by Meagan Navarro 
Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel Frankenstein remains as influential as ever, with numerous notable adaptations and horror movies inspired by the literary classic released in the last year alone. With news of Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein and Maggie Gyllenhaal’s Bride of Frankenstein-inspired feature on the horizon, it doesn’t seem to be slowing down any time soon.
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These five titles use the base story to explore new terrain, whether through comedy, gore, or explorations of contemporary themes.

DEPRAVED (AMC+ & TUBI) Larry Fessenden returns to the director’s chair with this modern update to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. And with it, a very thoughtful approach to the relationship between the mad scientist and his creation. In this version, the creature’s creator, a PTSD suffering field surgeon named Henry (David Call) never abandons his creation. He names him Adam (Alex Breaux), and spends a lengthy span of time teaching motor skills, language skills, and normal daily functions so Adam can survive in civilization. This is a Frankenstein style story so things go awry, naturally, but this time Adam has an easier time articulating his confusion, naivety, and inner pain. It’s a unique and emotionally gripping journey, presenting a refreshing twist to a familiar story with surprising new depth and poignancy.

Read full list at BLOODY DISGUSTING

On this day GEP shares this pitch video for a series entitled FEAR NATION by Glass Eye Pix and Rob Kuhns (BIRTH OF THE LIVING DEAD). A chilling reminder of our nation’s past at a time when our future is uncertain and a tribute to the horror genre’s ferocious power to explore terrifying truths about ourselves.

Kate Lyn Sheil Is a Perfect Actor Who Deserves Your Attention

By Matt Mahler

Sheil stars in the new film, The Seeding, but has an immaculate career worthy of your attention. She’s the best.

Kate Lyn Sheil is a one-of-a-kind actor, like one of those rare lunar events you better grab the telescope for, lest you wait 60 years for that true blue moon. From her early mumblecore days when she seemed the Anna Karina to Joe Swanberg’s Godard, or the Michelle Williams to Amy Seimetz’s Kelly Reichardt, through intense horror films, myriad shorts, and quirky dramedies, Sheil has made a career out of tipping scales. A good film becomes very good when she crosses over, and great becomes greater.
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Perhaps the greatest instance of this is in Rick Alverson’s masterpiece, The Comedy, perhaps the apotheosis of ironic detachment. Starring the brilliant comedian Tim Heidecker in one of the most stunning dramatic performances given by any comedic talent, the film follows a wealthy man-child lost in the depths of anhedonia. He is constantly searching for a feeling, often going to disturbingly uncomfortable lengths to try and capture one, insulting cab drivers, acting like an idiot in a church, and generally disrupting people’s lives.
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As is evident, [Joe Swanberg’s] Full Moon trilogy is very much about the art of acting and the fiction of filmmaking (with acting as a kind of lycanthropy). It’s an interesting facet of Sheil’s career, a kind of meta tendency toward self-reflexive trickery. Of course, some of this is because of the family affair of mumblecore, where actors and directors blended into each other, often making movies about themselves. Swanberg and Seimetz, Lawrence Michael Levine, Kentucker Audley, Lena Dunham, Sophia Takal, Ti West, Jane Adams, Larry Fessenden — they were all starring in and directing each other’s films (while Gerwig, Bujalski, Duplass, and Duplass were doing the same, mostly elsewhere). It was a truly special time in cinema that feels sadly over.
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Read full tribute at Movieweb

Fessenden appears with Sheil in YOU’RE NEXT and SILVER BULLETS. THE COMEDY is a Glass Eye Pix production featuring Sheil. Sheil performs in the TALES FROM BEYOND THE PALE episode “The Stranger.” And as always there have been unrealized collaborations too.

I have just learned (from Ted Geoghegan on X) that David J. Skal was killed by a drunk driver on Jan 1st. Skal wrote some of my favorite books on the horror genre and Halloween. Essential reading for horror fans to understand the context in which the iconic monsters were born and popularized.

Glass Eye Trivia: in the TALE FROM BEYOND THE PALE episode entitled THE VAMPIRE PARTY, which was based on a true story, the movie “critic” that the filmmakers were hoping to meet was in fact David J. Skal whose attendance was assured by our hosts. In real life, he didn’t show.

Fessenden on location in Iceland shooting aerial shots for THE LAST WINTER

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