SATURDAY NOV 7 at the Glass Eye Pix PALOOZA-CON: Tales from Beyond The Pale LIVE!

7PM

Stay tuned for other events!
and New Merch

While it Lasts Dept: Good reception for Fessenden’s TRAUMA

“Nobody makes horror movies like Fessenden, and “Trauma” might be his best yet.”
—Simon Abrams, RogerEbert.com

“If you’re a fan of the filmmaker, Trauma, Or Monsters All
will be like sweet mana from horror heaven. It’s every inch a Fessen-film.”
—Screen Anarchy

“takes a lot of flashy, familiar horror concepts and renders them with unexpected quiet thoughtfulness.”
—Assignment X

“Fessenden ties the chronicle together in an impressive way, delivering on the existential crises while viewing the situation through the eyes of a brand new protagonist, forced into the shadows as much as the perceived monsters she’s chasing but in an entirely different way.”
—Love Horror

“’Trauma’s’ ultimate success relies on asking who the real monsters are
…yes, it’s us, but also maybe the vampire.”
—Macabre Daily

“brings together decades of creative history, supernatural creatures, and a collection of current issues that are difficult to separate from the world outside the theater…
These monsters have never been just villains, and their shared story isn’t interested in turning them into antiheroes either. They’re damaged, complicated individuals living in a world that often finds it easier to condemn what it doesn’t understand.”
—OVERLY HONEST MOVIE REVIEWS

“massive blocks of considered text inundate the viewer, all while a deep sadness prevails just underneath, one all the more affecting as experienced through the haze of a trance.
No wonder audiences don’t “cheer” at Fessenden’s movies!
They are all trapped in the same melancholic stupor, like a fly in the spider’s web.
—In Review Online

7PM at IFC 7PM at IFC and continuing all week: Fessenden’s TRAUMA OR, MONSTERS ALL

… and thanks to IFC for the Seven Day Tribute

TRAUMA opens today at IFC; GEP alum Jenn Wexler’s THE LAST TEMPTATION OF BECKY opens too!

IFC GEP TRIBUTE DAY 7: Larry Fessenden’s BLACKOUT

BLACKOUT

LARRY FESSENDEN (2023 103 mins, C500)

ALEX HURT, ADDISON TIMLIN, MOTELL GYN FOSTER, JOSEPH CASTILLO-MIDYETT, ELLA RAE PECK, RIGO GARAY, JOHN SPEREDAKOS, MICHAEL BUSCEMI, JEREMY HOLM, JOE SWANBERG, BARBARA CRAMPTON, JAMES LE GROS, MARSHALL BELL

A Fine Arts painter is convinced that he is a werewolf wreaking havoc
on a small American town under the full moon.

★★★★★
“one of the most intelligent and interesting werewolf movies of the twenty-first century.”
—Craig Ian Mann, OurCulture

“One of the 13 best horror films of the year (so far)…
a compelling and haunting drama about a man trying to atone for his own beastly nature
in a monstrous world, and the inventive werewolf kills are just gravy.”
—Matthew Jackson, AV Club

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Optic Nerve

IFC GEP TRIBUTE DAY 6: Larry Fessenden’s DEPRAVED

DEPRAVED
Dir. Larry Fessenden (2019 114 mins, red)

David Call, Joshua Leonard, Alex Breaux, Ana Kayne, Maria Dizzia,
Chloë Levine, Owen Campbell and Addison Timlin

Henry, a field surgeon suffering from PTSD after combat in the Middle East, creates a man out of body parts in a makeshift lab in Gowanus, Brooklyn. The creature he creates must navigate a strange new world and the rivalry between Henry and his conniving collaborator Polidori.

Fessenden’s trademark style of tragic horror shines through.
It’s also his angriest film to date – a natural response from a filmmaker so concerned
with societal ethics who has watched them devolve so quickly. Joel Wicklund, Chicago Now

If Mr. Fessenden had a gospel to preach it would be about
the virtues of low-budget, intellectually rigorous, topical, mayhem-rich movies.
Depraved is a perfect example… delightfully gritty, sometimes gruesome… John Anderson, The Wall Street Journal

“Builds empathy for its exploited creature.
Beginning in lovemaking and ending in loneliness,
the movie has an unexpected poignancy” Jeanette Catsoulis, New York Times

“thoroughly modern, utterly disturbing …
but there’s real heart and empathy here too.” Kimber Meyers, Los Angeles Times

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Optic Nerve Lineup

Tagged with: Depraved

IFC GEP TRIBUTE DAY 5: Larry Fessenden’s THE LAST WINTER

The Last Winter
Dir. Larry Fessenden (2006 101 mins, 35 mm, 2.35)

Ron Perlman, James Le Gros, Connie Britton, Zach Gilford, Kevin Corrigan,
Jamie Harrold, Pato Hoffmann, Joann Shenandoah and Larry Fessenden

“Larry Fessenden is one of the most original voices to emerge in the horror field
and THE LAST WINTER is his most accomplished work to date.
He brings the Gothic trappings of the old classics to shocking new life.”
—Guillermo Del Toro (PAN’S LABYRINTH, HELLBOY)

”elegantly restrained horror … metaphorically resonant … Feverishly Real, Terrifying.
Larry Fessenden is among the most thoughtful Americans working on the lower-budget end
of this oft-abused and mindlessly corrupted genre.”
—Manohla Dargis NEW YORK TIMES

”Profoundly, metaphysically scary“
—John Anderson FILM COMMENT

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Optic Nerve Lineup

Halloween Hang with DR AC and friends on the 85th Birthday of WOLF MAN.

HORROR 101 with Dr. AC – Friday Night Frights
THE WOLF MAN (1941) d. George Waggner (USA)
FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN (1943) d. Roy William Neill (USA)
HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1944) d. Erle C. Kenton (USA)
HOUSE OF DRACULA (1945) d. Erle C. Kenton (USA)
ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN (1948) d. Charles T. Barton (USA)

“Even a man who is pure of heart, and says his prayers by night May become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms, and the autumn moon is bright.” As any good horror fan knows, these words foreshadow the nightmare to come in Universal Studios’ classic monster flick, The Wolf Man. Produced/directed by George Waggner in 1941, this howling good b/w film introduced audiences to a character that stands alongside Frankenstein’s Monster and Dracula as one of the “Unholy Three,” the most recognized of the Universal monsters.

Join AC and his awesome panel of guests (Larry Fessenden, Rob Galluzzo, Daniel Kiggins, Tom Mula, Lee Price) as we head back 85 years to the 1940s silver age of Universal to witness the birth of a new horror star in Lon Chaney and a new horror icon in THE WOLF MAN!!

00:00 Episode Intro
02:27 Panel Intro
8:45 Why We Love The Wolf Man
22:37 Lon Chaney as Lawrence Talbot
30:12 Jack Pierce’s Makeup
38:46 The Ensemble
43:32 Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man
52:51 House of Frankenstein
1:04:50 House of Dracula
1:18:45 Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein
1:32:09 Trauma, or Monsters All (Larry’s new movie!)
1:34:52 Final Thoughts