Bride of Violence (2018)
Director: Travis Mills
Writer: Travis Mills
Starring: Porsche Lynn, Mark Speno, Brooklyn Wilde, Craig Hensley, Richard Anderson
Dennis and Kate, a young Christian couple who are about to be married, go camping one weekend and run into an escaped convict named Berenger. Isolated in the wilderness, they are tortured and terrorised by this man, while Dennis continues to have apocalyptic visions from the Book of Revelations which may be coming true.
In a new interview in the series leading up to Horror-on-Sea Film Festival, I got a chance to ask Bride of Violence Writer-Director Travis Mills a few questions about what we can expect from the film.
Q. Your latest horror film Bride of Violence has been selected to play at Horror-on-Sea. Can you tell us what we can expect from the film?
It’s not a gore-centred horror film, nor does it have any campy/fun vibes to it. This is meant to be a cerebral, psychological horror/thriller.
Q. What were your influences when writing the screenplay for the film?
The first influence was the short story it is based on by Lawrence Block (A Walk Among the Tombstones). But that’s just a crime story, no horror elements. The horror part of the film came late in the screenplay process and the main inspiration I took from Deliverance and The Shining. I wanted to make a film that borrowed a little from each of those.
Q. What were some of your influences for the look and style of the film?
The cinematographer, Jared Kovacs, and I were also inspired by the silent film Vampyr. We watched sequences from that film in reference to our main character’s Biblical visions. Originally we wanted to film these scenes in slow motion but I argued that it never would have been that way in a film like Vampyr and that the regular motion is more effective.
Q. Where there any elements of the original script which were adapted during filming?
We were working with a small budget (10,000 dollars) on a shooting schedule of ten days and most of the film was shot at one location, a remote valley with no electricity/running water/cell service. The script had to be changed at times to match that location. Example, the mining shaft where most of the torture takes place was a cave in the script. The waterfall shown in the movie was not in what we wrote. We worked with the environment and made adjustments.
Q. Did you experience any issues during filming?
Oh yes, there were a ton of issues. As I mentioned above, we arrived at the location after a big snow. The roads down to our location were iced over and we had many difficulties getting the vehicles down safely. The water to the place where we were staying was frozen so we had no running water for most of the production. The solar power wasn’t working so we ran everything off of our small generator and propane. It was intense. On top of that, we had a tough terrain to work in. The mining shaft was intimidating for some and we ran into a couple areas with brittle rock and unstable ceilings. Our lead actor had to get in incredibly cold water for a couple takes. It was a brutal production.
Q. What were some of your favourite moments during filming?
Most of my favourite moments sound a little crazy: crawling into a very tight space with the lead actor for a shot (a spot we could have easily been trapped in), ice falling down and almost hitting us while filming at the waterfall, operating some shots in the final sequence myself while screaming directions from behind the camera at the actors to get them in the right headspace… I’m a little nuts.
Q. What makes Bride of Violence stand out as something different in the horror genre?
I think the religious element. Yes, there are a lot of horror films that touch on Christianity but this is a real exploration of what a zealous faith can do to someone. I come from a Christian background and used that to explore how the restriction of “lust” can really send someone to a violent place.
Q. What do you hope people take away after watching the film?
I hope it makes them think about the real reason why religious teaching might lead to violence, to understand it more instead of judging it. In the end, Dennis has a tragic journey. He becomes a monster.
Q. Do you have any other projects which you are currently working on?
I’m always working on a ton of things. I just released a thriller called The Deadbeats with some horror elements and I’m getting ready to make 12 Western feature films next year.
Q. If someone was looking to write and direct their own film what advice would you give them?
Don’t let any excuses slow you down. Just make it happen.
Bride of Violence will be playing at Horror-on-Sea on Saturday 11th January at 13:00 hrs
You can find out more about Horror-on-Sea and purchase tickets for the festival here:
Published in various websites, Philip is a reviewer who is best known for his interviews and media coverage of independent projects including; films, books, theatre and live events. Always on the lookout for something different to cover!
