“We Ultimately Made Something That Stands as an Entertaining Thrill Ride While Speaking Truth to Power” — Q&A: Director / Co-Writer Ryan Prows Goes for the Jugular with Vital New Vampire Movie NIGHT PATROL

An LAPD officer stumbles into the bloodthirsty secret of a special police task force terrorizing housing projects in Night Patrol, the timely new horror film from director/co-writer Ryan Prows (Lowlife). Featuring a star-studded cast including Justin Long, Flying Lotus, CM Punk, Dermot Mulroney, YG, and Jermaine Fowler, Night Patrol sinks its teeth into cinemas beginning January 16th, and we caught up with Ryan Prows in a new Q&A feature to discuss the collaborative experience of making his new movie as authentic as possible, the importance of actually filming in Los Angeles, and telling an entertaining story that also bites into crucial real-world issues and injustices.

You can read our full Q&A with Ryan Prows below, and to learn more about Night Patrol, be sure to visit:

• https://nightpatrolfilm.com/

Thank you for taking the time to answer questions for us, Ryan, and congratulations on Night Patrol! In addition to directing this film, you’re also a co-writer alongside Shaye Ogbonna, Tim Cairo, and Jake Gibson. What was it about this story and these characters that really made you want to bring Night Patrol to undead life on screen as your next project?

Ryan Prows: Thank you for the congrats! Night Patrol was a huge labor of love for all involved, from the writing team mentioned, to our producers who came on early and stayed with us during the ups and downs of getting the film made, to a whole crew who formed to bring this film roaring to screens no matter what—and it feels like a huge win getting it done!

For me, bringing a fresh twist on both LA crime thrillers and vampire lore was a major draw when we first started writing. Horror is such a great vehicle for political and social satire, so we really leaned in on making a monster movie that tackles some ills of modern America while telling a heart-pounding story. Once we started filling in the world and characters, and then watched our incredible cast breathe life into everything, it all came together in a really exciting and affecting way.

Similar to your previous feature film Lowlife, the characters in Night Patrol feel very lived-in and come from all walks of life. When you’re directing a film, how much work do you and the actors put in to flesh out the background stories and build up the personalities of the characters before you even start shooting?

Ryan Prows: For Night Patrol, we did tons of research from the jump. The cultural mythology we landed on (trying to avoid spoilers), or specifically, finding different cultural takes on the vampire myth was an early way into the story for us. Once we started working to get the movie made, I was fortunate enough to get introduced to local community leaders through Nick Gillie who do amazing, selfless peace work in LA like Skipp Townsend of 2nd Call and Reverend Ben "Taco" Owens and Twin of Ceasefire. Skipp showed us around and introduced us to folks in neighborhoods in Watts and South Central LA, connected actors with people in the community that they could talk to, and Skipp, Taco, and Twin all advised us on how to best make the film feel as grounded and real-world authentic as possible. We wouldn’t have been able to make it feel as lived-in, as you say, without the help of a lot of invaluable folks who gave their time, experience, and expertise to talk with us. Very appreciative of their help. When YG came on board, he sat with us and went through the script to ensure everything was portrayed authentically.

You worked with a tremendous ensemble of actors in Night Patrol, including Justin Long, Flying Lotus, CM Punk, Dermot Mulroney, and Jermaine Fowler, to name just a few. Did you work closely with casting director Jeffrey Gafner to ensure you got the right actors to play each of these complex characters?

Ryan Prows: The film gods smiled mightily on us the day our full cast locked in. We’ve been trying to make this movie for years now, and went through a lot of stops and starts before we landed a truly dream ensemble. Jeffrey Gafner was great and super helpful pushing interesting names for reads or consideration, but a lot of it came down to relationships the cast and crew brought to the table.

We did Lowlife with Nicki Micheaux and Jon Oswald previously, so that was a no-brainer to offer them roles in the next one. We wrote Ayanda for Nicki specifically, and it didn’t take much to start tailoring Rivette’s voice to something we knew Jonny would crush. Jermaine Fowler and I had worked on a few projects together beforehand, so I knew he’d be great as Xavier. I’m just glad we finally got to shoot something together! Justin Long came to us through producer Josh Goldbloom. They did a V/H/S segment together as we were nearing our start date, and we thought this would be such a fun, different role for Justin. He came in and blew me away with his performance and commitment to really dig in and find another gear. Total transformation on his part, down to bulking up and shaving his head—all his choices as he inhabited the role. Flying Lotus was also a V/H/S alum, I basically wrote a fan letter to Freddie Gibbs when I learned he was looking to act, and we’d been talking to YG for a bit about the film through the years and were lucky to get him to sign on and be an EP. As I mentioned earlier, he kept us honest down to renaming his own character, giving us the set names for the rival gangs, he brought in some background and day players, let us use some of his music, intro’d us to other artists for the soundtrack, etc. Freddie’s camp helped us with music as well.

