01x03 - The White Dress

[bunniefuu]

It'll be
quick, I promise.

Yeah, it better be.

Do you think they'll crown
me as prom queen in this?

No. Never mind.

They got to have something.

I wouldn't count on it.

Jeez.

I don't see anything.

Let's try the mall.

- Vintage is overpriced anyway.
- Okay.

You'll find one.

Come on.

Wait.

What?

It's my size.

And the lace is so pretty.

Oh, but it's way too much.

I really love it.

Maybe you should try it on.

Whoa!

You look amazing!

You think so?

Are you kidding?

It's stunning.

Hey, I'm so sorry,
I left my bag.

Love the dress.

Looks really good on you.

Thanks.

Come on.

That was definitely a flirt.

How much do you need?

Double what I have.

This better be the
nicest dress ever.

What about yours?

It's only prom, I don't care.

Really? Are you sure?

Yeah, just pay me
back over the summer.

- Thank you, thank you.
- Oh. Uh.

Hmm, yeah, yeah.
Okay, all right.

Ugh.

It's going
to smell a bit weird.

It's vintage.

I know but I didn't notice
it in the store, did you?

I would've told
you if it smelled.

I think it's okay now.

You decide on a dress yet?

My mom pulled out
the dress that I wore

at my brother's graduation.

Yes! Done it.

Hey, hey, hey, what is that?

It's a dress.

For prom.

How much did it cost?

Nothing.

Uh, I got it from Lea.

Oh, suits you.

Try not to spill anything on it.

I won't.

Mom?

Mom?

Mom?

Mom?

Rachel, what are you doing?

No, wait.

What is this doing on the floor?

Uh...

I, I don't know.

Rachel, go back to bed.

Okay.

That's messed up.

Is it too tight?

No, it fits fine.

Maybe you did
sleepwalking or something.

Does it still hurt?

Yeah, kind of.

Rachel.

Here, you left this.

- Thanks.
- No problem.

Are you guys excited
for tomorrow?

Ah, did you get that dress?

- Couldn't resist.
- Nice.

Jenny.

- See you later.
- See you.

Maybe you should forget
your book every time.

Uh.

What the hell?

What?

That's my dress.

Are you sure?

Yeah, definitely.

That's so weird.

Do you know who that is?

Yeah.

She was a few grades above us.

I think she died.

Why don't you go
back to the store?

Get a refund.

And wear what to prom?

Find something else to wear.

Hi, sorry about that.

Can I help you?

I'd like my money
back for this, please.

I'm sorry, we don't
accept returns here.

Um, if you check your
receipt, you'll see...

But there's something really
wrong with this dress.

Wrong, in what way?

I'm covered in bruises.

I'm really, really sorry but
there's nothing I can do.

Store policy.

Well, can you, at least,
tell me where it came from?

Even if I knew, I
can't give out names.

I'm sorry.

Give me a name or I'll
break your... damn wrist.

Okay, okay, jeez!

Well, get out before
I call the cops.

Oh, hey, how did it go

Not good.

Something is really wrong.

Wrong?

What do you mean?

Rachel?

Rach?

Did you find any...

I'll text you later.

Hello?

Hello?

Yes?

I'm looking for Marcus Moore.

Yes, I'm here.

Mr. Moore?

In here.

What a pretty dress.

Are you the mortician?

What are you doing in here?

I was speaking to...

How did you get in here?
You can't be in here.

You need to leave immediately.

Are you Mr. Moore?

Yes.

I need to know about this.

Why did you sell it?

I'm very sorry.

I see lot of dresses,

I've never seen that one before.

Please, there's something
wrong with this.

I need your help.

I need you to step outside.

Can things like this be haunted?

In all my years working
with the deceased,

I can assure you,

I've never encountered
a haunting.

But why has mold been...

Has anything been putting you
under a lot of stress recently?

I'm so sorry I couldn't
be of any help.

I don't think you'll be
needing this anymore.

Like, it is so out of character.

Are you okay? Where
have you been?

