Stanley Film Fest: Live Tales from Beyond the Pale Offers Awesome Alternative to Film Program

by Ryan Turek, April 27th 2014

Purveyor of all things celebrating indie horror, Larry Fessenden, brought his Glass Eye Pix team to The Stanley Film Festival in Estes Park, Colorado for a live performance of Tales from Beyond the Pale, the anthology audio play that channels the old days of scary radio dramas. Y’know, that era when all it took was some actors, some sound effects, some music and your imagination to frighten the heebie-jeebies out of listeners. The series has previously featured the macabre works of Fessenden, Glenn McQuaid (I Sell the Dead), Simon Barrett (You’re Next) and Jeff Buhler  (Midnight Meat Train) among many others.

For Tales from Beyond the Pale: The Stanley Edition, Fessenden and McQuaid pulled together an acting troupe which included AJ Bowen (The Sacrament), Martin Starr (Silicon Valley), Jocelyn DeBoer (Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead) and even our pal Sam Zimmerman from Fangoria. Fessenden took a leading role as “Jack Landon.”

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It took some very slight adjustment focusing on the narrative, but once I got used to it, I could fully appreciate the mechanics of what went into making this live performance work. We were encouraged to close our eyes and just listen to the show, but I truly enjoyed watching the experience. It distills the nature of telling a horror story down to the basics without any sort of flashiness and it was a welcome alternative to the film programming at the Stanley Film Fest.

I know that Glass Eye Pix has done a live performance of Tales in New York City. If they do it again, I encourage you to go. I’ll be sitting here in Los Angeles, hoping they share this magic with the West Coast.

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[Stanley Fest ’14] Getting Vocal With ‘Tales From Beyond the Pale’

By EvanDickson on April 27, 2014

One of the most pleasant surprises of this year’s Stanley Film Fest was being able to witness a live recording of Tales From Beyond The Pale at the Historic Park Theater in downtown Estes Park. For those unfamiliar, Pale is a radio show produced and directed by Larry Fessenden (Habit, Beneath) and Glenn McQuaid (V/H/S, I Sell The Dead). Previous episodes have been penned by the likes of JT Petty, Simon Barrett and many other noted horror writers.

Fessenden filled me in on the show’s history several days before the performance, “we devised the concept some years ago and we went into the studio and did 10 of them, which allowed us to craft them very well. It’s an experience as an audio drama, it’s not just about dialogue. It’s also about sound design. And that did well, it was well liked. So we said, ‘let’s do it live.’ An opportunity came up with a theater engagement in New York and we pushed ourselves and approached different collaborators and did it live and that was great. But this is our first time traveling with the live show.”

That live show is surprisingly complex. If you’re thinking a radio show just involves a microphone and some prerecorded sound effects, you’d be wrong. There are several other performers onstage in addition to the voice actors, ensuring the room (and your ears) are filled with a palpable atmosphere. From plinking ice in a glass when someone pours a drink to stretching celery in unnatural ways to depict a werewolf transformation. McQuaid rightly insists that this stuff is every bit as valuable as the meat and bones of the narrative, “the foley because your performance too. The show is happening live and if someone’s digging a grave, the actor needs to hear and feel that.”

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From Mike Gingold at Fangoria:

“Larry Fessenden and his Glass Eye Pix are helping keep the audio horror drama alive with TALES FROM BEYOND THE PALE, and with a new CD set on sale and a live version set to be staged at this weekend’s Stanley Film Festival, they’ve given us the first look at a new poster!

