Two years after Fessenden’s “N is for Nexus” appeared in ABCs of Death 2 comes the newest installment of the franchise, ABCs of Death 2 ½ . This bloody collection features 26 of the best competition entries for the “guest director” spot in ABCs of Death 2, including GEP pal Eric Pennycoff’s “M is for Mariachi.” Available August 2nd on Vimeo, pre-order now: https://vimeo.com/
Stuart Gordon lists Fessenden’s “N is for Nexus” as one of his top ABCs OF DEATH 2 segments. From TheTalkhouse.com:
“N is for Nexus” directed by Larry Fessenden
This story, set on Halloween in New York City, builds up quite a head of steam in its short running time. Mr. Fessenden again proves himself to be one of our best working horror directors by delivering the most suspenseful and effectively disturbing episode in this series.”
Check out the full article here.
From CraveOnline.com:
“When I got this assignment, I thought of the scene in (the original) THE STEPFATHER where the daughter’s shrink is killed by the Stepfather by a 2×4. It struck me because the shrink is in over his head, he doesn’t understand the insanity he’s going up against. He thought he was helping a troubled girl. Because his death has that tragic dimension, it is more poignant.
There is the death in SAVING PRIVATE RYAN where the Nazi slowly kills Private Mellish with a knife to the chest while Mellish says “don’t, don’t.” Very intimate and scary. It’s the same Nazi that the Americans had freed earlier, in a sanctimonious move to “do the right thing”. And so the horrific death mocks the generosity and kindness of their earlier actions.
How about Jennifer Jason Leigh pulled apart between two trucks by Rutger Hauer in THE HITCHER? She is an innocent swept up in the mad rivalry between the Hitcher and the kid. She’s nothing but collateral damage.
How about everyone in the car at the end of THE MIST? I know some people hate that ending, but I loved it because it is so futile.
All death is tragic, but when kindness, idealism, innocence or heroism dies too, it is even more resonant.
– Larry Fessenden (“N is for Nexus”)”
Check out the full post at Crave Online, and get a look at the ABCs OF DEATH 2 directors’ favorite movie deaths of all time below.
Glass Eye Pix returned to the Javits Center this weekend for another year of Comic Con madness! Check out pics from the Con here, along with photos from the Super Week NYC premiere of ABCs OF DEATH 2!
Director Larry Fessenden chats with Crave Online about ‘N is for Nexus’ and delves into philosophies on horror, monsters and audiences.
“I wanted to tell a story about all the little things that lead to a convergence that could be deadly, tragic and sad, all the things that I associate with horror. Not as much visceral horror as a sense of melancholy. So I wanted to put a lot of things in place, the idea of time and how the smallest prompt or delay can affect where you end up in a given day. So I had the girlfriend urging him on and then he forgets something so he goes back. Those precious 15 seconds made all the difference in this. The woman who’s driving the cab driver to move faster through the lights, he’s getting frustrated but he’s distracted. It’s just fun to try to have all those elements and build that piece.
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My agenda always is to connect the audience somewhat to the characters, even if you have to do it quickly. That’s just my approach to horror so that the horror, the violence or the incident that occurs has some depth. That’s just because that’s the horror I’m speaking of, the feeling of loss that you end up with. When there’s a death, it’s not just oh, it was so gory. It’s that this changed my reality. That person is no longer with me and now I’ll have to deal with all the hauntings, the thoughts, the memories and so on. So I’m always interested in that more sweet spot of horror. I wanted to get pretty quickly to a relationship, they’re nagging at each other and then you get into the more visceral editing. I was excited to be able to work with fast cuts because in a feature I often like to slow things down, to make the audience watch a little more carefully. Here I was in a way liberated to edit quickly and see how much information you could get out of an image that lasts for a second and a half. It was fun.
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Look at us having this conversation. We’re talking about horror but in fact it leads ultimately to questions of philosophical depth and that’s why I love the genre. You can take any kind of horror movie, and even if the filmmakers themselves weren’t actively engaged in those ideas, they’re in the DNA of the genre because you’re dealing with good, not even evil. I hate that term, but you’re dealing with adversity, fear which is the most potent emotion, let’s be honest, and that motivates all other emotions. And then whether you do the right thing in a crisis is of course one of the main questions in life.”
Check out the red-band ABCs of Death 2 trailer! The film, which includes a segment from Fessenden, premieres at Fantastic Fest and hits theaters in October!
ABCS OF DEATH 2 Extreme Red Band Trailer from Magnolia Pictures & Magnet on Vimeo.
We are proud to report that ABCs OF DEATH 2 will have its world premiere at this year’s Fantastic Fest! 2014 marks the tenth anniversary of the festival, and the anthology sequel will help kick off the proceedings when it premieres on opening night. ABCs OF DEATH 2 features 26 terrorizing tales, one of which was directed by Fessenden! Check out the full writeup at the Fantastic Fest site. Fantastic Fest 2014 will run September 18-25th in Austin, Texas.
Just in time for Halloween, Magnet Releasing will unleash THE ABCs OF DEATH 2 on demand this October 2nd, with a theatrical rollout starting on October 31st. This time around, Fessenden is among the eclectic array of talented directors bringing this gruesome alphabet to life. Check out Fangoria’s writeup here!
