TALES FROM BEYOND THE PALE
launches “loss-less” versions of every Tale on BANDCAMP

Special re-mix of
Glenn McQuaid’s INT. COFFIN – NIGHT available now

The lads have a chat about the new project:

Larry Fessenden: Glenn can you tell the fans why this new platform for TALES? Why Bandcamp and what is “Lossless audio?”

Glenn McQuaid: When it comes to Tales from Beyond the Pale, every detail counts, I’m most proud of all the nuances and subtleties that go into our final mixes but it’s fair to say that a lot of the stuff we spend hours trying to get just right in the studio can get muddied once the files are compressed for streaming. Releasing the work as lossless audio ensures all of these details are preserved and the listener can hear the work without any loss of fidelity.

I also think that Bandcamp is an incredible platform, there is so much fun content on there from every genre of music as well audio drama (check out our UK friends on there, Bafflegab, their work is amazing) and it’s a place where listeners can choose to support the artists directly. As you know I make music as Witchboard (goth) and Luke Fuller (gay porn soundtracks) and a few other nom-de-plumes and I love the community of bandcamp creators and consumers.

LF: And to launch our new platform, we are re-releasing your recent Tale “Int. Coffin – Night”. Why re-cut/re-release a Tale?

GM: I listened to the original release of Coffin a few months back and felt it wasn’t up to our usual standards and given that it has no dialogue I felt it was especially important to get it right. I initially thought I’d go in and just do a re-edit and clean up some sounds but it ended up being much more involved than that. I went back to the original studio performance of Grace Cooper and chose different takes and recorded and added new foley, and changed the score. It’s fun to consider this one our first Director’s Cut even though there was no studio interference which that label suggests.

LF: So there’s no dialogue. How did you come to that approach?

GM:A few reasons, the pettiest being that a group of dull people in the business told me it wasn’t possible so I set out to prove them wrong. Another reason is that I find there’s an overuse of the narrator in the format these days and I wanted to kick against that. I also think there’s too much descriptive exposition in dialogue, “Look over there, I see a *insert detailed description here*…” kind of stuff.

Letting go of the dialogue forced me to consider soundscapes in new ways, they’re not just background here, they tell the story.

I release field recording/nature sound records (Glenn McQuaid’s Excursions in Sound) and in a way Int. Coffin – Night. is an extension of those records and I wanted it to be enjoyed almost as an environmental record too. The new edit takes its time, there are moments of trudging across a river, or walking through woods that were initially a lot shorter, the new cut is less impatient with the journey and allows these moments to open up and become much more lush and immersive.

As you say in the intro it requires that the listener give it their undivided attention, which is a lot to ask of modern audiences but it’s a puzzle box of sorts and it’ll open up if one gives it some focus. We’ve always pushed ourselves to try new things and this one certainly does that, I’m proud of it, I think it’s a terrific gothic horror and could make a great silent movie one day!

LF: Very nice job, Glenn. I hope fellow audiophiles will visit the Bandcamp site. Our low-fi friends can shuffle on over to our regular podcast sight where we’ve made the new INT. COFFIN – NIGHT is available.

And now back to the TALES HQ where we are slaving away on the new season…

TALES FROM BEYOND THE PALE on BANDCAMP

INT. COFFIN – NIGHT revised at the TALES podcast

TALES FROM BEYOND THE PALE podcast

CHECK OUT THE PROGRAM, NOTES AND ARTICLES

Launch Party at Posteritati

photos by Stan Oh

A Low-Budget Ratpocalypse – The Underrated NYC Horror Movie ‘Mulberry Street’

Apocalyptic infection flicks rarely show the initial chaos of their respective outbreaks. In fact, most zombie movies tend to skip over the downfall of civilization entirely, focusing on what happens after society has already collapsed. And even when these stories dare to take place during the immediate aftermath of a global crisis, most filmmakers (like George A. Romero in his seminal Night of the Living Dead) prefer to place their main characters in isolated locations where they’re only shown brief snippets of how the rest of the world is dealing with the calamity.

Obviously, there’s a simple explanation for this. Large scale stories need large scale production budgets and few studios are willing to bet that amount of money on a gory genre flick. Even World War Z had to be tragically neutered in order to justify its blockbuster financing, and indie filmmakers can’t exactly pay out of pocket to afford the special effects necessary to convey a global disaster.

Fortunately, there are exceptions to every rule, and every now and then ambitious filmmakers attempt to tackle large stories despite a lack of resources, with some of them succeeding precisely because of their down-to-earth approach to the downfall of civilization. One of my personal favorites of these low budget apocalypses is Jim Mickle’s tragically underseen Mulberry Street, a unique little infection movie from 2006 that revamps a familiar premise to make a statement about gentrification in New York.

