With several notable marks outside the genre, writer/actress Kelly Watts has jumped into the genre with a solid mark in her debut genre feature Death Trip, co-written with director James Watts. Now, in honor of its release from Gravitas Ventures and Kamikaze Dogfight, I talk with her about her early writing experience, her process and the making of the film itself.
Me: Hello and thank you for taking the time to do this. First off, where did you get the urge to go into filmmaking?
Kelly Watts: Hi and no problem – this should be fun! Growing up, my sisters and I always loved putting on ridiculous performances for our family, one of the most notable being a very unimpressive staging of Cats in my grandma’s basement with the help of our cousins – by and large, we barely knew any of the words to any of the songs we decided to include in our performance, but that didn’t seem to matter. My parents had a VHS camcorder hanging around (very 90s), so eventually we started making deeply stupid little movies with our friends to pass the time. Sometimes they were true originals, but, much like our legendary Cats performance, they were mostly based on or inspired by movies we hadn’t seen yet, but had heard so much about, like The Blair Witch Project and Scream. I guess I’m actually a very seasoned genre filmmaker when you really think about it.
Me: Were you always into genre films growing up? What films specifically got you into watching horror movies?
KW: Yes! My dad actually asked me about this recently – “when/why did you start getting into weird movies”? I couldn’t pinpoint a concrete moment or reason, but I realized that a lot of the music videos that really captured my imagination growing up all had that kind of goth-y, alt-y vibe, horror-adjacent vibe. There was lots of weird imagery floating around on MuchMusic (Canada’s MTV equivalent) at the time – I was always scared but deeply intrigued by videos by bands like Garbage, The Prodigy, Our Lady Peace (they had some very classic 90s weirdness going on at the time). Basically, stuff our older babysitter thought was cool. So I was kind of conditioned to love horror movies pretty early on and wound up being the kind of kid who always thought she had psychic powers and practices witchcraft and that kind of thing. The movie that really drew me into the genre was Poltergeist. I watched it one Halloween with my two best friends when we were 8 or 9 or so, and we were absolutely petrified. From there, my friends and I started renting movies every Friday night and, more often than not, they would be horror – didn’t matter how horrible, stupid or cheap they were, we just couldn’t get enough.
Me: When did you first discover your passion for writing? Were you always into writing growing up?
KW: Growing up as a psychic witch, I absolutely felt the need to document my very many, very real paranormal experiences (kidding, obviously). I feel like I’ve always felt drawn to writing as a form of self-expression – in elementary school, I was always pushing to start a class paper so I could publish my very hot takes (most notably “Eric Clapton Sux!” which did make the “Hot Or Not” column of the one class paper I managed to publish because I was the editor). I would also write short stories, often about paranormal stuff – I would read about ghosts and ESP and stuff pretty obsessively. I wrote zines throughout high school and would start scripts, but never finish them.
Me: When writing a new project, what's the one fall-back tactic that you're always able to draw inspiration from?
KW: By and large, I’m a very nice person. However, when it comes to writing I do love to be a little mean – at least as a starting point. I find I’m the most driven to write when I’m annoyed or fed up with a situation, person or thing – I think it’s a healthy way to channel negative energy. Scrolling social media is very helpful in terms of inspiring a writing session using this method.
Me: Is there any specific type of character you prefer writing? What is the process like when you start in on a new story?
KW: Once I’m annoyed enough to be inspired to write, I’ll develop a character that reflects that frustration and kind of dive into their inner life, often in some kind of internal monologue format, and take it from there. I love developing questionable characters on a very surface level and then trying to get to a place where I can begin to understand where they’re coming from. I love pettiness, bitchiness and pompousness, especially when it’s clear a character is really floundering.
Me: Is there any specific type of genre you prefer writing? Is there any style or format you find easier to get into even without a preference?
KW: In terms of format, I love scriptwriting – I find it to be the most satisfying format of them all and it really encourages you to visualize things. Anything that requires you to have a “vision” of some kind feels the most productive and rewarding. As mentioned earlier, I’ve always loved writing horror-adjacent material, but these days as long as it makes me feel something (harder than it sounds), I’m into it – often it’s on the more “extreme” side.
Me: That brings us to your latest project, "Death Trip." What can you tell us about the project?
