Gorgazma: Horror’s New Monster Factory
October is our season to celebrate the wonderfully weird, and this year we are opening 13 Days of Strange with a team that is redefining what horror can look like in 2025: Gorgazma.
If you have not met them yet, Gorgazma is less a company and more a creative monster lab. Founders Heather Mages, Mark Villalobos, Austin Reading, and Nathan Cabrera are professional creators, creature designers, and branding fanatics who live, breathe, and build horror on their own terms. They do not wait for Hollywood’s greenlight, they do not ask for permission, and they do not care if their ideas sound “too strange.” If they want to make a film about a killer pizza that mutates you into a monster, they will do it. Then they will design a merch box so you can take that monster home with you.
We sat down with the Gorgazma crew to hear how they approach the genre differently.
Nathan Cabrera, their Creative Brand Director, explained it best:
“We don’t just make films. We make worlds. Every short is designed like an intellectual property from day one, with logos, merch, posters, even product placement we can later sell to fans.”
Heather Mages and Mark Villalobos add the heartbeat of monster making to the mix. Mark’s background in special effects has shaped countless creatures, and Heather pushes the storytelling forward, making sure that the gore, comedy, and strangeness never lose their soul. Austin Reading rounds it out with his filmmaking experience, giving the team the ability to dream big while keeping projects sharp and nimble.
Together, they blur the line between cinema and commerce. From sculpting monster suits to designing typefaces, from building sets to creating logos, every part of their work is designed to invite fans into a universe that extends far beyond the screen.
The philosophy is simple: a 10-minute film can spark a whole world if you build it with intention.
The best example is their breakout project: Pizza Panic Party. At first glance, it is a wild 80s inspired gore comedy. But look closer, and you will see the blueprint for everything Gorgazma stands for. Nathan reimagined the pizza box from the shoot into a merch box filled with shirts, stickers, and collectibles.
Suddenly, Pizza Panic Party was not just a movie you watched, it was an experience you could wear. Con-goers lined up to buy boxes. Spencer’s even came calling. In the horror world, where fan culture thrives on tangible keepsakes, Gorgazma had tapped into something massive: the joy of carrying a little piece of the monster home.
That scrappy, DIY spirit runs through everything they do. “Big studios don’t think short films are real movies,” Nathan told us. “We want to give those ‘tiny things’ the love they deserve.”
By operating outside of the traditional system, Gorgazma can pivot quickly between projects. One month they are sculpting monsters for an 80s throwback. The next, they are developing The Black Cube, a slick techno-occult horror filled with modern dread. They are not buried in multi-year features. They are building fast, flexible, genre-bending shorts that feel both nostalgic and new.
It is horror with agility. And it is working.
What makes Gorgazma different is not just their storytelling. It is the way they build community. At conventions, they do not just set up a table, they create carnival-style games where fans can win shirts and collectibles. At Comic-Con, they passed out custom trading cards that linked back to their films. Fans would come back the next day saying, “We watched it. We loved it. Now we want the merch.”
That loop, from screen to merch table to fanbase, is the heartbeat of their company. Horror is not just something you consume. It is something you join.
Gorgazma belongs at the front of 13 Days of Strange because they embody everything this series is about: the art of being unapologetically different. Heather, Mark, Austin, and Nathan are not chasing glossy perfection. They are not recycling old monsters. They are inventing new ones, and inviting fans into the strange, colorful, blood-soaked worlds they create.
They remind us that horror is not only about fear. It is about fun. It is about style. It is about turning nightmares into something you can laugh at, scream at, and stick on your wall.
If you are in Los Angeles this fall, you can experience their work on the big screen. Landmark’s NuArt Theatre is hosting Creature Features 2: The Sequel every Friday night, featuring Gorgazma Horror Shorts alongside cult classics.
The first 100 attendees at each show will snag a free collector’s poster. There will be post-show Q&As, raffle prizes, and the kind of horror community energy that makes LA feel electric this time of year.
13 Days of Strange has begun. And we could not think of a better way to open than with Heather, Mark, Austin, and Nathan of Gorgazma, who are reshaping the future of horror one creature and one pizza box at a time.
👉 Do not miss Gorgazma at NuArt Fridays this fall.
This story was created by Making Waves Project as part of 13 Days of Strange, our series spotlighting the beautifully unusual people and projects shaping culture in ways big and small. By sharing these stories, we aim to honor the creativity, resilience, and vision behind the work and amplify voices that thrive in the strange, the bold, and the unforgettable.
If you or someone you know has a story that deserves to be part of Making Waves Project, we’d love to hear from you. And if you’re a brand interested in partnering with us to bring more stories like this to life, please reach out at hello@makingwavesproject.com
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Photography by Robiee Ziegler
Produced by Katie Caro
Post production by Kelly Budish