While he’s now mostly known for his work on Stakeland and the Netflix comic-book adaptation Sweet Tooth, Mickle was once a freelancing film student who found himself working on amateur productions until he met future collaborator Nick Damici. Hitting it off with the writer/actor due to their shared love of genre movies, the duo decided to team up for a minimalist zombie film that would harken back to the manic energy and social commentary of Romero’s early work. As the scope of the project grew and the team accrued more investors, the proposed story changed into something more original.

Read Full Bloody Disgusting Article HERE

#15 HABIT

By Andrea Ballerin

Written, edited, and directed by Larry Fessenden, who also stars as the main protagonist, Habit is an independent take on the vampire genre that has become a cult over the years. Sam (Fessenden) leads a nonconformist lifestyle in New York, fuelled by the use of alcohol and drugs. One night, he meets a mysterious woman called Anna (Meredith Snaider), and everything changes.

Habit is characterized by an amazing and grainy representation of New York, elevated by great use of neon lights and handheld camera movements. At the same time, the urban and cultural environment that Fessenden can re-create for the movie pushes the stylistic level further. Habit still remains a haunting masterpiece that few know.

Read whole list at MOVIEWEB

From Movie Web:

Supermassive Games are known for developing games that focus on a deep narrative, in which the player is able to change along the way. However, the most popular and recognizable instance of this is the interactive drama-horror, Until Dawn. The cast of characters is trapped at an isolated cabin spot, where they must survive until they are rescued at dawn. The game has a lot of scares, but the basis is pretty simple and similar to most slasher films. There is a big scary guy following them around, and traps set all over Blackwood Mountain, where they were staying and hoping to have a good time.

Until Dawn is not to just be taken at surface level, because there are a lot of twists and turns to the story, and shocking revelations to be made. When the player discovers the truth about what is happening, the game almost swaps horror genres entirely to provide some less-than-human spooks, and that is part of what makes this title feel so special. While it would not be the most innovative horror movie of all time, it has a good enough narrative to be compelling in the format, and there is not always a need to reinvent the wheel.

Someone good at creating suspense and a large group of interesting characters is Mike Flanagan, who can be credited for the Haunting anthology series and Midnight Mass. Flanagan has shown a distaste for jump scares (outside of breaking a record revolving around them), so it would be interesting to see Until Dawn adapted in a way that deviates from video game clichés, and displays it as a more serious title. Until Dawn also has a prequel called The Inpatient, which would be a no-brainer addition to the horror franchise if it were to ever be brought to cinema.

Glass Eye Pix remembers fondly the evening
Lance Reddick appeared with us on-stage in Los Angeles CA, 2014.
Join us in appreciating his remarkable voice
and the gentle humor of these performances.

CONVICTION by Glenn McQuaid
Performed Live October 29, 2014: During a weekend away with his powerful grandfather, a young boy grapples with enlightenment and demons.
Cast: Lance Reddick, Cooper Roth, AJ Bowen, Pat Healy, Larry Fessenden, Clay McLeod Chapman.

THE VAMPIRE PARTY by Larry Fessenden
Performed Live October 29, 2014: Two independent filmmakers choose the wrong party to attend while promoting their scary movie in Los Angeles.
Cast: Lance Reddick, AJ Bowen, Pat Healy, Larry Fessenden, Clay McLeod Chapman, Roxanne Benjamin.

The reviews are in for Ted Geoghegan’s supernatural period piece, BROOKLYN 45.
After its World Premier at SXSW 2023.

“One of the most rewarding and impressive genre films of the year so far”
– Paste Magazine

“Great Performances Elevate This Haunting WWII-Era Ghost Story”
– The Playlist

“… Phenomenal Larry Fessenden, who gets one of the best scenes
of his career in an emotional monologue early in this one”
– RogerEbert.com

“Fessenden in particular turns in a magnificently subdued performance”
– Screen Anarchy

After the end of World War II, a group of battle-hardened, old friends get together in the Brooklyn brownstone of their colonel (Larry Fessenden), who has suffered a monumental loss upon coming home from the war. They sit down for cocktails, those cocktails very quickly turn into an impromptu séance.

Starring Anne Ramsay, Ron E. Rains, Jeremy Holm, Ezra Buzzington, Kristina Klebe and Fessenden.

Written and Directed by Ted Geoghegan.

92% On Rotten Tomatoes

writer director Ted Geoghegan, Fessenden, & Jeremy Holm (THE RANGER, BLACKOUT)

joined by Anne Ramsey and Kristina Klebe

and the whole BROOKLYN 45 Gang at the SXSW World Premiere March 12 2023