‘Employee of the Dead’ Unveils New Poster as Kickstarter Nears £11,000

We can exclusively reveal that Employee of the Dead has a new poster for Aaron Truss’ upcoming comedy horror, as the independent production continues to gain momentum on Kickstarter, with its crowdfunding total now passing £10,800.

The new artwork has been created by Ignacio Mazuecos, whose previous poster and design work includes Pareidolia, (K)nox: The Rob Knox Story, Generation Terror, Hyper: The Stevie Hyper D Story and Razor Blade Smile: Vampires Forever. Mazuecos has been involved with Employee of the Dead since the project’s earliest stages and will also serve as Digital Art Director on the finished film.

His connection to the production goes considerably deeper than simply being brought in to create a promotional image.

“I know Aaron through work, we’ve been colleagues for close to a decade now, and I am also an executive member of Q Cumber Films, so I’ve worked on his previous projects since Pareidolia,” Mazuecos said.

For the newly revealed poster, the aim was to create something that could better communicate the scope of the film and its cast while still drawing on the horror-comedy influences behind the project. Mazuecos and Truss developed the idea through sketches before moving into the finished digital artwork, taking inspiration from Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, Shaun of the Dead and the character-heavy posters associated with large Hollywood productions.

“We wanted to give it that classic Hollywood blockbuster ensemble-poster feel,” Mazuecos explained. “I love designing posters that feel completely different from one project to the next, so it’s super exciting to be able to create something around such a talented cast.”

Written by Truss and Joe Acres, Employee of the Dead centres on a group of first-time independent filmmakers attempting to make their own horror movie. Rather than keeping their fictional production off-screen, the film will also show audiences the movie Hooban and his friends are trying to create.

That structure takes inspiration from films including Son of Rambow, Ed Wood, Living in Oblivion and The Disaster Artist. Horror filmmaker Jake West has been recruited to direct the film-within-the-film sequences, giving those sections their own visual style and allowing the production to lean further into practical effects, blood and gore.

The project marks Truss’ feature directorial debut following his work on (K)nox: The Rob Knox Story, Cult of VHS and short horror film Pareidolia.

Acres reprises his role as Hooban from the original 2008 short, while Dani Harmer plays his sister Lexie. Nick Helm appears as down-on-his-luck pub singer Joe Miotti, with Detectorists actor Paul Casar playing Rob, a character inspired by the late Rob Knox. Ellie Raé Winstone will make her feature debut as Laura, while Nicholas Vince, Kevin Martin, Sean Cronin and Amy Bowden are also among the cast.

The current poster may not be the last version audiences see. Mazuecos plans to revisit the design once filming provides him with additional photography, props and characters to incorporate.

“I would love to revisit the poster once the filming has wrapped, since I will be able to have more assets, props, and possibly new characters at my disposal,” he said.

There is also another artwork incentive waiting further up the crowdfunding ladder. If Employee of the Dead reaches £15,000 on Kickstarter, the team plans to release a collection of classic horror movie tribute posters featuring the cast.

Employee of the Dead is currently crowdfunding on Kickstarter, with the campaign having passed £10,800 and its next major target set at £15,000.

You can get more information on the project, and importantly GET INVOLVED here: kickstarter.com/projects/qcumberfilms/employee-of-the-dead-a-feature-length-comedy-horror

Employee of the Dead promo