We told you were getting into movies! And nothing legitimizes that factoid more than talking with one of the stars and co-writer of the flick we recently reviewed, Bury The Bride! You might already know Krsy Fox from Underworld: Evolution or from last year’s Allegoria (Also directed by Bury The Bride director/co-writer Spider One and available on Shudder right here right now!) or perhaps you’ve heard her fronting Knee High Fox (Check them out here if you haven’t) or on the most recent Theory Of A Deadman called Dinosaur where she co-wrote a handful of tracks. Whatever the case may be, there’s no denying you’ll definitely know her after her enthralling performance as “Sadie” in Bury The Bride which has its’ East Coast Premiere on April 22nd at this year’s Salem Horror Fest before making its’ small screen debut on Tubi.
While Bury The Bride, about a Bachelorette party that takes a turn thanks to some uninvited guests, takes place in an isolated location in the desert filled with dust, dirt, and more, Fox says via phone that the genesis of the story came from the most unlikely of places:
“Well, it’s really funny. I was in the shower one day, and that’s when I seem to have ideas, and the idea of a Bachelorette party in one location that goes horribly wrong kind of came to me! Spider (One, Co-writer and Director) and I were both working on other projects at the time and I was all ‘Hey! I have this idea and maybe we can flesh it out together and write it together and that’d be so fun.’ It was something we could do in between quickly and it’d be an easy thing, an easy shoot in one location. And of course (laughs), it was not easy. But at the time it seemed like a really brilliant idea!”
“Once we started fleshing it out we knew we wanted another element and then the whole vampire thing kind of came about. It was a really quick script to write. As soon as we figured out how everyone was going to die and how it was going to play out, the script came together, honestly, within a week and a half/two weeks. We were shooting about a month and a half after we wrote the script. Everything was really fast but it was the craziest shoot we ever had, y’know? It was night shoots in the desert with so many things against us. It was, by far, the most insane thing either one of us have ever tried to take on.”
With their first collaboration in the bag, Fox went on to elaborate about whether or not she’d write with Spider One again as well as talking about what each brings to the script in addition to their mutual love of all things Horror:
“I’d love to write another film with him… and possibly Bury The Bride 2 which would be incredible! I felt the female characters felt very authentic because there was a woman writing them and the male characters felt very authentic having that male voice. Spider tends to want more of a happy resolution and I’m more ‘Kill everybody!’ We work well that way where we have to sort of give and take and it ends up adding a lot more layers to the film. It’s funny, when we were actually shooting, because we had gotten so attached to these characters, the nights that we’d have to kill somebody (I mean, it was like early morning with the sun coming up) and we’re driving home and we’re both dead silent. Like, actually sad. Devastated. Every time one of our characters had to die it was ‘Wow! This feels way heavier than it did at the table reads!’ He and I, seriously, watch a Horror Movie every night. Whether it’s an old film, a new film… we have a huge appreciation for all the sub-genres. We just love Horror films.”
If you’ve seen Allegoria you’ll for sure notice more than a few familiar faces in Bury The Bride which was the case behind the scenes as well and for good reason:
“We use the same crew and we love to use the same actors that we’ve worked with and that we think are amazing. It’s such a family vibe especially on a film like that. Having that camaraderie and already knowing each other and trusting each other makes the shoot so much smoother because night shoots are hard to ask of actors. It wasn’t always the most comfortable of settings but everyone has the same goal and we all love each other genuinely so we don’t even have to build that chemistry. Scout (Taylor-Compton, “June”) and I, you know, I love her to death. It was very easy to act as though I love her, y’know? I think all of us have our own relationships and we’re all a very close knit group so it made it so much fun. We’d go into the actor’s trailer and everyone’s singing Spice Girls and dancing. And everyone’s tired and delirious but it’s still fine.”
When it came time to cast for Bury The Bride, most of the pieces were in place as Fox also dove into why “Sadie” was the right part to play:
“We knew from the beginning we wanted Lyndsi (LaRose) to play “Carmen” because she has such a strong comedic background and we needed that levity, we needed that someone who was going to go there and have fun and be believable. I mean, she’s gorgeous, too. The only person we didn’t know was the girl who played “Betty”, Katie Ryan. We saw so many different auditions and none of them were right because it’s such a specific character but as soon as we saw Katie’s tape, and Spider and I watched it separately, we both knew.”