TALES FROM BEYOND THE PALE: THE STANLEY EDITION will be staged at the fest (taking place at the haunted Colorado hotel that inspired Stephen King’s THE SHINING) this Saturday, with two brand new stories written specifically for the event by Fessenden, TALES co-creator Glenn McQuaid and frequent collaborator Clay McLeod Chapman. Festival attendees AJ Bowen (THE SACRAMENT), Martin Starr, Jocelyn DeBoer (both from DEAD SNOW: RED VS. DEAD), Ana Asensio and others will be part of the voice cast; the poster…was illustrated by artist Trevor Denham…

Now available at the series’ official website and Amazon.com is the TALES FROM BEYOND THE PALE SEASON 2 boxed set, containing four CDs, a DVD and a 12-page booklet. The nasty narratives for this collection, all recorded live at New York City’s Dixon Place, were written by Fessenden, McQuaid, Chapman, YOU’RE NEXT’s Simon Barrett, THE MIDNIGHT MEAT TRAIN’s Jeff Buhler, BITTER FEAST’s Joe Maggio, ANNO DRACULA author Kim Newman and short filmmaker/Fango contributor Ashley Thorpe, with voice performers including Sean Young, Vincent D’Onofrio, Mark Margolis, James Le Gros, Michael Cerveris, Kate Lyn Sheil and Jonny Orsini and Fessenden serving as host. The DVD includes the half-hour documentary BEHIND THE CURTAIN and the video-clip collection DISPATCHES FROM SEASON 1. Gary Pullin designed the box, which retails for $25.”

Check out the full post at Fango.

From Samuel Zimmerman at Fangoria:

TALES FROM BEYOND THE PALE LIVE: Stanley Edition

If again, atmosphere is the name of the game, you couldn’t do better than a live rendering of Glass Eye Pix’s macabre audio dramas, TALES FROM BEYOND THE PALE. Overseen by fantastic filmmakers and classic horror aficionados Larry Fessenden and Glenn McQuaid, the dramas consistently feature high-caliber horror work from an ensemble of acclaimed filmmakers and actors. Live, however, the feeling is chimerical. TALES has the energy and power to transport listener to time and place far and away and to extend that feeling and share it with an audience seems tailored for a setting with such history as The Stanley. That’s not to mention this edition is bespoke to the hotel and will star Ana Ansensio, AJ Bowen (THE SACRAMENT), Jocelyn DeBoer , Larry Fessenden and Martin Starr.

TALES FROM BEYOND THE PALE will be performed Saturday, April 26 at 4:45 p.m. in the Historic Park Theater.

From Clark Collis at Entertainment Weekly:

“In the mood for some scare-ification? Then we heartily, bloodily, and spookily recommend you check out the Tales From Beyond The Pale Season 2 box set, which is released today. A series of horror-themed audio plays, TFBTP is the brainchild of terror auteurs Larry Fessenden (Beneath) and Glenn McQuaid (I Sell the Dead) who, according to press release-legend, conceived the idea during “a fog-drenched car ride with nothing beyond the windshield but a horizon-less void.”

Season 2 was recorded live in New York and features the vocal talents of Vincent D’Onofrio, Mark Margolis, James Le Gros, Kate Lyn Sheil, and Fessenden’s Jug Face costar Sean Young, among others. Besides Fessenden and McQuaid, story scribes include Simon Barrett (the mighty You’re Next) and British horror novelist Kim Newman. In addition to the tales themselves, the box set also boasts a DVD chronicling the history of the project and the staging of the shows.

The release of the season 2 box set comes ahead of this weekend’s Stanley Film Festival at the Colorado Hotel, the locale that inspired Stephen King to write The Shining and where the TFBTP team will unleash two tales created just for the event.

But enough of my blather. They say a scream is worth a thousand words — well, at least I do — so please do check out the screech-suffused Tales From Beyond The Pale season 2 trailer below.”

Get your copy of the TALES S2 box set on Amazon or the TALES online store.