Why is she here?

I thought you wanted me
to stay over tonight.

Didn't you get my text?

I have a huge headache.

I need to go to bed.

Are you going to tell me

why the washing
machine is broken?

Oh, no, no, no.

It's too late.

You're going to take the couch.

Thanks.

Is there something going
on between you and Rachel?

No.

She's just nervous for prom.

Listen, if there's anything,

anything, you know that
you can talk to me, right?

Thanks.

I'm going to go
get you the sheets.

Lea's staying on the couch.

You should apologize
to her in the morning.

Mmm-hmm.

Rachel?

Rachel?

Rachel?

What is it? What's wrong?

Are you okay?

What's going on?

Just breathe.

You must've had a nightmare.

It wasn't a nightmare.

You really need to get
rid of this dress, Rach.

I'm worried about you.

Get rid of it?

Are you out of
your freaking mind?

Rach.

You don't want me to look good.

You're just a jealous b*tch.

Text me later, or don't.

It's up to you.

Ah.

Lea.

Lea.

Rachel, come on.

Lea's waiting, let's go.

Okay.

Are you sure you're okay?

I'm fine.

Want to go sit
down for a minute?

Let's go inside.

Rachel?

Rachel.

Rachel?

Lea?

Lea.

Lea.

How exactly did she die?

She was poisoned
by embalming fluid.

Coroner concluded that it
soaked in through her skin.

Soaked through from what?

I'm unsure.

But her death wouldn't
have been pleasant.

She would've likely experienced

intense hallucinations as
a result of the poisoning.

All right, she's all
ready for the cremation.

Why don't you go
take your break?

Hi.

Yes.

I think I have a piece
you'll be very interested in.

Yes.

One of a kind item.

All right, that was
The White Dress.

A classic, classic urban legend

that goes back a
number of years.

I am here with the
director now, Ethan Evans.

Hey, thank you so much.

Thank you. Thank you.

We worked together on
The Haunted Museum.

And I absolutely love your
episodes, love your direction.

- You grew up in the UK?
- Yes.

Here in America,
before the Internet,

you grow up in a
town, in high school,

and someone's like, "Dude, this
girl put on a white dress for prom,

but it was a dead
person's dress.

And then she became possessed.

The girl tried to k*ll her.

And anyone who wore
the dress died.

That's a real dress."

Like everybody swore
that it was real.

But they knew one
person who knew someone.

There was like one or
two degrees removed.

Did that happen in the UK?

It was more ghost
stories, you know.

There's a lot of, like you were
saying, people thinking they're true.

It's kind of like a
game of telephone where,

you know, the best bits stick

and everyone's going around the
playground, sharing these stories.

It feels like...

Urban legends feel
very American, I think.

Obviously, in
choosing the stories,

there's so many to choose from,

but one of the things I
loved about The White Dress,

is that it has, kind of,
classic ghost story imagery.

There's something about
the mix of the urban legend

and the classic ghost story
that I absolutely love.

Had you heard the story
of The White Dress before?

And what excited
you about the story?

And what were you most
excited to sh**t in it?

I'd never heard
the story before,

but it's really interesting
when you read into it.

I think it's known as, like, one of
the oldest American urban legends.

And I think, for me, when I
read it for the first time,

the word that stood out
to me was, "Mortician."

Just the idea that, it feel
like a classic ghost tale.

The idea that this mortician

would steal dresses from
corpses and sell them on.

But at the same time, it feels like
something that could actually happen.

Which is, you know, are
the best urban legends.

Yeah, they live
in that space of:

it sounds so crazy, but
is also still possible.

I recently went to a true
crime museum and I I saw this,

it was this beautiful dress and I
went up and read the description.

And it told the story about how
this was a British serial k*ller,

wore this dress and
m*rder*d, like, 100 children.

And suddenly, I got, you know,
shivers going through my body.

It was like, it
was so interesting,

the psychology of how such a
beautiful but mundane object

can, you know, hold so
much power and energy.

And that's exactly the
first thing I thought of

when I read this urban legend.

