Producer Peter Phok, Fessenden, Mark Margolis, Chris Conroy, Bonnie Dennison, Danniel Zavatto, Jonny Orsini and Griffin Newman together again on dry land at the Premier Party on Monday night at the IFC in NYC July 15.

Check out more photos at the Glass Eye Pix Facebook page

From Simon Abrams at RogerEbert.com—

As a horror spoof, “Beneath” is and isn’t what it looks like. If you’ve ever seen “Jaws,” or “Friday the 13th,” you are already familiar with the film’s plot. A group of dimwitted horny teenagers celebrate the end of high school with a canoe trip, but are attacked by a giant man-eating catfish. “Beneath” is similar to “Piranha 3D” in that its creators encourage viewers to roll their eyes at the movie’s distressingly callow meat puppet protagonists. But “Beneath” fitfully succeeds where “Piranha 3D” failed. As shrill as it often is, the film’s situational peril makes otherwise unlikable characters sympathetic, or maybe just sympathetic enough.

Director Larry Fessenden (“The Last Winter,” “Wendigo”) and screenwriters Tony Daniel and Brian D. Smith want you to simultaneously empathize with pubescent horndogs who think with their crotches, and chafe at the thought of spending more time trapped with them. The protagonists are more often insufferable than not, but “Beneath” is still a weirdly personal and thoughtful generic exercise.

At first, it’s hard to tell how intentionally satirical “Beneath” is. The protagonists are introduced to us gracelessly by Zeke (Griffin Newman), a geeky aspiring filmmaker who thinks he’s going to be the next great auteur. Zeke is and isn’t a running joke. He cattily introduces us to all of his frenemies, including Matt (Chris Conroy), a jock who didn’t make it as a football star, and Kitty (Bonnie Dennison), a flirtatious human accessory who has slept with almost everyone on the ship, including best friend Deborah (Mackenzie Rosman).

Zeke is a caricature of the self-involved, camera-wielding ciphers who film everything in contemporary horror films. He’s the least likable character because he treats his friends like film subjects (“Thanks a lot, Matt. That’s a really great scene.”). He’s the clearest indication that “Beneath” is not a straightforward, C-grade Spielberg rip-off. But once the film’s monster catfish shows up, it’s apparent that the film’s creators aren’t just messing with viewers. Fessenden and his two screenwriters take time make fun of the cookie-cutter nature of contemporary, SyFy Channel-ready horror films. But they’re also working inside that well-worn template.

The talent and intelligence that Roger Ebert hailed in his review of Fessenden’s “Habit” is present in “Beneath,” albeit in a diluted form. For example, the catfish is almost unimportant to the film’s main drama; You can see this in the way that Fessenden shows the creature unceremoniously appearing from the bottom of the lake. The film’s human characters pose the biggest threat to themselves. The group’s camaraderie devolves a little more with each scene as they sacrifice each other for the sake of the greater good. In these scenes, you can see Fessenden’s love for such horror classics as “Night of the Living Dead”, even though the arguments that his protags have aren’t about race or class inequality, but who’s screwed whom.

There’s the rub: how much does Fessenden and company’s sincere interest in their characters matter, given that the film is humanizing ugly, self-involved brats? These kids are only as interesting as they are believably cruel. And while it’s not a consistent problem, the filmmakers can’t help but infrequently wink at viewers. Deb’s last name is Voorhees, like the hockey-mask-wearing serial killer form the “Friday the 13th” movies. And at one point, Zeke wails, “Uh, have you ever seen ‘Shark Night 3D?’ It’s exclusively about sharks in fresh-water lakes!”

Still, the film’s creators succeed in making these desperate outbursts make sense. These lines are spoken by young characters, after all, and the film’s actors make the most of that. Newman’s performance is weirdly believable because Fessenden wants you to believe that Zeke is petty enough. So even when he speak in clichés, Zeke’s only revealing how desperate he is. These kids are ugly, but they’re believable, even when Zeke cackles, “Row! Row for your lives, ahaha!”

While the film’s characters sometimes get in their own way, the scenes in which they make brutal utilitarian decisions are tense. And when the film does get violent, you can see that it was directed by someone that cared enough to make you uncomfortable. It might be Fessenden’s most accessible film. There’s a lot of frustration on the screen, but only because Fessenden is once again insisting that there’s so much more to horror films than banal characterizations and programmatic jump-scares. Ultimately, “Beneath” is better than your average Roger Corman clone because it is more serious than trivial.

From ChillerTV.com:

Writer, Director and Producer (he acts, too! Quadruple threat!) Larry Fessenden has been behind some of the most original and talked about horror movies of the last decade – The Last Winter, House of the Devil, Stakeland, and Wendigo, amongst them. He’s also the creative force behind Beneath, out from Chiller Films this Tuesday, July 16 (It’s available On Demand and in select theaters, so its super easy to watch). To celebrate Beneath‘s release, we asked Larry to tell us his 13 favorite horror films. Here’s what Larry had to say:

“A list like this can never be complete because its purpose is never clear: is it to give insight into me? Or is it designed to prod you to see movies you otherwise wouldn’t? Because those would be different lists of course; One overflowing with well-worn classics, and one filled with clever obscure titles and odd surprises. Then there is the question of genre: strictly horror, or can we spill into neighboring territories like sic-fi and drama/comedy with scares? Jaws, District 9, Alien, Attack the Block, Shaun of the Dead, King Kong (1933, 2005) Godzilla, Them!, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956, 1978) — see there I go, trying to sneak a few other favorites onto the list. So, we’ll leave it at this: here are 13 films that have made an indelible impression on me and that I continue to draw from.”

