Tomorrow night Fessenden will be in conversation with Cinefamily featuring a screening of his 1995 feature HABIT as part of Spectrefest. Tickets can be purchased from the Spectrefest site.
Join us for a night with filmmaker Larry Fessenden and a screening of his film, Habit.
Sam (Fessenden) is a spiraling alcoholic New Yorker. Still recovering from the shock of his father’s sudden death and in the midst of a break-up, Sam is looking forward to the freedom of single life: to be able to drink what he wants, when he wants. He is, in his own words, “committing suicide on the installment plan.” Sam has friends, but they are increasingly distant on account of his self destructive alcoholism. That’s when he meets Anna (Meredith Snaider) at a Halloween party, a mysterious and alluring woman who may or may not be a vampire. Sam and Anna embark on a fairly unorthodox union; Sam never sees her in daylight, and she is prone to biting during their aggressive sexual encounters. For Sam’s noncommittal self, this relationship seems ideal, but then he starts to fall dangerously ill, and Sam wonders if Anna’s love might come at a hidden cost.
This seminal work rocked the New York film scene upon its release in 1995, bringing a grounded realism to a supernatural tale in ways that invoked Cassavetes as much as Poe. In the 20 years that have followed, Fessenden has become a force in genre film with Glass Eye Pix, fostering numerous young talents such as Ti West and Kelly Reichardt, as well as going on to direct Wendigo and The Last Winter. Following the screening, Fessenden will join SpectreVision partner Daniel Noah for an in-depth discussion of his life and work.
Dir. Larry Fessenden, 1995, 112 min.
Watch the Cinefamily original trailer!
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