This is the layout for a movie prop of a fictional video tape as seen in the Reel Splatter movie “Dead Format”. This layout was created by me in Photoshop and Illustrator using photos I’ve shot at director Mike Lombardo’s house. The basic premise of this VHS tape layout is that it’s an inside joke of early Reel Splatter. Back in the 2000s when Mike Lombardo was a teenager, he planned to record a horror movie about an evil pie at his mom’s house, but sadly the project fell apart and the movie was scrapped. So now for the movie Dead Format, I’ve been tasked with creating a wide variety of prop VHS tapes – as the movie’s plot involves a video rental store – and we decided to create a fictional video tape design for the canceled Gut Rot Pie project.
Isolated image of the poster design which appears on the VHS sleeve.
Unedited raw photo I took of Lex, in its original form and aspect ratio.
The main subject of the design is Lex Quinn – girlfriend of Mike Lombardo – vomiting blood from eating the pie. To create this shot I purchased a small pie from Weis Market, covered it with fake blood placed it on the table, and then Lombardo painted Lex’s mouth with fake blood to make it seem as if she vomited. We had her place her face down on the table with fake blood on the tablecloth and pie, and I stood on a chair with my camera tripod up high so I could look downwards to shoot the photo. In the original design idea, Lombardo wanted to superimpose the movie’s title on the film clapper and use that as the title, but the design didn’t work, which is why you see a blank film clapper on the table. After the shoot, in Photoshop I made Lex face look more sickly and emphasized the shadows, highlights, colors, and texture to mimic the appearance of 2000s-era horror films such as the Saw franchise.
Isolated image of the back of the VHS sleeve.
On the back of the box are four photos that I’ve shot and edited. From the top going clockwise is Mike Lombardo with a film camera, our friend Jason Gross with his face painted with blood to be the character Count Suckula, the Reel Splatter mascot Dr. Chud in a gas mask with machetes, and our friend Mike “Milano” James dressed as an evil Santa Claus. Each photo was taken at Mike Lombardo’s house in fall 2024.
- Graphic design: Julius von Brunk (Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator)
- Photography: Julius von Brunk (Nikon D750)
- Models: Lex Quinn, Mike Lombardo, Jason Gross, Mike James
- Video blurbs: Mike Lombardo