Fessenden joins long-time collaborator David “The Impact Addict” Leslie and friends as they kick off the Tom Murrin Festival. Check out the schedule here and come help celebrate the beloved Alien Comic with a multitude of wacky performances by luminaries and acolytes of the downtown scene.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

STANLEY FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES JOE DANTE TO RECEIVE “MASTER OF HORROR” AWARD PRESENTED BY MICK GARRIS, FULL CAST FOR TALES FROM BEYOND THE PALE: THE STANLEY EDITION, PANELS, AND ADDED SCREENINGS

April 14, 2014 (Denver, CO) – The Stanley Film Festival (SFF), presented by Chiller and produced by the Denver Film Society, announced their full lineup of panels, added screenings, Dean’s Cup short films, and the full cast of TALES FROM BEYOND THE PALE: The Stanley Edition (presented by Glass Eye Pix). Celebrating the best in independent horror cinema, SFF will showcase a full slate of features, shorts, panels and fully immersive experiences – set at the Stanley Hotel. The haunted landmark opened in 1909 and was the inspiration for Stephen King’s Overlook Hotel in The Shining.

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Adding to the 4-day celebration of horror, TALES FROM BEYOND THE PALE: The Stanley Edition has been created specifically for SFF 2014. TALES FROM BEYOND THE PALE is an ongoing series of audio dramas penned by luminaries from the world of contemporary horror. The Stanley Edition will proudly feature SFF attendees Martin Starr (Dead Snow: Red vs. Dead), Jocelyn DeBoer (Dead Snow: Red vs. Dead), AJ Bowen (The Sacrament), Ana Asensio and noted director and writer Larry Fessenden and additional special guests. The performance will be held at the Historic Park Theatre in downtown Estes Park on Saturday, April 26 at 4:45pm.

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Rounding out the weekend is a series of panels. SpectreVision cofounders Elijah Wood, Daniel Noah and Josh Waller will present a panel about their film production and music management company and their future plans. Additional panels include Who Watches This Stuff?: Buying, Selling, Distributing and Exhibiting Horror Films Today as well as a panel focusing on the New Wave of horror featuring Ti West, Travis Stevens, Glenn McQuaid and Larry Fessenden.

Check out the full press release here.

From HMPod.com:

“One of the busiest dudes working in the horror genre, Larry Fessenden is an actor, writer, director & producer. On this special episode of The Horror Movie Show, hosts Jerry & Mark wax rhapsodic about several of Larry’s movies.

Three movies in which Larry acts — Jug Face, You’re Next & We Are What We Are — madeHMPod‘s Top 10 list for 2013. A brief review of each movie begins this retrospective.

As producer & director, Larry’s new flick Beneath is a good, old-fashioned creature feature about a gigantic hungry fish in a very small pond, feasting upon the disloyal bodies of naughty teenagers. Larry’s production studio, Glass Eye Pix, has made at least one movie that is not horror, but will make some viewers squirm regardless. The Comedy is the sort of movie that divides an audience into those who love it & those who loathe it.

I Sell the Dead, starring Larry & loveable Dominic Monaghan (The Lord of the Rings, Lost), is a blackly comic tale of body-snatching ghouls who are in way over their heads, so to speak.

Two more movies directed & written by Larry wrap up this episode. The Last Winter (2006) is a tale of nature’s revenge on shortsighted humanity, with Ron Perlman playing the sort of swine he plays so well. Wendigo (2001) stars Jake Weber & Patricia Clarkson as nice people caught up in a small-town cretin’s anger.

Expect to see HMPod‘s interview with Larry, exclusive to this site & Eli Roth‘s The Crypt, coming soon.”

Listen to the podcast here!

From indiewire: 

“What films have inspired you?

There are four movies that inspired “Summer of Blood.” Robert Bierman’s “Vampire’s Kiss,” Mary Harron’s “American Psycho,” Larry Fessenden’s “Habit,” and Rick Alverson’s “The Comedy.” For the record, my favorite horror comedy of all time is “American Werewolf in London.: I loved watching horror films as a teenager in the 80s. In the 90s, during college, I discovered and loved the films of Woody Allen.”

Director Onur Tukel’s new movie “Summer of Blood” is showing at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival.

Check out the full interview at indiewire.com