Zombie Toxin’s Effects Artist Damien Zimmerman Gains Fame
November 5, 2014
Practical effects artist Damien Zimmerman, a 25 year old Junction City resident, was a participating contestant on the TV series “Face off” during its 7th season on Syfy.
Face off is a elimination competition between contestants focusing on effects makeup.
“Being on Face off was an amazing experience and it was unbelievably fun”, said Zimmerman.
Zimmerman got introduced to effects makeup and horror costumes by doing haunted houses for the past 13 years. He started off with yard displays on Halloween and each year it grew larger. Eventually he moved his yard displays into his garage for a mini haunted house. Zimmerman then changed locations of the haunted house to a larger building for more space.
Zimmerman’s haunted house got shut down for two years due to coding. During that time, he started concentrating more on makeup. He started by watching tutorials on Youtube, however most of his skills were self-taught.
“I just started buying stuff professional dudes bought,” said Zimmerman. Over time his makeup became better and eventually he developed a reputation for quality effects work.
In 2010 he started the pre-production and designing process of Zombie Toxin with other Halloween and haunted house enthusiasts. Zombie Toxin is a haunted house in Junction City that that was in operation every weekend through the month of October. Zombies, monsters, and other horrifying creatures roam around the lines while customers are waiting to enter the haunted house.
Zimmerman and one other effects artist are in charge of creating 35 “creatures” in two and a half hours every night that Zombie Toxin was open.
“It was a fun time and they got me good a few times. Very scary.” said JCHS senior, Jasmine Pratzel.
Zimmerman’s talent and artistic work allowed him to enter Face off, the Syfy television competition. Filming for the show was time consuming and lonely for Zimmerman. He was not allowed to contact friends or family due to the terms and conditions of the show.
“Being on the show was like being in jail, but nice.” said Zimmerman.
Zimmerman plans on moving to Los Angeles in 2015 to expand on his career as a practical effects artist. After establishing himself in the entertainment industry, he will eventually return back home to where it all started.