CM Punk and Dermot Mulroney were the perfect pair of bad guys to pit everyone against. It’s so fun and really helps the world of the film that all of our cast are just these giants in their respective worlds. You’re sort of asking both how does all of this wildly different talent fit in one film and in the world of the film itself, and how are all of these wildly disparate forces going to collide? For a horror/wrestling/rap/Young Guns nerd like myself, the day we had the table read was truly a dream come true!

There is an immediacy to the camerawork in Night Patrol that puts the viewer right into the middle of the blood-soaked carnage. How vital was it for you and cinematographer Benjamin Kitchens to shoot Night Patrol in a gritty and in-your-face fashion?

Ryan Prows: Benjamin Kitchens is one of my oldest, smartest, bestest collaborators I’ve been fortunate to work with. We looked to continue to build on a style we’ve been developing throughout our films for a while now, while naturally trying to push it to the next level. We knew we wanted this to be gritty and immediate, and feel very real and presentational early on so the supernatural elements felt grounded and scary when introduced in the film. But, we went a little more formal technique for the cops’ side of the story than we’ve previously attempted in order to really separate them in their own world—a departure from the mostly handheld approach we used in Lowlife and others. The idea that the Night Patrol were totally in control as they systematically lay waste to a very vulnerable community was a visual approach we discussed early, down to the absolute assault the police cruisers’ LED lights play, and the inescapable and punishing LED overhead lights used in public housing. So: dolly, tripod, Steadicam coverage for the LAPD. Planted and smooth and unstoppable.

We went more docu handheld for Wazi and friends, and ended up pairing a different lens package with each story. So, as they all start coming to a head, we’re able to really control the feeling and stakes of each character’s journey with their own unique visual language. I’ll spare you the super geeky technical stuff, but Ben came in hot with a look and texture he wanted to apply for each story, working in tandem with production designer Ryan Martin and his team and costume designer Ayanna Kimani and her team, and absolutely knocked it out of the park with the visuals in this one. I have to shout out Mike Carter and Panavision as well for always going above and beyond to support us and our films.

How many days (or in the case of much of this film, nights) were in your shooting schedule, and where did filming take place?

Ryan Prows: There were indeed a lot of long nights on this one. It’s called Night Patrol, so everyone knew what they were signing up for. But, our cast and crew pushed through and delivered on a tough shoot. I remember looking at Justin one chilly morning at like 3:00 or 4:00am where he’s covered head to toe in fake blood and just saying: “I’m sorry.”

It was imperative to the entire team to shoot LA for LA, so we filmed in real places around LA and at an actual public housing complex with the blessing of the San Fernando Gardens residents and surrounding neighbors. In marshaling resources, that meant a way-shortened shoot schedule that we traded for authenticity's sake of filming in LA. The ace we had was the extremely professional and efficient crew and a very game cast that could go sleep in their beds. So, while we didn’t go somewhere with a tax incentive and get a bit more on that end to work with, we wouldn’t have been able to pull off shooting as big and fast as we did if we didn’t shoot in LA. It worked out!

In addition to being one hell of a horror thriller, Night Patrol also explores crucial societal issues going on today. As a filmmaker, how important was it for you to go for the jugular with an entertaining story while also not shying away from real-life problems and injustices?

Ryan Prows: Thank you! This was paramount to the team. The cast, crew, studio—everyone understood the mission and why it was so important to make this film at this time. We started six, seven, eight years ago taking the script around, and while it wasn’t easy to finally get made (it never is, but I have to say this one was quite the bear), we collected our many supporters and teammates as we pushed the boulder up the hill. Once it all got rolling, we’d assembled such a strong crew who were truly in it for the right reasons, and I think that’s why we ultimately made something that stands as an entertaining thrill ride while speaking truth to power. We always try to balance tackling big uncomfortable issues without hopefully soapboxing, which is again why I love the horror genre and genre storytelling in general so much. You can give a little sugar with the medicine and make tough conversations a touch more palatable.

