Bury the Bride (2023) Review – A Subversive But Messy Desert Slasher

Welcome to Knockout Horror. Today we will be reviewing Tubi Original horror movie Bury the Bride from 2023.

A cabin in the… desert horror?

Bury the Bride follows a group of 30-somethings as they party at a cabin in the middle of the desert. June (Scout Taylor-Compton) is finally getting married and she has invited her friends along for one more night of fun and bitchy arguing. What starts as a rather underwhelming night of drinking soon turns horrifying when June’s fiancé (Dylan Rourke) turns up with a few of his friends.

The best way to describe this is as a revenge movie with a twist. There is a heavy focus on “girl power” and themes of women fighting back. But that doesn’t stop Bury the Bride from falling into a whole bunch of horror clichés.

“Bury the Bride is a revenge movie with a twist. It focuses on ‘girl power’ and women fighting back, but it still falls into a whole bunch of horror clichés.”

With a script and story that is quick to present female relationships as bitter, resentful, and fraught with feelings of jealousy, as well as presenting certain characters as sexually motivated and lacking in self-preservation, Bury the Bride does things very “by the book” and is guilty of frequently indulging in played-out horror tropes.

Why is this movie so disappointing?

So much of Bury the Bride feels amateurish that you would think it was made by a bunch of college students. It is extremely poorly done and lacking in care. Aside from the slightly interesting premise, this movie has very little to offer. Kills are dull and uneventful, the story is ridiculous, characters are utterly stupid, consistently putting themselves in danger. The cast is unlikable and the light, slightly comical, style of the movie falls flat thanks to some terrible pacing and a messy cut.

The sad thing is, there is some real promise here. I am a huge sucker for revenge movies and I love anything that features bad ass women. There are some moments here that hint at something potentially great. When the movie is firing on all cylinders, it is pretty watchable. Unfortunately, it feels like something always comes along to stop it in its tracks. Be it a worn-out horror trope, a nonsensical plot point, or a sequence of events that simply go nowhere. 

“So much of the film feels amateurish that you would think it was made by college students. Aside from the slightly interesting premise, it has very little to offer.”

Characters are actively anti-life, doing anything they can to be brutally murdered. Be it wandering off into the desert with a bunch of weirdos or simply running straight into danger. It is beyond stupid and makes the movie extremely predictable, almost to a frustrating degree. There is zero creativity here and nobody has stepped in to question the writing. Just one person actually saying “would this character act like this?” would have benefited this movie tremendously. That’s only part of the problem here, though.

Direction and editing are poor

Spider One clearly takes a lot of inspiration from his brother Rob Zombie. There is an attitude and approach to Bury the Bride that is distinctly Zombie-esque. His direction very much lacks the style of his brother’s, though. It also lacks the constant flashing of Sherry Moon’s ass which is a blessing or a curse depending on your own personal perspective. He seems to lack the technical ability of his brother, too.

There are so many issues with pacing and continuity here. Scenes flow from day to night with no obvious time progression. It’s very jarring and can make the movie difficult to follow. Seeing characters run through, what can only be described as, an entire day-night cycle in one shot with nothing in between – not even a cut to demonstrate the passing of time – is an extremely strange way of doing things. This is a problem throughout. There is a distinct lack of care on display here.

Wine is poured in a glass in one shot, only for five glasses to be fully filled in the next. Lapel mics are placed clumsily in plain sight between the boobs of a character wearing a vest. They end up looking like a rather large, superfluous third nipple.

Character’s hair moves about in between shots, low quality audio plagues every scene, voices are boosted to the point of being little more than hiss and compression artefacts. Camera work is shoddy and low quality and it all just feels so cheap and so poorly put together. This movie was begging for someone with some serious experience to help out on set and in the editing room.

Any positives?

Acting is fairly competent with Scout Taylor-Compton being her usual confident self. Krsy Fox obviously has a good time and does a great job kicking ass. Dylan Rourke puts his back into being a bit of an obnoxious redneck character. Again clearly having a good time on set and generally fitting the role very well. Lyndsi LaRose is fun as Carmen though I’m not sure about her extended three-minute dance scene that feels nothing short of painfully awkward.

“Acting is fairly competent, with Scout Taylor-Compton being her usual confident self and Krsy Fox obviously having a good time kicking ass.”

The themes of female camaraderie are nice. We need way more of this in horror. Nobody has done it as well as Unseen did it this year, but it’s always a really welcome approach to horror. Even though the writing gets in the way frequently here, playing to horror cliché with the women at each other’s throats for much of the movie’s length. Some of these moments do provide a few laughs, though.

There are a couple of fun scenes here and there and when the movie works it works quite well. The end is fairly fun though is let down by some pretty dumb character choices. I also applaud the movie for doing something a bit different with an old horror theme. But, all in all, Bury the Bride consistently gets in its own way.

Our Scoring Philosophy: A Fair Fight

Horror is a genre that thrives thanks to indie film makers and low budget creators. At Knockout Horror, we firmly believe that every movie that we review deserves a fair fight. That's why we grade on a curve. Our star ratings are all about context, judging a film on what it achieves with the resources it has.

A 4-star rating for a scrappy indie horror made for $10,000 is a testament to its ingenuity and raw power. A 4-star rating for a $100 million blockbuster means it delivered on its epic promises. We don't compare them side-by-side; we celebrate success in every weight class, from the back-alley brawler to the heavyweight champion. Please keep this in mind when considering star ratings.

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