Bury the Bride

I had only heard about the title of this movie, but didn't know what the movie was about. And thus, as I happened to stumble upon the movie here in 2024, of course I opted to sit down and watch it, since it was a horror movie that I hadn't already seen. Given my life-long romance with the horror genre, of course I needed no persuasion to sit down and watch "Bury the Bride".

The storyline in the movie is pretty straightforward, though the movie does take a much needed change of direction and pacing around 38 minutes into the ordeal. Writers Krsy Fox and Spider One, with the former also directing and starring in the movie, put together a fair enough script. Sure it wasn't a revolutionary script or narrative, but it proved to be entertaining enough for what it turned out to be.

However, I have to say that it was a bit difficult to buy into the part of the storyline that June (played by Scout Taylor-Compton) would be marrying David (played by Dylan Rourke), because the two characters were just so very, very far apart in terms of types of characters.

I wasn't familiar with the cast ensemble in the movie, aside from Krsy Fox and Scout Taylor-Compton. It was a rather small cast ensemble, but the actors and actresses definitely put on good performances and carried the movie nicely.

The special effects in "Bury the Bride" were good, and definitely served the movie well.

Watchable, sure, but "Bury the Bride" is hardly a movie that I will return to watch a second time, as there simply isn't enough contents to the script and storyline to support more than just a single viewing.

My rating of "Bury the Bride" lands on a five out of ten stars.

Overall this is a fun film -- I give it a C+ -- hampered by issues (technical, continuity, editing, other compromises) likely related to budget and time constraints. The writing/dialogue is lazy in important places, with one or two characters relying on distractingly repetitive f-bomb insults. A few more takes and some thoughtful editing might have done wonders. That said, the film contains some interesting ideas and twists despite its play on standard horror genres and tropes. Key for me are some standout performances, particularly by Dylan Rourke (captivating in an extended monologue) and his gang of henchmen and Lyndsi LaRose, who makes the first half worth watching. The movie contains some solid practical effects as well. Its creative ending was one bite shy of entirely satisfying. Give Bury the Bride a shot and forgive its imperfections. You'll enjoy your time if you can get past the dialogue and a few lapses in logic.

Taking a road trip together, a group of girlfriends arrive at a remote house in the desert for a special bachelorette party but when the fiancee and his friends show up unexpectedly the girls discover the horrifying secret the men share and must race to get away before they're killed.

This was a pretty decent if generally underwhelming genre effort. One of the film's better elements is the rather intriguing setup that gives this one a rather solid starting point for its later shenanigans. The trip out to the desert and the amount of time spent alone with each other to get to know them and their issues, not just the issues that get brought up when they're both drunk but also sober that bonds them together despite those other factors, starts the film off well. The constant arguments that pop up are genuine issues that add a nice bit of spice to the proceedings which provides a nice bit of conflict to everything and setting this up nicely. That provides this one with plenty of fun once it gets to the crash from the boyfriend and his friends which sets everything in motion. The initial idea of what's going on is quickly changed by a great reveal sequence with one of the girls at their compound that really moves this along at a faster clip. Overall, this offers the type of high-energy action with the group attacking the girls and bringing about some frantic attempts to get away that are quite fun and feature far more brutal gore alongside the effects used for the reveal. As this generates a highly effective final half on top of the fun first half, there's quite a lot to like about this one. There are some issues at play with this one that holds it down. The main issue featured here is the somewhat confusing nature of the relationship that's at play between the sister and her fiancee, which is not handled all that well. There's very little about what makes the two attracted to each other since we're told they're different people leading very different lifestyles and what we know about him makes it seem quite odd how they would even meet, much less showcase what would make her attracted to him in the first place. There's way too much questioning happening about this part of the film, and it has a cheap feel as a result with no answers given. The other detrimental issue present, which isn't as big of a deal but still somewhat harms this, is the somewhat overlong and dragged-out finale that is trying to build some suspense in what's going on but ends up just leading this down a path of inevitability far more than it should. The endless scenes of the older sister running around the cabin, tidying up, and just generally not doing anything all for the sake of wasting time for a final shock it's quite clearly aiming for is a bit distressing with so much of the running time building up this obvious point so it can be somewhat distressing. Otherwise, there's not a whole lot else really wrong here.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.

Five women from SoCal travel to a remote hunting cabin for an unorthodox bachelorette party. The filthy cabin is owned by the redneck fiancé of June (Scout Taylor-Compton) and he unexpectedly shows up with several of his hick friends for an unforgettable night.

"Bury the Bride" (2023) is cabin-in-the-woods horror helmed by the younger brother of Rob Zombie, Michael David Cummings (aka Spider One), who's the frontman of the band Powerman 5000. Like his brother, he features his spouse/partner in his movies, which is Krsy Fox (Sadie).

Despite the skankiness of Lyndsi LaRose's character, Carmen, she's a highlight on the female front; very stunning. Thankfully, Scout Taylor-Compton's June is more winsome and takes second place.

To appreciate this flick, you have to be able to stomach the white-trash-in-the-sticks horror of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and typical Rob Zombie flicks. It combines the cabin-in-the-woods setting with bits of "Deliverance" and films that I can't name because I don't want to give anything away. Let's just say that the surprise at the 38-minute mark works well and there are a few genuine scares, as well as effective spookiness.

The movie runs 1 hour, 23 minutes, was shot in Los Angeles.

GRADE: B-

This movie was on its way to be a little hidden gym, but something happened halfway through. It's almost like they had a change in the script, or a change in the Director, because the whole tone of the movie changed, and sadly not for the better.

The first half of the movie is very well done. The unknown actors did a great job and I chuckled at several parts so it had a little comedy to it as well.

But then something completely changed with the movie. You will probably see what I'm talking about. It's when they wake up on the second day. From there it's not nearly as good as the first half.

Still, not a bad movie I guess, but it could have been great.

5/10.