“It really just came down to whether or not I was going to play “Sadie” or “June” and we knew we wanted to work with Scout so it made sense since I hadn’t played a character like “Sadie”. I think it was interesting that she was intentionally sort of unlikeable throughout some of the film and it was sort of meant to be a misdirect because of what ends up happening in the film. And you think ‘Oh god, she’s gonna go first!’ and that’s kind of the idea then it becomes this other thing and I thought her character was really fun to develop and grow with throughout the process. I have two sisters so some of the sisterly elements were based on them and, honestly, Scout kind of looks like my little sister so it was such an easy casting process.”
In regards to “Sadie”, Fox detailed the process of diving into a character who starts so put together until a sort of survival instinct kicks in to cause her to become someone else:
“Some of it happened very naturally because, as humans, we were all sort of unraveling towards the end of the shoot anyway (laughs). Everybody has little elements of ‘Sadie’ in them and I know people who kind of take it one step further. She’s the leader, she’s the boss, she’s got everything under control, and she can keep everyone happy. To see her just completely unravel to the point where she feels like she has no control and what she becomes, which is almost like an animal, was really a cool development and probably what would happen because she couldn’t control any of those circumstances.”
If you’ve made it this far then you know: Bury The Bride‘s big bad are those pesky vampires! But not just any kind of vamps with BTB creating its’ own unique lore surrounding the classic monsters as Fox delved into the reasoning behind that decision:
“We wanted to touch on all of the classic lore but I feel like we were kind of reinventing what vampires are to people. I haven’t really seen hillbilly-vibe vampires, backwoods dudes because usually they’re sexy and sophisticated and that’s not saying the guys weren’t sexy, they just weren’t supposed to be sexy. We’re already kind of breaking the mold here so let’s touch on the lore, let’s have the lore be part of it. But no one really knows. Every film has a different take on it so we felt like we had a little bit of freedom because of the storyline and because a lot of it had to do with the unholy land they were on. Maybe there are other more classic vampires out there but these particular guys this is based around is family. We thought that was a fun thing and left us a little bit of room to change it.”
In addition to starring and co-writing Bury The Bride, Fox wears a few more hats not only serving as a film editor but also by utilizing her musical background to create the unnerving score that often acts as a character all its’ own with the help of Tyler Connolly (Of the aforementioned Theory Of A Deadman), Michelle Carter, and Paul Wiley. Fox talked about the difference between being in a band and being in the studio in more detail:
“They’re such different things. There’s nothing in the world like touring and being on stage and performing for an audience. That’s another level and something that I love and I don’t know if I could ever fully give that up. We (Knee High Fox) are going to tour some more and we’re going to do a new record. I’ve been behind the scenes writing with bands as well. I just wrote, I think, 7 songs on the new Theory Of A Deadman album that just came out so I’m always working in film and music. I edited the movie so just getting to sit there and be like ‘Okay, cool! I cut this scene, I like this vibe’ and then throwing in some music in there with Spider and I sitting there like ‘See! Do you like how this makes it feel?’ It really sets up the tone for the rest of the movie even if it’s temp music very early because it dictates the way I edit the rest of the movie. My brain needs that, the stimulation from all the different elements so I never get bored, y’know”
Wrapping up, Fox lets fans know why they should check out Bury The Bride and offers up some news on what’s next for her and Spider One:
“This film was made with literal blood, sweat, and tears. This was a very, very difficult thing to accomplish in a small amount of time. It was made with so much love. And we’re so excited. And I do think there’s some twists in it and it’s a film that probably people have never seen before. This storyline is very fresh and we’re really proud of the film and the actors and the performances. It was a really special film to make. If you love Horror Films I think you’ll get something great out of this. Next, we’re in pre-production for our next film and I can tell you the title, it’s called ‘Little Bites’, and we’re going to be shooting it in June. Spider’s going to be directing and he wrote it and I’m going to be acting in it and producing and doing the post (production) and all that stuff and hopefully maybe we’ll be at Salem Horror Fest again next year!”
Bury The Bride has its’ East Coast Premiere on Saturday, April 22nd at Cinema Salem at 10PM as part of the 2023 Salem Horror Fest. For ticket info as well as deets about the rest of this year’s program, head here, for the small screen you can head to Tubi here, for our review you can head here and for all things Krsy Fox, head here.