Krsy Fox in Spider One's LITTLE BITES. Courtesy of Andy Patch. An RLJE Films and Shudder Release
Krsy Fox in Spider One's LITTLE BITES. Courtesy of Andy Patch. An RLJE Films and Shudder Release.

Spider One is well-known for founding the rock group Powerman 5000, but he also has a busy film career. His latest film, Little Bites, is a Shudder exclusive starring Krsy Fox, Jon Sklaroff, Heather Langenkamp, Barbara Crampton, Chaz Bono, Bonnie Aarons, and Elizabeth Caro.

The film follows Mindy, “a young widow and mother who desperately tries to protect her daughter Alice from the grips of a fiendish, flesh-eating monster named Agyar. Mindy has been secretly sacrificing her own life by allowing the creature to slowly feast on her body as she keeps Alice hidden away at her grandmother’s home.”

We talked with Spider One and Krsy Fox about Little Bites, now streaming on Shudder.

HGL: I wanted to ask about your work dynamic. Are there challenges to drawing a line between personal and professional, or does it happen naturally?

Spider One: I honestly think it’s a little of both. It’s one thing I really appreciate working with Krsy as an actor; she’s a pro. I don’t even know if anybody would necessarily know on set that we’re together because we’re also working so hard in so many hours of the day that there’s no time to do much else.

We try to set that aside. But then I think the special part of being together and making these is we do have that extra level of connection. If one of us is struggling in a moment or a particularly difficult scene, we can…

Krsy Fox: Get a hug (laughs).

We keep it really professional on set because not only is he directing this particular film, and I’m the lead actor, but we’re also producers running the set. It’s very important that people know that they can rely on us at all times. We work with the same crew on everything we do. So it makes it a lot more of a family feel.

But, yeah, he’s a super professional director. And I don’t even think about it. I just think like you should as an actor; I want to make him happy. I want him to be happy when he calls cut. And I want to make sure the scene is exactly right.

We’re actually lucky, honestly; we don’t have a ton of issues. Certainly, once we get into postproduction and we’re both tired, there’ll be a few moments. When we’re home alone editing the film, that’s a whole other story. We’re arguing about every frame (laughs). We have immense respect for each other. We also really both love horror and love a lot of the same films.

Jon Sklaroff in Spider One's LITTLE BITES. Courtesy of Andy Patch. An RLJE Films and Shudder Release
Jon Sklaroff in Spider One’s LITTLE BITES. Courtesy of Andy Patch. An RLJE Films and Shudder Release.

HGL: With the creature, I kept trying to get a better look in early scenes. Can you talk about the design and makeup? It was all practical effects, right?

Spider One: Yeah, 100 percent. We had a very specific thing we were going for because anyone who sees this movie is going to see that he’s a monster, but he’s very human. And he’s intelligent and articulate and manipulative and very unique. I think he exists in a unique space in the monster world. So, it was very important to not overload Jon (Sklaroff) with a prosthetic too many. This is a true acting job. We needed this performance to shine through.

As you sort of alluded to, I had a very specific way of how we slowly reveal him more and more throughout the movie. It is directly influenced by Apocalypse Now and the scenes with Marlon Brando. The lighting in that film is so brilliant in the way we never really quite see the character fully until the end. And with Agyar, that was a very specific choice.

In the very first scene, we barely see anything but the top of his head. By the end of the movie, we finally reveal what he looks like full body. So it was really a challenge, but also very, very fun. We had such a great makeup team.

Krsy Fox: Yeah, our makeup artists, Ken Calhoun and Ashley Stansbury, did all the effects, and they just did such an incredible job. Ken made the teeth himself by hand. He molded those teeth. It was so important for this to feel like a unique character we hadn’t seen before. Everyone took their job so seriously. And the bites, they molded the bites from those actual teeth. All the little details that maybe no one will ever see.

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HGL: I want to ask about the impressive cast, which stars Barbara Crampton, Chaz Bono, Heather Langenkamp, and Bonnie Aarons. How did everyone come together for Little Bites?

Spider One: That’s really a bonus because all these actors are our friends first. But you always want to cast the right person for the role, and we never want anything to feel like stunt casting. They’re all incredibly talented, and we put them in roles that, quite honestly, are sort of unexpected for each person. I think that adds to the impact of having them in the movie.

It’s also very personally satisfying to get to a point in movies you’re making where you’re involving people you are fans of and grew up watching. So, yeah, it’s very exciting.

Krsy Fox: Yeah, it’s really special. Even with Chaz, I think Chaz could not have been more perfectly cast. We’re lucky he’s part of our production team as well. But I just think he was just so amazing in it. And he was the levity you didn’t know you needed in that movie.

HGL: Agreed, I thought he had a standout performance. When I saw Bonnie Aarons cast, I wasn’t sure if she would play a creature, but it’s nice seeing her outside of makeup.

Krsy Fox: It was a personal dream for Bonnie and I. Bonnie and I are very close friends. She says she’s my daughter’s other grandma. We always wanted to play mother-daughter in something. When this script came along, I was like, you know, I think this might be the moment.

Bonnie has such a strong personality and presence. She was totally a great choice for this mother character, just because she had to have such a presence.

Krsy Fox and Elizabeth Caro in Spider One's LITTLE BITES. Courtesy of Andy Patch. An RLJE Films and Shudder Release
Krsy Fox and Elizabeth Caro in Spider One’s LITTLE BITES. Courtesy of Andy Patch. An RLJE Films and Shudder Release.

HGL: Absolutely. Lastly, I wanted to ask about Elizabeth Caro, who played the daughter. She’s been heavily involved with Disney Junior and such, so this is quite a change of pace. How did she do with the horror elements?

Spider One: When you cast a child, the old adage, what is it? Don’t work with animals or children or whatever. This girl was so pro. We did a Zoom meeting with her because the first thing you want to do is make sure you’re okay with the content. She was just like, “Yeah, whatever. It’s fine. I’ve seen The Conjuring.” She was just so mature for her age when we shot. She was only 11 years old and handled the pace, the tone, and the content of this movie. She never needed a second take. I mean, I would make her do one just so the adults didn’t feel bad. (laughs)

But there is a scene at the end of the movie, which I won’t give away, that I realized I hadn’t really considered that an 11-year-old girl might not understand what’s happening here. But she was game, and her parents thought it was hilarious.

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Krsy Fox: We would have the best time, too. She’s such a fun little light. It’s always scary having a young person because you don’t know what you’re going to get. She really loved horror, and she and her dad and her mom, they’re all into it.

It was fun in between takes. We’d be rehearsing our lines like Valley Girls and then snap into it. The kid would have a tear running down her face… what the hell? Where did you come from? (laughs)

HGL: Well, I’m sure she has some fun stories from the set. Thanks for your time, and Krsy, I look forward to seeing you in Terrifier 3.

Krsy Fox: Don’t eat before you watch it!

HGL: Oh, I’ve learned my lesson with those films.

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