The objective behind this semester-long project focused on creating an integrated branded system and all its pieces for a mock film festival. This festival celebrates one of the preeminent names in hard rock and horror, Rob Zombie. Having grown up an avid fan of both, the choice was pretty much a no-brainer. His application of over-the-top, almost surreal amounts of violence, absurdity, and gore just steals my heart. With inspiration drawn from old Western films, grindhouse sensibilities, hillbilly dialog, and carnie influence, he incorporates everything necessary to inspire an outrageously fun film festival. Zombie, himself, is known to be a major film enthusiast and interjects his own films and music with much of the vintage style of classic horror, even going so far as to name his former band, White Zombie, after the old Bella Lugosi film by the same name.

Having been raised by carnies, Zombie often employs unusual, off-color characters that are reminiscent of acquaintences of his youth. These characters bring just the right amount of humor and camp to his films to keep them enjoyable and somewhat more light-hearted than your typical "torture porn" flick (a genre he himself is not thrilled to be lumped into). Though his films may not necessarily be scary, they are definitely not for the faint-hearted. Nothing is spared in his use of blood, viscera, and implements of pain. Torture, rape, cannibalism, and viscious, sadistic murder are all common themes among his exploitative-style films, still he handles them in such a ludicrous, yet somehow enjoyable manner, one may actually find themselves cheering for the villian in the end.

The festival itself revolved around five quintessential Rob Zombie films: House of 1000 Corpses, The Devil's Rejects, and his remakes of the slasher classics, Halloween and Halloween II, with the event slated to coincide with the long-anticipated release of The Lords of Salem. Deliverables included a 36-page film catalog, poster with poster tube, limited edition DVD packaging, tickets, festival map and program, collectable souvenirs, and festival soundtrack, among other items. My intent was to convey a ram shackle, country appeal with a healthy dose of the grotesque. To achieve this, I employed a liberal use of crude materials, rusty patinas, letterpress, screen printing and hand sewing. We were also instructed to create our own unique imagery, which I traveled to an active dairy farm in Escalon, CA to obtain, having received permission to assemble elaborate torture scenes in several derelict barns. The end results were a creepy menagerie of blood-stained collateral and cringe-inducing products, most notably, a sideshow gaff, taxidermied hand-in-a-jar, complete with tatoos, and a custom-made coffin in which all festival pieces were housed.