Tom Laverack and Larry Fessenden recording at The Madhouse,
the Long Island studio of drummer and producer Mark Ambrosino.
Laverack and Fessenden have played and recorded
in various incarnations as Just Desserts since 1987.

By Tyler Eschberger

Back in March of this year the landmark 1943 film Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (dir. Roy William Neill) made its debut. In honor of the film’s 80th birthday, let’s have some fun celebrating the first big screen monster bash.

The Universal Monsters, particularly the trifecta of Dracula, Frankenstein, and The Wolf Man, are some of the most recognizable icons in pop culture, let alone film.

The legacy of Universal’s horror output from the 1930s and 40s has reached every corner of the zeitgeist. The visage of Bela Lugosi’s Dracula, Boris Karloff’s Monster, and Lon Chaney Jr’s Wolf Man have reached a point of cultural saturation that few fictional characters ever reach.

One of the most remembered films from this cycle is of course, Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man. It’s hardly a new or astute observation to connect today’s mega blockbuster shared universe franchises with the Universal Horror films. While the first ever cinematic crossover was actually all the way back in 1910 with the French serial Arsène Lupin contra Sherlock Holmes – where fictional French thief Lupin met with Conan-Doyle’s iconic detective, Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man was the first film to cement the idea into popular consciousness.

The novelty of the film must have been something quite special at the time and watching it today through the lens of where franchise filmmaking is now makes it even more interesting outside of being a rather solid film in its own right.

The myriad behind the scenes stories and histories of the Universal Monster films are more detailed and involved than the films themselves, and Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man has a fair share of fun and interesting tidbits to discuss.

Read more at Bloody Disgusting!

11/18/23: Full House Screening of Richard Sandler’s THE GODS OF TIMES SQUARE
followed by Q&A hosted by producer Fessenden
followed by Scorsese film KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON.

Rollout of THE GODS OF TIMES SQUARE continues in venues across the country
Presented by Elara Pictures and The Film Desk

“Once upon a time, town squares were comment sections, where people brave enough to shout their opinions did it face to face.  There is no stronger belief than one’s faith, and what used to be Times Square was a town square on steroids.  As the 20th century came to an end, we entered the corporatized Y2K age.  Spirituality seemed an essential grounding force, something to unify us.  But whose God is supreme? What is God? What is God’s place in the digital age? When Disney invaded Times Square it went up against the smut.  It was a magnet for all things good and bad.  It was hell with attractions.  I still secretly wished to be yelled at whenever I enter Times Square…” – Josh Safdie

Come Join Josh Saftie and Fessenden present the screening of Richard Sandler’s sprawling documentary chronicling the transition of 42nd street from seedy to cheesy in the last days of the 20th century amidst a cocophony of street preachers and philosophizers.

“One of the most entertaining documentaries I’ve ever seen”
—Film Threat

The untold story behind NYC’s most legendary group of punk rock heroines, ‘Pretty Ugly’ follows the Lunachicks from the 1980s to today, as their lifelong bond and continued crusade for equality propels them towards a highly-anticipated reunion. 

ILYA CHAIKEN is an award-winning filmmaker whose debut feature ‘Margarita Happy Hour’ premiered to overwhelming acclaim at the Sundance and Toronto Film Festivals (2001). Her second feature “Liberty Kid” (Kino Lorber) also garnered raves and won Best Picture at the NY Latino Film Festival (2007). Her films received widespread distribution and were broadcast on HBO and the Sundance Channel. Her numerous short films include “The 100 Lovers of Jesus Reynolds” (Sundance, 2004). She won a Princess Grace Foundation Award for Artistic Excellence and subsequently produced her web series ‘The Unlovables’, starring Kevin Corrigan and Eleanor Hutchins.

PRETTY UGLY was made in association with Glass Eye Pix, joining remarkable GEP DOCS including THE GODS OF TIME SQUARE, AMERICAN JESUS, BIRTH OF THE LIVING DEAD, and MARKIE IN MILWAUKEE.

From Clark Collis at Entertainment Weekly:

… The Sacrifice Game is Wexler’s second horror movie after 2018’s Levine-starring The Ranger. The director started thinking about the project a decade ago while working at Glass Eye Pix, the film company founded by director and indie horror legend Larry Fessenden (Habit, the upcoming werewolf movie Blackout).

“I was really inspired by Larry, really inspired by the movies they were making,” says Wexler, who cowrote The Sacrifice Game with her real-life partner Sean Redlitz. “I was doing marketing and social media for Glass Eye but I was like, oh, if I ever got the opportunity to make a movie what would be my dream movie? I wanted it to take place at a boarding school, because I grew up in suburban New Jersey, and I went to public high school, and the boarding school aesthetic always seemed romantic and mysterious to me. I thought it would be really fun to clash that setting with these Mansonesque cult killers because I read Helter Skelter as a teenager.”

Wexler wrote the first draft of the movie’s screenplay back in 2013 but then shelved the project when she realized she needed to “learn how to make movies first. After producing several movies for Glass Eye, I decided to make The Ranger as my first feature because I realized that would be way easier to achieve than The Sacrifice Game. Then I dove back into the script for The Sacrifice Game and also brought my now-husband on for the ride cowriting it with me.”

The Sacrifice Game has been well-received on the genre festival circuit since the film received its world premiere at Montreal’s Fantasia Festival in July. Wexler says that the “coolest thing” for her is “when people come up to me and are like, this is the kind of movie I wish I had when I was a teenager. Because that’s why I wanted to make it. When I was 13-years-old, I would have loved a movie like this.”

The Sacrifice Game will stream on Shudder from Dec. 8.

Watch the film’s trailer exclusively at Entertainment Weekly.

from Jack White’s Instagram post of Nov 12:
“What an honor it was to be able to work with the great Martin Scorsese again on his new film Killers of the Flower Moon. We first met on The Rolling Stones live film that he directed. To also be able to create with the incredible actors Larry Fessenden, Welker White (no relation!) and J.C. McKenzie? well it was an embarrassment of riches to say the least. Thank you to all these artists and casting director Ellen Lewis and of course to Marty for thinking of me.” -JWIII.

officialjackwhite

Fessenden and Garay on set of new James Siewert (PAST INSIDE THE PRESENT,
cinematographer of LIKE ME, THE RANGER, DEPRAVED) short flick!
Produced by Chris Skotchdopole.

Jack Fessenden’s war triptych FOXHOLE now streaming

Hoping the SAG AFTRA strike has ended,
GEP salutes actors with stories from our archives

Ron Perlman on acting
Ron Perlman discusses how he began acting, GUYS AND DOLLS, and his father

Behind The Curtain
the GEP Radio Show doc features numerous actors commenting on the unique project

Rigo Garay Minidoc
a GEP filmworker graduates to director to actor in three new Glass Eye Pix films.

John Speredakos Minidoc
Speredakos offers an actor’s view of the collaborations and collaborators of Glass Eye Pix.