Connect
To Top

Meet Joe Lujan of Carcass Studios, Ra Images, and Ravage Reign Universe in West Los Angeles

Avatar photo

Today we’d like to introduce you to Joe Lujan.

So, before we jump into specific questions, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I was born in Las Cruces, New Mexico and raised in El Paso, Texas with my three siblings by my parents Joe and Norma Lujan. Film was not my first career goal. I first pursued a career as a Veterinarian, But with the inspiration of horror films such as “Scream”, “I know what you did Last Summer”, and “Wrong Turn” my interests began to shift. In 2002 when my older sister took me and my younger brother out of school to watch “Resident Evil”. At the end of the film, as the roll credits began, I made my decision “That’s what I’m going to do”. I grew up performing in my own short films along with my siblings and relatives. I graduated from Montwood High School in 2007. I then searched and landed a set of jobs producing and directing commercials for local businesses.

I focused mainly on the Horror genre. In 2014 my film “Rust” began as a short film. With no budget, I had my friends as my cast and shot the entire film in one day. We screened the film at a number of film festivals and received overwhelming compliments and requests to see more of the menacing character of “Travis McLennan”. I then Wrote & Directed the feature film followed by its sequel “Ru2t” which won “Best Horror Feature Honorable Mention” at the Upstate NY Horror Film Festival in 2017. We recently wrapped production on the third installment in December of 2019.

Prior to 2013, I had begun writing a script for a horror film called “Atelophobia”, citing the fears of being imperfect and the experiences of events that took place when I was in high school. Upon completing the script I wanted to express my vision through every element of the film, I then designed the sets, props, costumes, and the film went on and picked up awards for “Best Costumes”, “Best Trailer”, and “Best Horror Feature”. The film soon received wide exposure from media. In 2015 a live-action experience based on the film opened its doors in Las Vegas and was labeled “Best Horror Escape Room in Nevada” I continued on with a sequel “Atelophobia: Chapter 2” that had its release in March of 2019.

In 2015 I began writing an adaptation of an online comic book series I created back in 2009. This adaption was a Sci-Fi /Action tale of fictional characters, introducing a shared universe of all my feature films. I introduced “Trikalypse” a character that leads the story of the film “The Immortal Wars” which has earned numerous awards from many Film Festivals such as “Best Sci-Fi Feature”, “Best Costumes” and “Best Visual Effects”. The sequel “The Immortal Wars: Resurgence” had a nationwide release on July 2nd of 2019. The 3rd and final installment “The Immortal Wars: Redemption” begins production in Summer 2020. This story has spread into a limited series “The Immortal Wars: Rebirth” set for a Fall 2020 release, a mini-series called “The Dawning” out now, and a published comic book series “The Vanquishers” in comic books stores now.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Just like every career path, there are many challenges. Before I started to work on my own feature films I had to work my way up, jumping from one set to another. One day I was a BTS photography, the next I was doing lighting, then onset doing audio lol. I also remember I was even on one set just to just chop wood. Haha. When I moved on to my feature films they came along with their own challenges. Sometimes I was a one man show doing camera, slate, and audio on my own. One of the biggest challenges that I will never forget was the last day of principal photography on “The Immortal Wars”. I shattered my toes and broke my ankle early that morning. But a lot was riding on me. It was our biggest set, our most expensive location, the entire cast was going to be onset, and we needed to film the most crucial scenes of the film. So I pushed through it, we were on set for a little over 24 hours and shot everything we needed. I had nothing on my mind but “I have to push through it and keep moving”. And I believe that’s how we all in this world have to be in any path we go through. If it was easy everyone would do what you do. I am thankful for the struggles though, I learned so much from all the ups and all the downs.

Please tell us about Carcass Studios, Ra Images, and Ravage Reign Universe.
I own and run Carcass Studios and Ra Images. We are a production company that focuses on music videos, short and feature films. I write, direct, and produced these projects. I also like to be involved with all the elements of each production. I design and create the costumes and props. My father comes down from Texas to help with building the sets. I also design and create all the artwork for each project from the posters to DVD cover art. I love to see each creation from the moment it’s on the script to the moment it hits the TVs in the viewer’s homes.

I also own The Ravage Reign Universe which consists of 100 characters and numerous titles such as ‘The Immortal Wars” Trilogy, “Trikalypse”, and “The Vanquishers” Comic Book Series.

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
I have so many. My family has been my biggest support system. If I had to choose one maybe all of our camping trips to Ruidoso NM. We would all be disconnected from the world and just create memories and enjoy the moments we were sharing out there.

Contact Info:

Suggest a story: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.

Related Items

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

More in