Glass Eye Pix has tried to save the world before. Our track record is not good; just look at us now. But we’ve made a little art along the way.
In 2004 we endeavored to process the dumpster-fire that was the George W. Bush first term in office and stave off a repeat performance with a free comicbook chronicling the abuses. An extraordinary use of the artistry of artist Brahm Revel who illustrated daily blog posts by Fessenden, (check them out) and the editing skills of James Felix McKenney.
We’ve made no such effort this election cycle as contributing to the noise seems like its own form of cultural collapse but we hope you’ll do your part by engaging with the issues in a productive way.
Kinda a “nowhere to turn” scenario aint it? Kinda why we make horror movies.
“weird and wild… a truly subversive work of art.” — SHOCK CINEMA
We follow Marc (Don Wood) a homicidal maniac driven by demons buried deep within his soul, and Wendy (Christine Spencer) Marc’s polar opposite who lives life fast and hard without a second’s thought to the consequences. Their separate paths will eventually cross, but will it be on the road to salvation or the highway to hell?
CAST: Don Wood, Christine Spencer, Angus Scrimm, Reggie Bannister, Debbie Rochon, Michael Berryman, Larry Fessenden
The Lunachicks, New York City’s legendary punk rock heroines, reflect on their crusade for equality as they hurtle towards a spectacular 20-year reunion. Unsung superheroes of the 1990s independent rock world and a force of nature, they inspired generations of young women with their musical chops, Spinal Tap-like antics, and uncensored defiance of the sexist status quo. Now, 30 years after their teenage debut, we meet Gina, Theo, Squid and Sindi as they convene to write their memoir, Fallopian Rhapsody. Interweaving contemporary vérité footage shot over eight years with archival video and a candy-coloured palette of photos, art and music, this feature documentary brings the band’s history to life while following their poignant and triumphant journey back to the stage.
Brooklyn Horror Film Festival ends today after another fantastic week-long run. Thanks for including me and honoring the work that Glass Eye Pix gets done. Thanks to Jenn Wexler for emceeing. And thanks for the bloodbag cocktails. See y’all next year… if we make it to next year. ~Larry
McCarthy-era paranoia. The AIDs epidemic. Post-9/11 Trauma. Scary movies have always reflected our biggest fears … and spun them into box office gold.These are frightening times. Of this, there is no doubt. We may even believe there’s never been more to fear. And for some populations, that’s true. But humanity has always lived in frightening times.
Since we first cast shadows onto cavern walls, we’ve made things to fear. Over time, those shadows evolved into performers donning masks, authors putting ink to paper, and filmmakers harnessing technology to project our nightmares onto the screen as we returned to our cave-dwelling roots to sit in the dark with others. We are a horror people. And as the world has gotten scarier, horror has been there to reflect back our fears.
The rise of Hollywood and independent filmmaking in the 20th century created a lasting dialogue between what we see in the fear-seeking news, and what films are made in response. Early American horror movies of the mid-1920s and 30s, particularly those produced by Universal Studios, brought the great literary tales of horror and folklore to the silver screen. The Phantom of the Opera (1925), Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1931), The Invisible Man (1933), Werewolf of London (1935), and all of their various sequels and crossovers through the ‘40s were tied to European stories and history, providing motion pictures with a level of prestige and literary merit, until the sequels started getting sillier and sillier, though nonetheless charming.
… Larry Fessenden, who had been making short films since the late ’70s, hit the feature film scene with No Telling (1991), an environmentally and ethically concerned Frankenstein story, and Habit (1997), a raw reimagining of vampire lore through the lens of addiction. … Even familiar subgenres popularized in the ’70s were given a new vibrancy in films like Karyn Kusama’s The Invitation (2015), which looked at grief through the lens of a suicide cult, just as cult personalities attempted to control America. Jenn Wexler’s punk-slasher The Ranger(2018) centered on a group of teens making a stand for their own space in America as a deranged park ranger attempts to enforce rules of patriarchal oppression.
… While fans of IP-shackled sci-fi and superhero movies are crying “woke” at every turn, horror has carved out enough seats at the table for everyone to have a voice, and those voices are growing louder.
So, what’s next? Where will the 2020s go from here? What can we expect from the 2030s? America faces a major turning point in just a few weeks. It would be nice to have fewer things to fear, but regardless of the outcome, we’ll do what we have always done. We’ll cast shadows and somehow, once again, we will manage to find ways to explore fears.
Glass Eye Pix is the fierce independent NYC-based production outfit headed by award-winning art-horror auteur Larry Fessenden with the mission of supporting individual voices in the arts. Read more...
