Larry Fessenden – 6WH

As a director and producer, Larry Fessenden has a reputation as the patron saint of indie horror, but he’s probably much better known as character actor. He’s worked with tons of indie darlings, like Kelly Reichardt and Jim Jarmusch, but also big name folks like Martin Scorsese. In the past year alone, he’s been in Killers of the Flower Moon, MaXXXine, and Brooklyn 45 (amongst others). He’s mentored lots of young horror directors, notably Ti West and Jim Mickle, and probably others I don’t even know about.

Up until this week, the only Fessenden-directed film I’d seen was Habit. Ostensibly a vampire movie, it’s actually much more of a personal drama about addiction than anything else. After having watched a few more of Fessenden’s movies, this sort of genre mashup seems to be a common theme. Most horror genre hybrids veer more towards the sci-fi horror (we’ll tackle some of that later in the 6WH) or comedic horror, but Fessenden tends to prefer mixing drama and horror. He clearly has an affection for the genre, so unlike some of the prominent “elevated horror” entries of recent years, his films never seem like they’re embarrassed by their horror trappings, even if the focus might be more on the drama side. It’s an intriguing blend, so let’s take a look at a few:

Six Weeks of Halloween: Week 3 – Larry Fessenden

• Silver Bullet (Robot Chicken)
• Werewolf Women of the SS (fake trailer)
• Wolf Guy: Enraged Lycanthrope (trailer)

Blackout – Small town artist Charlie develops a sneaking suspicion that his blackouts might not be caused by his binge drinking habit, but rather the thought that he’s actually a werewolf.

This is less of an original take on werewolves than he’s done with vampires in the aforementioned Habit, or Frankenstein in Depraved (see below), but it’s still reasonably well done. Of course, the werewolf story is set on the backdrop of a small town suffering under the thumb of a local power-hungry businessman who wants to build a resort despite potential environmental impacts (this guy is also an anti-immigration racist, despite the fact that he needs those folks to build his resort). Charlie feels strongly about the whole situation, but is mostly powerless to stop it, much like he can’t resist the full moon.

It’s a solid production, decent acting, plenty of low-key werewolf effects. It’s a low budget affair, so don’t expect incredible transformation shots or CGI movements, but the simple makeup works well enough, and Alex Hurt has the physicality to pull it off as well. Fessenden also uses our protagonist’s paintings in quasi-animated sequences (a pretty effective way to get around budget constraints).

The small town politics of the movie are ham-fisted and the writing is a bit melodramatic, but it’s got an earnestness to it that is hard not to appreciate. It’s not his best work, but it’s still interesting and it looks like he’s actually trying to set up a crossover with Depraved (mild spoiler, I guess, and I’m a little hesitant on this, but there’s precedent for the Wolf Man meeting Frankenstein after all, so why not). **1/2

• Frankenstein’s Fiance (Robot Chicken)
• Frankenhooker (trailer)
• Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (trailer)

Depraved – An Iraq war field surgeon with PTSD creates a living human out of body parts in his Brooklyn lab. As per usual, Fessenden loads this premise up with other themes, including ruminations on fatherhood and, of course, plenty of criticism of the pharmaceutical industry.

Fessenden is stylistically more playful here, despite the obvious low budget. This sort of DIY aesthetic can come off cheesy at times, but once again, the movie’s earnest nature forgives a lot, and the notion that he’s playing off of James Whale’s 1931 Frankenstein (more than the book) also helps. It’s a tad too long, drags a bit in the middle, and even once the “monster” escapes and engages in some monstering, there’s some awkward clunkiness, but the ending picks up considerably and ties things together well.

David Call and Alex Breaux give solid performances as the doctor and his creation, respectively, but Joshua Leonard steals the show as a tightly wound businessman hoping to reap the rewards of a new drug that made the whole thing possible (how he’ll do this given the clearly illegal nature of the experiment is left unanswered, despite literally being brought up in the movie). It’s nice to see that someone from The Blair Witch Project has made a career for himself, but still manages to seek out interesting roles like this one.

This is a better, more original take on an old story than Blackout. It’s a bit shaggy and clumsy at times and a little overlong, but it’s got a lot of heart. **1/2

• Pet Sematary (trailer)
• The Blair Witch Project (trailer)
• How the Blair Witch Project Should Have Ended (short)

Wendigo – A family on their way to spend some time at a country farmhouse hits a deer on the road, an accident that runs afoul of the local hunters who were tracking the deer and are now upset that their prey has been taken from them. This incident kicks off a feud that eventually conjures up the spirit of a Wendigo, a mythical, voracious, shape-shifting creature from Native American folklore.

The usual Fessenden pattern asserts itself: this wintery horror atmosphere with some light cryptid mythology is really just a backdrop for an exploration of modern manhood. It touches on the country/city divide that drives a lot of this sort of thing, but also gives three perspectives. City slicker George (played by Jake Weber) has his manly confidence shaken by the confrontation. Boorish country bumpkin Otis is humiliated by losing his deer kill and then getting scolded by George’s wife, played by Patricia Clarkson. George’s young son, played by Erik Per Sullivan (Dewey from Malcolm in the Middle), also finds himself unsettled by the encounter, which manifests as nightmares about Otis and later, the Wendigo. It turns out that there’s more simmering underneath the surface of the conflict, with potentially tragic consequences.

This is another film shot on a shoestring budget, but which manages an effective snowy atmosphere. The more stylized dream sequences or hallucinations rely mostly on editing and quick cuts, which are less effective, but work well enough. The Wendigo doesn’t really show up until late in the movie, and even then it feels more symbolic than literal. As an allegory for the various crises of masculinity the movie is going for, the Wendigo is actually a pretty good fit though, and I think this is probably the most successful of the three Fessenden movies I watched this week. ***

An interesting filmmaker for sure, though probably not for everyone. Next up, Sci-Fi Horror (this will be, ah, a kinda loose definition of sci-fi) and maybe some Scary Movies or televised 6WH action.