Extended chat with Fessenden on the River of Grass shoot and restoration

This July, all hell will break loose! Mickey Keating’s action-thriller CARNAGE PARK will be released in theaters and on VOD July 1st. Take cover! Full article.

“Kelly is very warm and very loyal with a select few people,” he answers. “She’s just a private person. She believes in the work first, and is a little wary of the pomp and circumstance of press, and even for that matter talking about her work and her motivations.”

Fessenden, for his own part, has “never been shy” when it comes to interviews, but thinks there’s room for more than one approach. “You have the Hitchcock model; I think he was incredibly articulate, and brought a great deal to cinema by talking about his process. But there’s also Kubrick, who stopped doing interviews right when he became most intriguing, and as a result, his films are deeply haunting.”

Reichardt might lean towards the latter extreme, but, Fessenden concludes, that’s “extremely charming in this day in age, where everybody is flappin’ their gums at every opportunity!”

Read full article HERE

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Southbound is thankfully cinematic and well-acted.

Here’s how it unfolds: Through the soothing sounds of a radio DJ (voiced in velvet and sandpaper by Larry Fessenden), we learn of a place that lies just south of here. It’s a small town in the middle of nowhere consisting of a gas station, a diner, a hospital, and a few derelict structures that can’t be identified at a glance. There are some neighborhoods, too, but believe me: You wouldn’t want to live there. Or die there, which is what most people do.

The Hollywood Reporter reviews GEP friends’ THE TRANSFIGURATION:

An orphaned African-American teen leads a secret life fed by vampire lore in Michael O’Shea’s indie debut, premiering at Cannes in Un Certain Regard.

Wide-ranging references to vampire mythology in literature and cinema are scattered throughout writer-director Michael O’Shea’s low-key but absorbing first feature, The Transfiguration. But what distinguishes this stripped-down anti-horror film — set amid the housing projects and lonely beachfronts of the Rockaways in Queens, New York — is its absence of the supernatural. While death by bloodsucking is very much a factor, this is actually a subdued, contemplative drama about the lingering trauma of grief and the efforts of an introspective teenager to invent an invulnerable persona to shield and ultimately release him.

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In an insider nod to horror fans, Lloyd Kaufman and Larry Fessenden make brief appearances in ill-fated encounters with Milo. The bloodletting here is a million miles away from the cartoonish schlock violence of Kaufman’s Troma brand, but not entirely unrelated to some of Fessenden’s low-budget early horror films, with their focus on human psychology and social milieu over traditional genre elements. Fessenden’s long association with Kelly Reichardt as a producer also is relevant, given the acknowledged influence here of that filmmaker’s minimalist realism.

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O’Shea uses the bursts of droning ambient noise and the somber electronic sounds of Margaret Chardiet’s score to arresting effect. But he’s less interested in creating suspense or pumping up atmosphere than in exploring the ways in which horror, and its intoxicating relationship with death, can be a paradoxical balm for the more earthly cruelties of life. That makes The Transfiguration a difficult movie to classify, but one with an emotional depth that creeps up on you.

Check out the full review at HollywoodReporter.com

From Fango’s Ken Hanley

As someone who grew up watching the many horror films of the ’90s, it’s always a bit disappointing to hear the decade get so much flack for its contributions to the genre. Sure, the ’80s are a tough act to follow, considering how many phenomenal, practical FX-driven fright films were spawned during that time, but the ’90s has had its fair share of awesome scare fare, most of which are miles more memorable that the decades that have come since. Even the guilty pleasures of the ’90s- your DEEP BLUE SEAs and ANACONDAs and what-have-you- are much easier to defend than some of the stinkers of the ’80s! So with that on our macabre mind, FANGORIA has decided to list off ten absolutely awesome ’90s horror offerings for your creepy consideration!

10. HABIT

With ‘90s New York serving as an all-too-essential backdrop, this story of a mourning, alcoholic misfit who finds solace in a dangerous new lover is one sure to haunt viewers long after the film has ended. Directed by and starring the incredible horror auteur Larry Fessenden, HABIT is a surreal and mature vampire love story that’s far bloodier and more adult than what the TWILIGHT crowd might expect.

see the rest of the selections (and the honorable mentions too!) 

GEP pal Susan Leber (producer on THE ROOST and LIBERTY KID) heads to the Cannes Film Festival with Michael O’Shea’s THE TRANSFIGURATION starring Eric Ruffin and featuring the requisite appearance by Fessenden. With Special makeup effects by Glass Eye Pals Spears and Gerner. Curious? Indiewire has some insight.