Equipment to get your heart going again, put fires out, sterilize an open wound—those are the emergency items you usually see in sealed-off cabinets hanging in public places, but as helpful as defibrillators and first aid kits are in everyday life, you'd want more effective weapons at hand if a slavering werewolf from The Howling aimed its snout at your thigh, or if Fred Dekker's zombies from Night of the Creeps came calling for you as their delectable date.
That's where the fine folks from In Case Of come in. Their unique, hand-crafted, sealed emergency cabinets offer protection against zombies, vampires, werewolves, and demons. Though the weapons within their cabinets aren't real, they have a beautiful and realistic look that compliments the well-researched mythologies behind each item. To celebrate the hallowed day of horror that is Friday the 13th (and to give our readers a possible Friday the 13th/Valentine's Day gift idea), we caught up with co-creators Alex and Theo to discuss the origins of In Case Of, the care that goes into each cabinet, their new products on the horizon, and much more.
Thank you very much for taking the time to talk with us. Can you tell us how the idea for In Case Of came about? Was this something that started out as a hobby and grew from there?
Alex: The idea came up in 2007 during a hectic period for us, with lots of work and stress. One day that was exceptionally hard, I had a moment where my mind faltered and I started "staring at infinity". As I did, my gaze stopped on a fire emergency cabinet right across from my office. A thought popped up: why only fire? Of course, my very first ideas had to do with natural disasters, like earthquakes, volcano eruptions, floods, etc. But the love I have for sci-fi and horror, not to mention my desperate need to escape reality, led me to a more creative and much more exciting level: ZOMBIES!
It was the first step. The second one was to immediately let my buddy Theo know about this. Theo is also a sci-fi / horror fan and we’ve known each other since pre-school. We’re like brothers.
In time, more ideas came to light: vampires, werewolves, demons, mother-in-laws, etc. We discussed all our ideas, evolved them, laughed a lot, and put them aside as we went on with our jobs.
Five years later, I decided to actually craft two of the cabinets we talked about (you see, the itch was still there), just for the fun of it. And so the first Ιn Case Of Zombies and the first Ιn Case Of Werewolves came to life. Proud of my achievements, I showed them to Theo....
Theo: ...and my spontaneous reaction was, “Hey, we have to take this further!" And so we did, and in 2013, In Case Of was ready to declare war against childhood and adult nightmares, offering its services to humanity with five emergency cabinets:
We've seen a number of homemade zombie cases in the past, but nothing that offers cases for different monsters and nothing that matches the quality of your cases. Aside from the variety, what makes your cases stand out from the pack?
Alex: The initial idea was to purchase finished parts and assort them into the final cabinet. This changed very quickly, because we found out existing products did not meet our standards. Thus, we started designing and crafting almost everything ourselves. To do that, we had to learn many techniques from modelist experts and experienced craft artists, and also spend endless hours studying on the web: design, sculpture, painting, needlecraft, etc. Multiple trials and errors got our desired result that combines aesthetics and quality. As for variety, many ideas are still at an initial stage of design, while some are being developed as we speak.
Today, all In Case Of products are designed, crafted, finished, and painted by hand in-house, and we check thoroughly for defects and/or deviations according to the strict quality standards we set from the very beginning. There is no automated process involved and, as a result, every cabinet is unique and special, because no units are the same.
Also, all cabinets are of limited edition and come with a serial number, a wax seal of authenticity and a certificate of authenticity.
I like that the items, especially those in the vampire and werewolf cases, look like something from a movie rather than just something you could buy at the store. Can you tell our readers about the process for creating the items, such as the vampire case hammer and stakes?
Alex: Well, at least for the existing cabinets that are based on classic legends, myths and stories, our first concern was to be true to the timeline of each one. Sure, we could use ultraviolet light grenades against vampires and liquid silver bullets with nanites against werewolves (do not get me wrong, we might do so in the future), but then the essence of the story, the power of the myth, would be lost. What is horror after all, if not atmospheric?