Just announced at Comic-Con: Long time Glass Eye Pix graphic artist Brahm Revel (illustrator of comics for WENDIGO, I SELL THE DEAD, WHAT ARE YOU VOTING FOR?, THE LAST WINTER, BENEATH) will be writing and drawing the new X-Men!

Three new Marvel Knights miniseries launching in successive months will feature creators mostly known for their work at independent publishers with some of Marvel’s biggest icons, starting in October with Marvel Knights: Spider-Man from writer Matt Kindt and artist Marco Rudy. November brings Guerillas’ Brahm Revel writing and drawing Marvel Knights: X-Men.

Congrats to Brahm! Read the whole article here and get you digital copy of the BENEATH prequel from ComiXology here!

Moviefone posts an exclusive clip from Larry Fessenden’s BENEATH, in theaters & on VOD July 16–

The BENEATH comic is now available on comiXology.com!

A prequel to Larry Fessenden’s new monster movie, the BENEATH comic reveals the history of the mysterious Black Lake and the mythology that surrounds teenage Johnny’s most treasured possession.

Synopsis: In the 1970’s two kids get the shot of a lifetime on their instamatic before witnessing a gang of tripping teens get slaughtered by a giant fish.

Written by BENEATH writers Tony Daniel and Brian D. Smith, produced by Fessenden, and illustrated by Brahm Revel (WENDIGO, THE LAST WINTER, I SELL THE DEAD, GUERILLAS).

Get your own digital copy of the BENEATH comic here and gear up for the feature film, in theaters and on VOD July 16.

Glass Eye Pal Eric Stanze interviews director Chad Crawford Kinkle about his new film, JUG FACE, available on VOD & iTunes TODAY, starring Fessenden and a host of Glass Eye friends.

From Eric Stanze at FEARnet.com:

JUG FACE, starring Lauren Ashley Carter (THE WOMAN), Sean Bridgers (HBO’s DEADWOOD), Larry Fessenden (I SELL THE DEAD), and Sean Young (BLADE RUNNER), will be available via VOD July 8th, and released theatrically August 9th. The film’s wildly imaginative and creepy story centers on a pregnant young woman trying to save herself after she discovers she’s been selected for sacrifice. Director Chad Crawford Kinkle generously spent some time with FEARnet discussing his debut feature film.

Check out the full interview at FEARnet.com.

From Brian Truitt at USA TODAY:

Tie-in delves into the mysteries of director Larry Fessenden’s underwater creature.

It’s not even safe to go into the water in the comic books of horror movies.

A digital comic based on director Larry Fessenden’s film Beneath comes out this week and delves into the history of the mysterious Black Lake and its amphibious monster. The issue also explores the important necklace carried by Johnny, one of the teens who goes on a fateful trip into the water in the movie, out in select theaters and video on demand July 15.

The Beneath comic, written by screenwriters Tony Daniel and Brian D. Smith and illustrated by Brahm Revel (Guerillas), will be available for digital download on Wednesday via Comixology.

Beneath joins other Glass Eye Pix’s horror films with comic tie-ins, such as I Sell the Dead, Wendigo and The Last Winter. Fessenden’s production company often utilizes non-movie media to flesh out its films – for example, Stake Land featured a series of Internet webisodes and Habit had trading cards.

“I’m obsessed with creating a little world where the posters matter, where there’s a comic spinoff, where you tell the story in different ways,” Fessenden says.

The kids of horror movie Beneath encounter a lake monster who’s also seen in a comic-book tie-in.

Fans can also enhance their Beneath experience — and get psyched up about their horror movie — by visiting three different websites: the official movie site BeneathTheWater.com offers photos, clips and cast info; WhatTheZeke.tumblr.com introduces the different kids before their terrifying boat excursion; and WhatsInBlackLake.tumblr.com looks into the lake’s strange history with a conspiracy theorist played by Fessenden himself.

Get an exclusive look at the BENEATH comic at USAToday.com.

From Clark Collis at Entertainment Weekly:

This month, indie-horror auteur Larry Fessenden returns from a 7-year big screen directing hiatus with his latest terrorfest. Titled Beneath, the film concerns a small boat occupied by a group of teenagers and a large monster occupied with the idea of eating them for dinner.

Starring Daniel Zovatto, Bonnie Dennison, and Mark Margolis (AKA Tio Salamanca from Breaking Bad), Beneath begins its run in select cinemas (including New York’s IFC Center) and on VOD from July 16 and will be screened on Chiller TV this Fall.

Click on the image to watch an exclusive clip from Beneath at EW.com.