BROOKLYN 45 brings home TWO Audience Awards at the PANIC FEST 2023 Award Showcase!
Fessenden wins BEST ACTOR in a Feature Film and
Ted Geoghegan awarded BEST DIRECTOR.
BROOKLYN 45 brings home TWO Audience Awards at the PANIC FEST 2023 Award Showcase!
Fessenden wins BEST ACTOR in a Feature Film and
Ted Geoghegan awarded BEST DIRECTOR.
Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Lisbon
March 8, Wednesday, 5pm, Grand Auditorium
Barely more than a teenager, Jack Fessenden already has two feature films written, directed and premiered on his resume (in which he also dressed as a composer, editor and producer). The biological stamp — which he assumes with pride — of being the son of Larry Fessenden (one of New York’s gurus of independent horror films) would be of no use without a strong personal contribution.
Chosen as one of the “11 indie filmmakers aged 30 or under that you need to know” (Indiewire, 2017), Jack Fessenden regularly attended his father’s studios during his childhood and adolescence and his curiosity allowed him to learn practical skills. various stages of film production. He made several short films before making his debut, aged 17, in the long format with Stray Bullets, about which Chris O’Falt, in the same Indiewire, said that the most impressive thing was not only the security and economy with which the young filmmaker it dealt with the choreography of violence, but how it found subtlety and depth in the film’s quieter moments. More ambitious, Foxhole, his next work, is part of the long tradition of antiwar humanist film, managing to achieve “an almost abstract beauty” (Josh Siegel, MoMA).
“This kid is going to go far,” said Meira Blaustein, co-founder of the Woodstock Film Festival. It’s already on its way, we would say.
The word is out! Fessenden wraps photography on werewolf movie BLACKOUT, starring Alex Hurt.
A Fine Arts painter is convinced that he is a werewolf wreaking
havoc on a small American town under the full moon.
A Fine Arts painter is convinced that he is a werewolf wreaking havoc on a small American town under the full moon.
“My approach was to blend a naturalistic docu-style with the mythological tropes of the werewolf story, an ongoing interest to blend realism with stylization, and to fuse themes of contemporary society with classic monster movie clichés.”
The film was produced by Fessenden, James Felix McKenney, Chris Ingvordsen, and co-produced by Gaby Leyner. Collin Braizie was cinematographer, following his previous stint on the Glass Eye Pix production Foxhole. Paintings for the main character’s artwork were created for the film by Brooklyn-based artist John Mitchell.
Blackout was shot at local shops and locations in New York’s Hudson Valley and serves as a portrait of the area including Woodstock, Olivebridge, Andes, and Kingston. Many local merchants generously supported the independent production. Fessenden explains, “My approach was to blend a naturalistic docu-style with the mythological tropes of the werewolf story, an ongoing interest to blend realism with stylization, and to fuse themes of contemporary society with classic monster movie clichés.”
Makeup and special effects were handled by long-time Glass Eye Pix collaborators Brian Spears and Peter Gerner, who previously created the Frankenstein monster for Fessenden’s 2019 film Depraved. Comments Fessenden, “Yes, I’m competing with Marvel and Blumhouse to create my own Monsterverse, but at a very different price-point.”
Larry Fessenden is an American director, producer, writer, actor, and overall force to be reckoned with. A true indie film pioneer in the horror world, Larry’s career highlights include 1995’s gritty vampire drama, Habit, 2001’s Wendigo, and The Last Winter, Starring Ron Perlman.
Larry’s latest movie, Depraved, is a gritty and modern take on Frankenstein with a number of interesting questions posed about the ethics of scientific advancements in medicine.
Historically low gas prices. A boy band for every block. Philips CD-i. POGS. Maybe we just had it too good during the ’90s because audiences weren’t flocking much to horror movies this decade. As a result, there are less entries here than on our ’70s and ’80s lists. Nevertheless, if you feel like getting grungy and/or jiggy with it (in whichever order, we’re fair) then check out Rotten Tomatoes’ list of the 40 Best ’90s Horror Movies!
Larry Fessenden’s bonkers, microbudget raft movie has it all, from a killer fish, to scorned lovers, to sacrifice. It’s all held together by the sheer strength of Fessenden’s vision, and, as ever, bursts with his trademark heart, humour, and horror. We don’t appreciate the man enough.
From Comics Beat: “New York Comic Con 2018 wasn’t Glass Eye Pix’s first rodeo at the convention. I had the opportunity to chat with Fessenden about staking a claim for Horror in the convention, bringing hard-to-find Horror movies back to the market, and whether his studios will be digging a bit more into Horror comics as it continues to grow.”
Ever since catching the film, Jug Face, back in 2013, I’ve been a huge fan of Larry Fessenden. I immediately went through his IMDb page, looking for more films to watch. I had no idea how far his influence reached… he’s been directing shorts and indie films since 1978, but it wasn’t until 1995’s Habit that his true passion seemed to leak out onto the screen. With a talent for showcasing members of the dirty, unloved fringes of society, Fessenden can take a character already living in their own kind of atrocity and up the ante by dropping them into a whole new pit of dismay.