It's, "We can have so
much fun playing with this

and crafting these
ghostly scares

and really getting
under people's skin."

Well, there is something about your
clothing that is so your identity.

Our clothing is how
we express ourselves

and telegraph to others who we
are and what our intention is,

or hide it or disguise it.

And there is something, I think,
people love buying vintage clothes,

but every time you put on
something that's 100 years old,

you think, "Who else wore this
and what was their life like?

And how did they die?"

You go into a vintage store,

and you have no idea the history
of what you're picking up.

And like you say,
for all we know,

maybe someone, you know, has
m*rder*d someone in this, you know?

That's a terrifying thought.

And, I think, that's definitely

something we wanted to get
across through this episode,

is that history and putting a
lot of focus on the dress itself.

What was the most challenging scene
for you to sh**t in this episode?

I think perhaps the cl*max,

which is this...

It's quite a big scene
set in a bathroom stall.

There's quite a lot of action,
and there's stunts as well,

and trying to suddenly flip.

At that moment,

she goes from being quite quiet,
to herself within the scene,

and then, suddenly, exploding
and attacking someone,

strangling and screaming.

And I think there's
so much that went into that

and I think that was
probably challenging

just based on getting
the performance there,

and focus really heavily
on safe stunts, you know.

I think that was a lot for...

This was Leslie's first film
as well that she'd done,

so she was so committed
and gave it her all.

And thanks to the team.

We had such an amazing team.

Such a daunting scene felt
like such a joy to film.

How much do you shot list?

How much do you storyboard?

How much do you just show
up and figure it out?

For me, I've got OCD.

In the real sense, not the,
kind of, cleaning sense.

And so that means that
feeds into my directing,

and so I, just my mind works.

I just have to be so
specific about everything.

Which can be really
draining at times

because I do multiple
drafts for shot list,

you know, storyboard everything.

I'm a big believer of that
your film or your episode

is only as good as
you're planning.

Do you draw the storyboards?

Do you have a storyboard
artist you work with?

I just do them myself.

And my dad's an artist,

and you'd never guess that looking at
my storyboards, because they're all...

Yeah, I've, like, my mom's
an artist and it's like...

- Yeah.
- It's like caveman paintings.

As long as you can get the
idea across to like the DP

and show, "This is what
I'm, kind of, looking for.

Maybe there's a push
in here, a two shot..."

Or, you know, as long as you can get
that information across, I think.

It really helps as well, on the
day when you're pushed for time,

you're just scanning through
the shot list and you can see,

you know, still of what
you're trying to achieve

just at a glance.

Is there a formula
you use for different,

- for building tension and scare?
- Yeah.

It's more about showing the
environment a character is in

as opposed to their reaction,

because that way, you place the
audience as if they're really there.

You know, it's almost
becomes a documentary,

you're experiencing it
as the character is.

And I think, at the same tim
reactions are so important.

So it's about spending the time,

making sure you get
the actor there as well

so it's such a technical thing,

and it's something I'm
still learning about.

Breaking down what
makes a good scare?

I've got like a
200-page document

where I've just broken
down various horror films.

And, you know, "What's the
key scares? And what happens?

What techniques do they use?

What works, what doesn't?"

And then, like, a
little conclusion about,

basically, what
my thoughts were.

Was that successful, was it not?

I'm such a fan of your work.

I'm really excited to see
where your career goes.

Thank you so much.
It means the world.

Especially, coming from
you because, you know,

I've grown up watching
all your films.

Thank you, I feel
really old now.

No, it's okay.

No, honestly, I think I'm still

recovering from
Hostel, to be honest.

- Great.
- Yeah, it was definitely one

where I sat in the shower
afterwards and thought,

you know, "What is
life? This is amazing."

Well, that's well, you know,

hopefully, your films
are going to do that

to someone else out there.

Hopefully, some young viewer
is completely traumatized

in the shower now
going, "Oh God."

- I know.
- "What am I going to do?"

I hope so. I hope so.