So, let’s take the example of the hammer and stakes of the vampire cabinet. In my way of thinking, those instruments/weapons should be sturdy and well-built. At the end of the day they should do the job. So beauty, in the sense of carvings, fine lines and texture, is not important. The importance of the stake is to go in and stay there. The hammer should not falter and the stake should not splinter. This is what guided us to the present designs.
Each one of these cabinets is created and assembled by hand. Approximately how long does it take to create a single cabinet and how many people are involved in the creation process?
Alex: Well, when Theo and I started, it was painfully time consuming. On the other hand, it was not just creating the objects and the cabinet, but also dealing with problem solving. At that early point, the production was at about one cabinet per day with two people working for about 10 hours per day.
Today, being more experienced and I dare say wiser, we can reach a production of three to four (pushing five) cabinets per day with three people involved in production. This is, of course, for the production alone of the already defined cabinets. Research, development, and design of new cabinet prototypes is a different story altogether (we’re talking months-long).
Out of the five available cabinets, which is your favorite and why?
Alex: We do not have favorites, they are all our children and we love them all!! But to be honest, our favorite is the Vampire Emergency Cabinet, because of the aura it emits—the medieval, superstitious creepiness of it. Then again, having the Vampire Emergency Cabinet on your wall next to the fireplace evokes in us the feeling of being cozy next to the fire, holding a glass of warm brandy, and contemplating "Poe-ish" stories. Take your pick.
With the five available cabinets being limited edition offerings, are you already thinking about your next set of cabinets? Can you give us a tease of what you have planned?
Alex: Of course we are! New themed cabinets are on the way. We plan to introduce new versions of the existing themes and of course some completely new items. You and your readers are the first to know that a new Vampire Emergency Cabinet is about to be announced, one that has a few surprises compared with the first one. To give a hint: steampunk enthusiasts will like, if not love, it. Also, we are pretty close to presenting our first functional (practical) cabinet where all the objects within can be used. Unfortunately, I cannot go into details right now.
Aside from cabinets, do you plan to expand your offerings to other items?
Alex: We have already launched the In Case Of T-shirts. We started with the zombies and vampires themes and will continue with werewolves and demons. Our T-shirts, like our cabinets, are of in-house design and also combine aesthetics and quality. Also, there are some more ideas, but I cannot reveal them right now.
We are committed to offering uniqueness, originality, and high quality in all our undertakings.
It's obvious from the quality of the cases that this is a passion project. What are some of the horror movies you love that inspired the cases you're offering?
Alex: After some disagreements, a few quarrels, several regressions and thousands of arguments for and against, here is the list of our 13 (naturally) favorite horror movies:
We know that not all of them are directly connected with our cabinets (or at least with the cabinets we offer right now), but keep in mind that these movies shaped our mindsets.
For those interested in keeping up with In Case Of, where can they find you on social media?
Alex: Website: www.in-case-of.com
Facebook: facebook.com/incaseofcomp
Twitter: @incaseofICO
Instagram: incaseofico
Youtube: www.youtube.com/user/incaseofICO
Thanks again for taking the time to tell our readers more about In Case Of cabinets. Is there anything else you'd like to share with our readers?
Alex: Thank YOU for giving us the opportunity to talk about what we love. We would like to say to everyone that has an idea to try to make it real! It might be very hard, it may seem impossible, you might stay up night after night, but the satisfaction that you get when you succeed cannot compare to anything. Keep horror true!
———
In case you missed it, check out our previous coverage of In Case Of cabinets:
Raised on a steady diet of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Derek has been fascinated with fear since he first saw ForeverWare being used on an episode of Eerie, Indiana.
When he’s not writing about horror as the Senior News Reporter for Daily Dead, Derek can be found daydreaming about the Santa Carla Boardwalk from The Lost Boys or reading Stephen King and Brian Keene novels.
Daily Dead's Official Podcast! Daily Dead's Official Podcast!
