the other?

Joshua Reale – For making films, the best position I felt was the best one was directing. It allows you to put everything into place and it’s where all the action is. You can shape it all to your vision. Other areas like writing, editing involve e a lot of desk work, which is rewarding, but tedious and time-consuming. All have their own rewards.

PopHorror – Your newest film is a horror story. Do you enjoy horror and if so, what are your favorite horror movies?

Joshua Reale – Horror is definitely the best genre to work with, as it is the most creative, all the while you can incorporate all other genres within it, such as drama and comedy. My favorite horror films have tended to be sci-fi or psychological related. The Terminator is one of my all-time favorites alongside Exorcist III. Brainscan with Ed Furlong was another unique movie about interactive horror. I don’t think anyone should be deprived of watching horror movies at any age. I think it stimulates the imagination in many positive ways, despite our overprotective society and views on things.

PopHorror – You have great taste in films. As you mentioned previously, Necropath began as a short, and then you turned into a full feature. What made you want to do this transition?

Joshua Reale – When we filmed the first Necropath, the contest we signed up for involved making a zombie short. With myself not that big into zombie movies, I aimed to do something different. Once the idea for Necropath came about and ended up winning first place, that triggered me to want to expand to another one. I loved the main character of Necropath and also seeing what the actor Moe Isaac had delivered for representing the character. His visuals were breathtaking. More ideas also followed for Necropath to want to continue the segments. An inner voice kept saying keep going. We all hear voices right?

PopHorror – Can you tell the readers what Necropath is about?

Joshua Reale – Necropath was created with the thought of what happens to Michael Myers, the Hannibal Lector’s, the criminally insane who wander freely during extreme pandemics. A horror icon called “Scag” is born. The film follows two families who are attempting to escape during a pandemic, who are derailed from their destination by Scag, a sadistic, maniacal human creature. Scag lives in a warped sense of reality, living animalistic, driven by addiction. His diluted sense of humanity makes him easily kill like an animal to get money to support his addictions. He also has a seemingly sentimental attachment to his knife. During the pandemic, an invasion of what seems to be undead zombie-like humans stalking around, Scag soon also realizes he is a victim. The film is a grindhouse/indie style film we shot utilizing resources from the Cayo Industrial Horror Attraction. It is definitely a unique style film for sure in the way it was shot and produced.

PopHorror – Love it! How did the casting process come about?

Joshua Reale – We cast Necropath in a variety of ways. Geoff Orlowski, who had made various films before, brought upon two of the main characters Cassandra Hayes, Nathan Faudree, as well as a couple of others in the film. Other actors came from the Cayo Industrial horror attraction brought in by myself. Most of the actors had no prior experience, which I think may have been a good thing to some degree. They molded into the characters very well and endured harsh weather conditions, long hours, and prolonged stress.

PopHorror – Any favorite scenes?

Joshua Reale – Favorite scenes of mine in Necropath definitely has to be the ending when the film creates a full circle with many action sequences. We also got to do many special effects for the death scenes, all done practical style.

PopHorror – For your first feature film are you happy with the outcome?

Joshua Reale – I think we all always look back at our finished product and there seems to be inevitably something we would say could have been done better. For myself being a first-time director, while working with a low budget to make the film the best we could, there was a number of items I would have wanted to be better. We made Necropath with what we had at hand and did it to the best of our ability to create our own dark twisted film without trying to fall into the footprints of other zombie films. At the same time, I did not want this movie to be perceived as a low budget or B movie, so I emphasized the emotions of actors while acting, did an array of creative shots, and did not use any gimmicky CGI in the whole film, it was all practical effects like the decapitation and gut-wrenching scenes. This film is definitely a unique watch, not a traditional horror or zombie film. Love it or hate it, I am proud of the first stab at filmmaking and think Necropath takes its own path in the genre.

PopHorror – Do you plan on making more horror films in the future?

Joshua Reale – YES! Absolutely! Creating Necropath was a fantastic experience despite all the stress, roadblocks, and harsh working environments. Filmmaking is a great medium to express creativity no matter what you do in life. From working on my Halloween attraction, venturing further into filmmaking, and creating more unique style horror films seems like a dream to come true. Not to mention, before Cayo had started, I had written a psychological horror series that I worked on for a large number of years. Necropath paved the way for this to unfold.

PopHorror – Yay. I’m glad! What’s next for you?

Joshua Reale – What’s next for me is a balance of doing my Halloween attraction, the Atrophy Escape Ward, and planning stages for more filming. The Atrophy Escape Ward happens throughout the year in Rome, NY, which is something also act in. The Halloween attraction happens during October, so filmmaking is during the summer, where either we will shoot three short segments for the psychological horror icon series. All projects can be found on Cayoindustrial.com or by searching on our Facebook pages @Necropathhorrorfilm @atrophyescapeward @cayoindustrial

PopHorror – Thanks for chatting with me, Joshua. I look forward to all your upcoming projects!

Necropath is available On Demand and Digital