KW: The first disclaimer I’d like to make here is this: if you hate mublecore films, you will likely hate Death Trip. I feel like there was such a hatred for those movies for a while that I have to warn people about the acting style/tone of this movie. It’s a little art-house and self-indulgent for a horror film, but I really appreciate it for that reason. If you like a doom-y, dread-inducing, feel bad movie with an explosive ending, you’ll enjoy Death Trip.
Me: Where did the inspiration for the film come from? What was the relationship with your co-writer James Watts evolve over the course of writing it?
KW: I don’t remember exactly when this happened, but at some point many years ago James and I were talking about making a horror movie and I proposed the premise and ending of what would become Death Trip. While it started as a half-joke – like “wouldn’t it be funny/perfect if…” – it turned into something with a bit more of a concrete message over the years. In part it’s about class – these spoiled city kids go up to a cottage in the woods and, due to nothing but their own preconceptions and prejudices, immediately assume every person who actually lives out in the “middle of nowhere” could be a threat. Primarily, the movie is about the rising trend of performative male feminist allies who present a certain way, but continue to engage in toxic thinking, behaviors and attitudes towards women despite their “softboy” exterior – those who try the hardest to appear “woke” often have the most to hide. Once we had the general intent down, we spent a long time very casually developing the movie together. James wrote up a loose outline for everything and gave me veto power, which I really appreciate, then we went into casting knowing we’d be taking a “mumblecore” style approach to the whole thing.
Me: Was there anything while writing the characters that you were surprised by in telling the story?
KW: As I think James mentioned, the characters were really developed alongside the actors who were cast in the movie. We outlined their relationship to one another and the purpose they’d serve in the film (final girl, stoner friend, etc.), but aside from that, we let the actors take the reins. We would just note what we liked from rehearsals and that’s what made it into the final “script.” So we ended up with quite a few (always pleasant) surprises while developing the characters, really!
Me: Being the lead actress in the film as well, how did you approach your character Kelly? What did you do to stay in character while on-set?
KW: By and large, I just had to be a slightly more annoying version of myself, haha. I do feel like my character is the Carrie Bradshaw of the bunch – just so absorbed in her own interpersonal drama without much thought for anyone else. That’s something I don’t really identify with… or maybe I’m just so caught up in talking about myself (in this interview, for example) to notice! In terms of staying in character, the biggest challenge was my big, bloody scene – I really had to freak out as much as possible with that one and wanted to make sure the end product was as traumatic as possible. Zoë (who produced and did wardrobe design on the movie) taught me a great trick, which was to hyperventilate until you start actually freaking out and crying. It worked! James would try to comfort me between takes but I told him to leave me alone because I didn’t wanna break the vibe I had going. I also must say that James is a really great director – working with your partner has the potential to be a truly horrible nightmare, but I have nothing but fond memories of working on this project with him. A true talent and a general joy to be around!
Me: What was the set like while shooting the film? How did the cast and crew react to the type of film being made?
KW: So, so cold but really fun. Everyone involved with this project was so intensely dedicated and we are so incredibly lucky they all decided to join us on this wild ride. I’m so incredibly impressed by the performances from the rest of the cast – I really loved shooting all those good time hangout sequences because the vibe you see on screen is quite genuine. We were all laughing and having a good time. That being said, we also all worked insanely hard to get this thing done – we’d often shoot from 5 or 6 am to 1 or 2 am, sometimes outside, in the dead of Canadian winter. That’s insane! And everyone was up for it! Truly the best cast and crew any filmmaker could ever dream of working with.
Me: Do you recall having any odd or funny on-set stories about yourself or any of the other cast/crew members?
KW: Asking Garrett if he’d be willing to do another angle on the ice sequence after he had done the first take was pretty funny – he was like “absolutely not”. I thought we were supposed to cut right after Melina and I grab him and pull him up to land. So I stopped for a split second but Garrett and Melina weren’t breaking so I kind of panicked and thought maybe something had actually gone wrong as we brought him up further onto land. Obviously, everything was fine but there was a real moment of fear in there. He was wearing a scuba suit for warmth under his clothes, in case you were wondering. We’re not monsters!
Me: Lastly, what else are you working on that you'd like to share with our readers? Thank you again for your time!
KW: Thank you for putting up with my way too long answers! James and I are developing two more movies – both are more straightforwardly horror than this one, which I think some of your readers will be happy to hear. Lots of body horror, lots of fun pop culture influences… they’re basically the horror movies of my dreams. Now that Death Trip is out, I can’t wait for us to take what we’ve learned from this first feature and use it to make the next one the best, most unsettling and gory movie it can possibly be.
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