Not sure exactly when I became aware of Fessenden’s work, but it was probably when my friend Aaron Christensen told me about his 1995 film Habit, which is a modern-day vampire tale. Fessenden wrote, directed, edited, and even stars in as the main character. It was a feature length film based on a previous short film he made back in 1982. It’s pretty tough to make modern-day vampire film work because it has been done so many times, but Habit does it perfectly.
From that point on, I was following his career, watching anything he directed. But like Roger Corman, there were a ton of young filmmakers coming out of Fessenden’s Glass Eye Pix, such as Ti West and Jim Mickle, who have created some incredible features on their own. Every time I’ve seen an interview with Fessenden, he just seemed so down-to-earth, with no pretentions, but just has this overwhelming passion to make film. When he’s not directing or producing, he’s always popping up with little cameos in a ton of different films, from the independent ones to even big-budgeted ones.
But I’ve never had the chance to actually meet this legend. Until yesterday.
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Larry Fessenden is one of my favorite filmmakers, because not only does he create entertaining films, but they are smart, well made, and highly effective. Ever since my first experience with his early film Habit, it still remains what I would consider one of the best of modern day vampire films. So when I read the news that he was set to direct his version of Shelley’s Frankenstein, a personal favorite classic monster of mine, I was more than excited.
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