Indiewire hosts the latest TALES FROM BEYOND THE PALE episode by Joe Maggio. CANNIBALS follows an auteur who discovers that a young filmmaker is biting his style.
Indiewire is exclusively premiering new episodes from the third season of “Tales From Beyond the Pale,” the audio play series produced by Glass Eye Pix. Episodes will be available for two-day windows.
The season concludes today with filmmaker Joe Maggio’s “Cannibals.” Listen to the episode above, and read an interview with Maggio conducted by Indiewire’s Eric Kohn about the inspiration for the episode below. Pre-order the third season of “Tales From Beyond the Pale” here.
The story of “Cannibals” involves an established director who confronts a young filmmaker who’s been ripping him off. Is this something you’ve experienced firsthand?
Well, I’ve done my share of idol worshipping — writers and directors I became obsessed with and whose work I devoured. I started off with Cassavetes. I watched his films over and over again, but beyond the film work I really dug into his personal life. I wanted to know what brand of cigarette he smoked, what was his cocktail of choice, whose shirts did he wear, that kind of stuff. I suppose that, unconsciously, I was simply trying to conjure up a presence, to get as close as possible to the man so that some of his greatness might rub off.
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After Cassavetes I had a David Lynch phase, Kieszlowski, Fellini…And then you reach an age where such obsessive fandom feels somehow undignified. You become your own person, comfortable in your own skin, and it feels silly to be so involved in the minute details of another man’s life. It’s like when I see a grown man walking around in a football jersey with another man’s name on the back – it’s ridiculous! For “Cannibals,” I wondered how it must feel to know that there is this person out there digging into every aspect of your creative and personal life. I imagined it would feel flattering to a point, but then it might start to feel like a violation, or worse…
How did this approach to storytelling differ from your experiences as a filmmaker?
This is actually my third time out with “Tales From Beyond the Pale” so I feel like I’ve made some progress as a “radioist.” I guess the most obvious difference between radio and film is that with a radio play you’ve got to be careful that your story will be compelling on a purely auditory level, which really isn’t that hard because frankly I find it compelling to just listen to someone with an interesting voice saying interesting things. And that really is the biggest difference for me, that the radio plays allow me to write really long passages of dialogue, which I love to do and which is not something I can get away with as a filmmaker.
With film, I feel like I’m always trying to trim things back, to show and say the minimum. But with the radio plays I let it rip.
You’ve been exploring themes of human depravity across several films. What appeals to you about this focus?
Oh, I guess what I’m really exploring is my own depravity, my own sick fantasies, or the crushing fears that would otherwise fester inside of me. Writing about these things and then watching an actor get up and speak the words that previously only existed in my head, or perform the gestures and actions I’d imagined a thousand times is a way of exorcising my depravity and achieving a kind of transcendence.
What’s your relationship to the horror genre? Do you consider horror to be a part of your earlier films? “Bitter Feast” is the only one that has some horror elements.
I don’t think I’ve ever made a movie that lies strictly within the horror genre, although “Bitter Feast” comes the closest. I’m someone who dabbles in horror, who sees the horror in the seemingly benign — which, when I think about it now, is actually a defining characteristic of the best horror films, or at least my favorite horror films, like “The Exorcist” or “The Shining.” You start with something so ordinary, so familiar, and then you start peeling away the layers until you get to the rotting core.
What’s next for you?
I’m just finishing a new film, “Supermoto,” about a girl who wakes up in a motel on the edge of the prairie in Eastern North Dakota. She quickly discovers that her boyfriend has ditched her and all he’s left behind is a toothbrush, a few bucks, a set of racing leathers and a supermoto motorcycle. We shot in scope with seventies-era Lomo anamorphic lenses. It’s gonna be pretty sweet.
Even though Fessenden is known as a horror filmmaker, his films aren’t terribly horrific – at least not in an obvious way. As he says in his commentary track for The Last Winter, he admits that his films would probably be considered “slow and dull” by general film fans, and that’s probably true. His films are less about the horror our characters are experiencing, and more about how these characters are affected by the before mentioned horror. For instance, in No Telling, there’s nothing supernatural at all. And except for mild sci-fi aspects, there’s nothing presented that couldn’t necessarily happen. No Telling isn’t about some Frankensteinian creation brought to life by a mad scientist which then runs rampant through the countryside slaughtering the innocent. Instead, it’s about the bastardization of man, and how someone can change and go to such grisly lengths for what he believes to be the betterment of society. Same goes for The Last Winter, which, though made in 2007, is more relevant right now (what with the president having killed the proposed Keystone Pipeline for good). Are there monsters in The Last Winter? Sure, there are. But are they real? Or are they figments of the isolated driller crew’s imaginations? And if they’re not real, then what’s left to think? Is it collective guilt in knowing the repercussions of their presence on the icy tundra creating their own monsters?
