Producer Hilarie Burton explains how her partner Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s Walking Dead history helped their new horror-comedy come to life. Morgan created one of TV’s great villains in TWD’s Negan, the ruthless leader of the Saviors, and later a prisoner of the Alexandria community, whose skills proved useful in defeating the terrifying Whisperers. Seemingly marked for death at the hands of Maggie Rhee, Negan miraculously survived to the end of the flagship series, scoring his own spinoff in Dead City, an unlikely team-up between himself and the very same Maggie.

Negan indeed became one of the best characters on TWD, in part because the writers kept his backstory shrouded in mystery. The curtain was finally pulled back, however, in season 10’s origin episode “Here’s Negan”, which afforded a glimpse of the character’s previous life, and revealed how he came to give his favorite weapon the name “Lucille.” The episode was a family affair, as Morgan was joined by wife Burton, playing the very Lucille whose death shattered Negan, setting him on the path to becoming a post-apocalyptic villain armed with a barbed-wire-wrapped bat.

JDM’s Walking Dead Connections Helped Bloody Axe Wound Build An Expert Makeup Team

Morgan Has A Supporting Role In The Horror-Comedy

Dead City is getting set to release season 2, but in the meantime, Morgan and Burton have joined forces again for the horror-comedy Bloody Axe Wound. Burton remains behind-the-scenes this time, serving as a producer, while Morgan pulls double-duty as producer and supporting star. The movie is set in a world in which slasher killers record their murders and create their own horror movies, with Morgan appearing in a small role as the popular killer Butch Slater.

Speaking to ScreenRant about Bloody Axe Wound, releasing December 27 from RLJE Films and Shudder, Burton revealed how partner Morgan’s TWD connections came in handy in assembling a creative team capable of delivering the movie’s gnarly makeup effects, while underlining how much that unit believed in writer-director Matthew John Lawrence’s script. Check out what Burton shared below:

Yeah, our makeup department came from Dead City, so they’re a part of The Walking Dead family. And that felt really good, because we knew, as producers, going into it that we had the best of the best working with us, and they were doing it because they believed in the script. They believed in Matthew John Lawrence, and they believed in this story, and so honestly, just from a production standpoint, we had to carve out the budget for that before anything else, like before actor salaries, before music, before post-production. Making sure that department got what it needed was the most important piece of this.

Our Take On Bloody Axe Wound Landing Dead City’s Makeup Team

The Title Leaves Little Doubt As To The Film’s Intentions

With a title that is literally the name of a gory injury, it’s deadly obvious why putting together a top-notch makeup department was of paramount importance for Burton and Morgan as they put together Bloody Axe Wound. The production was indeed lucky to have the production pair, who were able to draw upon their TWD: Dead City friends and their vast expertise in the area of horror effects.

But connections alone wouldn’t be enough to get the accomplished Dead City team onboard. Luckily, the Bloody Axe Wound script, penned by the film’s director Lawrence, impressed the makeup effects artists, sealing the deal on their joining the production. The task then was to realize Lawrence’s vision of comedic horror, centering on a young female character whose progress as a slasher is impeded by sexism.

Bloody Axe Wound’s synopsis reads: Abbie Bladecut’s family business, a video store, has thrived by disposing of teenagers to mimic horror movies. As the first female slasher, she battles gender bias while realizing the harsh realities behind the mass murders.

The title Bloody Axe Wound sets up expectations of gory mayhem, and it seems the film delivers in that regard, along with some comedic touches and more than a dash of social commentary. Thanks to a makeup department with Walking Dead experience, the film’s effects should be more than good enough to impress even the most jaded horror fans.