Brooklyn Horror Film Festival Honors Indie Horror Legend Larry Fessenden
On Sunday, October 20, Brooklyn Horror Film Festival honored Larry Fessenden with the Leviathan Award. The ceremony took place before a screening of his 1997 film Habit and a post-show Q&A. The award is BHFF’s only tribute award, created in 2023 to honor the luminaries of horror for their contributions to the genre. The event was moderated by filmmaker Jennifer Wexler. Wexler previously worked at Fessenden’s Glass Eye Pix and fell into an effortless rapport with the man of the hour.
Upon receiving his award, Fessenden explained what it meant to be recognized by the festival. He said, “It is a struggle making these movies. My films are not quite horror, and they are not quite fancy indie movies. They have never been to fancy festivals. So what matters is you guys…the audience, and the fans. It means a great deal to be recognized by the Brooklyn Horror Festival. It is really meaningful to me.”
He joked, “I am not really getting emotional, but in concept, I am very touched by this.”
Always one to share the spotlight, Larry Fessenden told the packed theater that he accepted the award on behalf of all the great people he has worked with over the years. He explained, “The word mentorship is thrown around a lot, but what really happens is I find people with great passion, with a vision of what horror can be.”
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Fessenden cited Wexler’s seven films made at his company. He then continued, “I accept [this] for all of the people who have come through our pipeline. We are there to celebrate individual voices in the arts. The individuality to go up against the sort of corporate blandness…and get everyone out the door so they can go make some money.” Fessenden and Wexler were then handed Blood Bags, the specialty drink Nitehawk Cinema conjured up for the event, before leaving the audience to watch Habit on the big screen.
Habit sees Fessenden step up as writer-director-star, which is not uncommon in his work. In the film, he plays a down-on-his-luck guy named Sam who just lost his dad and is still navigating a recent breakup. As he self-medicates at a party, he meets a woman named Anna (Meredith Snaider), and sparks begin to fly. However, it soon becomes clear that Anna wants Sam’s body in more ways than he bargained. This sets Sam spiraling even further as he realizes love bites, and that he might be hooking up with a vampire.
This indie movie set in 1995 New York has all the markings of a Larry Fessenden project. It’s a no-frills film that feels personal and is unafraid to explore sexuality and violence. To further set it apart from most movies, it denies the audience the traditional boring happy ending. Habit also has a monster that is a person first and foremost, which is another signature of the filmmaker’s work. Instead of going for over-the-top creatures, Fessenden is known for using monstrous traits to investigate the human condition.
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Jennifer Wexler brought clips of the 1984 short Habit to compare with the feature-length version, allowing the audience to see how they differed. She used the short version as a jumping-off point to ask Larry about his knack for using monsters to explore real-world issues. He acknowledged that the short film was not great, but it was the seed he needed for what has become his personal mission. Fessenden explained, “It was the beginning of my instance that you can make monster movies, in the every day, in a personal way about personal problems. I have been on that mission ever since.” He elaborated, “My films are philosophical horror movies dealing with some of the old questions through a modern lens.”
Because Wexler has known Fessenden for years, she knew how to get the good stories out of the beloved horror icon. Between the two of them laughing like kids who snuck into the adult table at a holiday meal, he told the packed theater scandalous stories. For example, Larry shared that they saved filming the scene where he dangled from a window for the last day. Just in case it was the last thing he ever did.
He also joked, “I really want to stress, I never wanted to exploit anyone. So, we did not pay anyone one single penny because I never wanted them to feel they were being underpaid.” However, when he won an award that gifted him $10,000, he gave it to the crew that made Habit possible.
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Wexler also asked Fessenden how advertising Habit landed him and a friend in jail. This is when Larry Fessenden told possibly the funniest story of the evening. He began, ”We’re postering, as you do, on the street, and the cops come up. It was illegal to do that. So, they grabbed us and said, ‘Is there anything you want to get rid of before we bring you into the station?’, and I’m like, ‘What the fuck is he talking about? Oh shit, the reefer in my pocket.’”
Fessenden continued, “We were already handcuffed, but they kind of [knew]. So, we are driving around, and they say, ‘So…we have an idea for a Sundance movie.’” When the laughter died down he continued, “They threw us in jail, and at the time, I had Habit trading cards, which was my way of promoting the picture. I gave them to all the inmates, as we were all in the cell together. I even got the cops to do a selfie.”
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As a fan of Larry Fessenden’s movies and video games, I love hearing him talk about his work at festivals. This time was extra special because I finally crossed Habit off my watchlist. He’s worked in the genre since 1979, so many millennials are playing catch-up with his back catalog. I know I’m not the only one who was geeked to see it for the first time with Fessenden in the building to talk about the process of making the film. Because Fessenden has never been afraid to lay bare his personal feelings in his art, the film holds up. It is also still remarkably timely and relatable all these decades later. I highly recommend you catch Habit, which is currently free to stream on Sling TV and is available to AMC+ subscribers.
I am still riding the high from this evening with Jennifer Wexler and Larry Fessenden. However, you can catch me at @misssharai if you watched Habit for the first time this year and have also been changed for good.
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