No Telling: 4/5. Warning: not for dog lovers. No Telling, one of the three environmentally conscious films in this collection, might be the preachiest, but it’s never done in a way in which you feel you’re being preached to. The discussions of the evolution of the farming industry, and how it changed once large corporations got involved, is shared by our characters more than once. And, though one of those involved in this conversation is ultimately proven to have gone sick with power, every argument supporting his or her side doesn’t come across as stacked in one’s favor and against another. Everyone presents solid arguments on why he or she feels the way he or she does, and this is done purposely to show that while we like to think maintaining a pro-environment mindset by default is the way to go, we may not be considering all possible ramifications from not making those harder choices for the greater good. Performances in the film are excellent, with special mention of Miriam Healy-Louie as Lillian, caught between the two opposing viewpoints of pro-nature vs. pro-progression, personified by the two men for whom she either maintains feelings of devotion, or for whom she’s beginning to feel devotion.
Habit: 3.5/5. Probably the most well-known of Fessenden’s filmography, Habit temporarily hangs up the environmental bent in favor of presenting a more straightforward vampire film in the vein (no pun!) of Nadja and Abel Ferarra’s The Addiction. Mostly a vampiric take on Taxi Driver, the idea behind Habit is to express the isolation many people feel even when stacked on top of and next to each other in stretching miles of apartment buildings. This somewhat sexually explicit film filled with subtle bloodletting explores human relationships and how they can change disconcertingly quick. Fessenden deserves tons of credit for playing the on-screen role of the victimized Sam, who seems intent on drinking himself to death at the same time that the mysterious Anna seems intent on drinking him to death.
Wendigo: 3.5/5. Fessenden returns to his pro-environment tale, though in a far more subdued way, with his take on the Native American mythology of the wendigo, a shadowy figure presented as an intangible force resurrected to restore the natural balance. A sort of Straw Dogs meets The Shining, underrated actors Jake Webber (Dawn of the Dead) and Patricia Clarkson (“Six Feet Under”) play parents to their young son, Miles (Erik Per Sullivan, the youngest “Malcolm in the Middle” brother), who find themselves being victimized by a local hunter while vacationing at a winter getaway in upstate New York. Though based on a supernatural myth, Wendigo avoids being overtly supernatural, with the horrific images of a stick-assembled monster tromping through the woods a heavily implied figment of Miles’ imagination. Its ambiguous ending is going to bother the hell out of some viewers, but it falls in line with Fessenden’s aesthetic of leaving the horror as a matter of discussion rather than of obvious force which needs to be defeated.
The Last Winter: 4/5. A tremendous cast of actors brings the frigid events of their collective haunting to life as they confront The Last Winter. The most technically achieved film of Fessenden’s career (and one finally shot in 35 mm), much like his other films, at first presents a straightforward concept before it transforms into something else. Sort of a spiritual sequel to Wendigo, oil drillers for a company called North Shore find themselves dealing with unexplainable events following the disappearance of one of their own, followed by the subsequent discovery of his frozen eyeless corpse. One by one, the crew begin to exhibit strange and even dangerous behavior, all which seem to follow on the heels of a conflict spurred by the on-site foreman, Ed Pollak (Ron Perlman of “Sons of Anarchy”) and James Hoffman (James Legros, Zodiac). Hoffman, an environmental specialist brought to determine the site’s stability, announces he’s going to recommend that North Shore shut down the site’s operations, which doesn’t sit will with Pollak’s alpha male. Soon the men and women of the base begin to see phantom images of transparent animals tearing across the icy tundra, or discorporated visions of their own departed appearing to them in their bunks. Another ambiguous ending – one of Fessenden’s most haunting – is in store for those who dare to see if they can survive The Last Winter.
(The first three films in this collection were originally shot in 16 mm, so their video presentations will be judged accordingly.)
No Telling & Habit: 3.5/5. These low budget films present a very satisfactory audio experience. Dialogue is clear and easily understandable, though in Habit‘s case can sound a little tinny and hollow. Their musical scores are sparse but ever present, and are mixed well with their respective films’ dialogue and ambience.
Fessenden’s commentary tracks for each of his films are must-listens. In keeping with the surprising thoughtfulness and philosophical nature of his films, Fessenden rattles off a lot of information for each title. He discusses working with their casts, at their various locations, their inspirations, and what themes he wanted to explore. For Habit in particular, Fessenden is refreshingly honest by calling the film “somewhat auto-biographical,” especially when his on-screen version points out the various self-inflicted scars on his arms. Fessenden observes this and affirms that the scars are real, but that he’s “not going to get into it,” though he does mention that the events of the film and how his character is portrayed should be clue enough as to why the scars are there.
STUDIO: Glass Eye Pix
Larry Fessenden, the on-screen kill guy, might be a recognizable name in horror-loving households, but Larry Fessenden, the director, may not. He may never be as celebrated as John Carpenter or George Romero, but his devotion to and knowledge of the genre – and of filmmaking in general – cannot be denied. That four of his best films have been gathered together in this collection doesn’t just make for a simple and tidy blu-ray package, but a rightful celebration of a director’s work, and of someone who doesn’t make typical horror films. In Wendigo, a father tells his son about Robert Frost, the poet who took the road less traveled and it’s made all the difference. That, right there, perfectly sums up the career of Larry Fessenden. (Plus he has really cool hair!) This set comes highly recommended.