Do you have any favorite vampire films that influenced or inspired you while you were filming Night Patrol?

Ryan Prows: We tried to pull from our fave vampire films while hopefully adding our own spin on the lore and something fun that the next filmmaker can pick up and run with. I love Coppola’s Bram Stoker's Dracula for the filmmaking and the high gothic drama of it all, and Kathryn Bigelow’s Near Dark and Schumacher’s Lost Boys for the fringy, punky, hardscrabble energy of those films. One of my favorite staples of the vampire movie is that you must always state your specific vampire rules and lore—what are your vampire’s strengths and weaknesses? What kind of metaphor are you using your vampires to discuss? Vampires are such a malleable monster, and we really had fun writing and creating our own version of the creature. In the film, our cryptozoologist Bloods have seen all of those other vampire movies, so they’re constantly trying to figure out not only what monster they’re up against, but what specific type of vampire they’re dealing with. There’s a ton of fun like that to be had in Night Patrol.

Looking back at your time on set (or in the editing bay), is there a favorite memory or experience that you’ll remember fondly and carry over into your future projects?

Ryan Prows: It was so touch and go right up to our start date (and, frankly, in some ways beyond) that I’ll always remember the day we did the table read as the big turning point for me where it all clicked into place. We’d just had RJ Cyler come aboard to play the pivotal role of Wazi, really the heart of the film, and once we all sat down and started reading through the script together you could tell we had something special. I wouldn’t say I was completely at ease then, because now we had to go make the movie, but it really locked into place for me that feeling of: “Okay, now we can begin.” And, in general, we’d had so many stops and starts by that point that as we were getting this incredible cast locked in place, I had to pinch myself that this was all really happening.

There was also the time Justin Long rounded a corner during a rehearsal carrying a severed head and accidentally rolled up on just about the most innocent scene imaginable of kids skipping rope and playing jacks and drawing smiley suns and happy people with sidewalk chalk and every other sweet childhood activity you can think of like something out of the start of every Freddy attack in A Nightmare on Elm Street. Just hung an immediate U-turn and handed the head back off like: “You can take that from me, thanks.”

Ultimately, what do you hope viewers take away from Night Patrol?

Ryan Prows: I really hope the audience comes away with a fun time at the movies and something that they can think about that sticks with them. Something to dig in on and discuss afterwards. Basically, we’re looking to start/continue the very necessary conversation on police violence and a justice/power system that feeds on our most vulnerable communities in this country. Night Patrol also happens to be a very thrilling, bloody-fun vampire film along the way, so audiences can hopefully have their cake and eat it, too.

With Night Patrol sinking its teeth into cinemas beginning January 16th from RLJE Films and Shudder, what other projects do you have coming up that you can tease for our readers?

Ryan Prows: We’ve kicked around more ideas with the world and characters of Night Patrol—it was so fun to write and make and I’d love to do more in the PCU (Patrol Cinematic Universe, natch) if the appetite is there. I’ve also recently partnered with the author of an incredible book that I love that we’re going to try and get made. It’s a vampire novel, so I clearly can’t quit vampires just yet, and it’d make a killer film. And I’ve got my next passion project starting to scratch away at my brain every waking second now that Night Patrol is out. I pitch it as southern-fried Fargo on some First Blood shit. It’s more of a straight-on crime thriller/character piece, but it’s a fun one. We’ll see.

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NIGHT PATROL
IN THEATERS: January 16, 2026
DIRECTOR: Ryan Prows
WRITERS: Ryan Prows, Shaye Ogbonna, Tim Cairo, Jake Gibson
CAST: Jermaine Fowler, Justin Long, RJ Cyler, Freddie Gibbs, CM Punk, YG, Flying Lotus, Dermot Mulroney, Jon Oswald, and Nicki Micheaux
SYNOPSIS: An LAPD officer must put aside his differences with the area’s street gangs when he discovers a local police task force is harboring a horrific secret that endangers the residents of the housing projects he grew up in.
RUN TIME: 104 min
RATING: R
GENRE: Horror, Thriller
DISTRIBUTOR: RLJE Films and Shudder