The Larry Fessenden Collection
Director: Larry Fessenden
Shout! Factory
October 20, 2015
Reviewed by Brian M. Sammons
Larry Fessenden is an odd duck. As an actor, he’ll pop up here and there in supporting roles when you least expect him, delivering usually goofball but very memorable performances. Highlights of his acting career can be seen in 2015’s We Are Still Here as a psychic pothead, in 2014’s Late Phases as a gun dealer, in the indie darling zombie movie The Battery from 2012, and even in the vampires invade New York TV show, The Strain.
Not content to just be in front of the camera, Larry has written and directed a number of short films, wrote the story for the highly excellent PS4 horror game Until Dawn, wrote and directed the beast episode in the sadly short-lived horror TV anthology Fear Itself called “Skin and Bones,” and wrote and directed four independent horror features: No Telling, Habit, Wendigo, and The Last Winter.
Larry is well respected in the horror community, but he’s never had huge, mainstream success. Thankfully that didn’t stop Scream Factory from assembling Fessenden’s four feature films into one big, beautiful collection, but is it worth a get? Well keep reading and let’s find out.
Fessenden’s first film was 1991’s No Telling. In it, a husband and wife rent a farm for the summer so that the mad doctor husband can do weird experiments on animals in the barn. Soon the couple’s relationship begins to deteriorate as the bizarre experiments escalate. For a first time feature director, Fessenden is quite good. He gets believable performances from his actors and even captures some really frightening moments. It’s not a great film, but I would say it’s good.
Larry next sat in the director’s chair in 1995 for Habit. It’s a modern New York take on vampires, with a drunk and depressed man (played by Fessenden) falling under the influence of a lady vamp at a Halloween party. Yes, the subtext of addition can be found here, which in vampire stories really isn’t anything new. And that can be said about this movie as a whole. While I did enjoy it, it’s nothing you haven’t seen before, it’s just more of the same but done well.
The third Fessenden film may be my favorite of his. Called Wendigo and from 2001, it deals with the Native American legend of the cannibal spirit, a mythology I have always found fascinating, and so does Larry, as he would return to it again and again in future projects. In this film a family looking to get away from hectic city life goes to upstate New York for a break. Unfortunately not only do they hit a deer with their car, but they run afoul of a cranky, crazy hunter, and there just could be an unseen supernatural presence haunting them and watching their every move. High on atmosphere and mood, this is one hell of a creepy film.
Larry’s latest movie collected here is 2006’s The Last Winter. In this film an American oil company is exploring the remote Northern Arctic National Wildlife Refuge looking for oil. What starts off as business as usual soon becomes anything but as workers start going dangerously crazy. Is it a case of accidentally released sour gas that’s making everyone insane, or is it something more nefarious at work? This is a sort of eco-thriller with supernatural elements including one of Larry Fessenden’s most favorite go-to boogeymen.
On to the extras in this four Blu-ray collection and man oh man did Scream Factory pull out all the stops for what is, by and large, a collection of cult films. There is a 24-Page Booklet with liner notes by Fangoria’s Michael Gingold. For No Telling there is an audio commentary with Larry Fessenden, a making of featurette, some Archival footage, and one of Larry’s short films called “White Trash.”
Habit also has a director’s commentary, a making of feature, the short film “Habit” that inspired the feature, a making of the short film “Habit,” a music video, a theatrical trailer, the short film “N is for Nexus” that was in Magnet Releasing’s The ABCs of Death 2, a making of “N is for Nexus” and another music video for “Frankenstein Cannot Be Stopped.”
Wendigo has, you guessed it, an audio commentary with Larry, but it also has another with actors Patricia Clarkson, Jake Weber, and John Speredakos. There is a behind the scenes featurette, and interview with Larry Fessenden (2001), an animated series trailer for “Wendigo,” the 2008 short film “Santa Claws,” and a theatrical trailer.
Last, but not least is The Last Winter and that one has (say it with me) an audio commentary with Larry Fessenden, a full-length making of documentary that also features deleted scenes, a collection of archival footage, the short films “Jebediah,” “Origins,” and “Mister.” A music video for “Tired of Killing Myself” and a brand new interview with Larry Fessenden.
Okay, after all that, I’ve got to take a rest. Give me a moment.
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So yeah, if you are a fan of Larry Fessenden and his movies, then this is THE collection to get. It’s massive, the HD transfer looks great, and it comes loaded with extras and goodies. If you are not a fan of this man’s work, then why are you still reading this? Obviously this isn’t the Blu-ray collection for you. If you’ve never experienced Fessenden’s fear flicks, then I would say give them a try, as they often offer different, fresh takes on traditional terror tropes. So considered The Larry Fessenden Collection recommended.
