A couple of
Larry Fessenden's better known horror films have been available on DVD for a while. But not until 2014, when Scream Factory rounded them up during their partnership with IFC's horror division, did we get them all, and in HD to boot. First we got
Beneath, a TV movie he made for the Chiller channel, and then in 2015 we got everything else in an impressive, four disc Larry Fessenden Collection. Since then, his newer films have been released, and
I've covered them along the way (and in conjunction with this post,
I've updated my Depraved page with Vinegar Syndrome's new 4k Ultra HD upgrade, so his whole catalog's up to date here). But more recently, Vinegar Syndrome has released (almost!) everything from the Larry Fessenden Collection in 4k in their dual Of Monsters and Madness: The Films of Larry Fessenden UHD boxed sets. Today, we're gonna go through 'em all.
So let's start with
Beneath.
It's generally considered to be his worst film (3.5 on the imdb, 1.9 on letterboxd, 13% on rotten tomatoes, etc), and the fact that it's
the only film he directed but didn't write his surely to blame for most
of its shortcomings. But not only to I kinda like, it's grown on me
with each viewing. Honestly, the unlikable characters really put me off
at first; and from online reactions, it had the same effect on most of
us. But the fact that these teens are kind of awful is sort of the
point, and there is a realism to many of the awful decisions they make,
even if we're loathe to admit it. Originally, I appreciated that Larry
made a practical giant fish monster instead of CGI, and I liked dark
ending and the brutal frankness with which characters were dispensed
(i.e. the girl cutting her arm and just immediately bleeding to death
because no one knows how to tie a proper tourniquet), but my attitude
was that it was still mostly pretty bad.
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What? Some people don't want to spend 90 minutes in the company of these guys?
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It became a guilty pleasure I
would always feel compelled to revisit, though, and I've come to
appreciate the initially frustrating way they doom themselves. The
magic necklace bit is still goofy, and it never really makes
sense that these five people would go party together as a group. But I now find this as a kind of great, nihilistic condemnation of humanity. I find myself returning to this blu-ray more than many, much more highly regarded films, I must admit.
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2014 Scream Factory BD.
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Scream Factory presents this film in 1.78:1. Given how Vinegar Syndrome wound up correcting Scream on this matter for just about every other film in this post, I would guess that's a slight error. But given this was made for Chiller, maybe not. That could be how they wanted all their original films. Anyway, Beneath was shot digitally, so we can't rely on film grain to tell us how sharp or properly detailed the image is, but it looks pretty sharp and clear. It's presumably direct from the DCP, is free of artificial sharpening, edge enhancement and the other typical flaws, and wouldn't look much better outside of a UHD disc. Oh, and this film occasionally shifts to GoPro footage (you can see the camera on the character's wrist in the shot of the them with the firework), which is still 1.78. The dip in picture quality at those times is obvious but surely intentional.
For audio, we're given a choice between 5.1 and 2.0 DTS-HD tracks that sound pretty similar to me. Optional English subtitles are also included.
And like all the films we'll be looking at here, it's got a killer
special edition. I've read a number of people
saying the extras are better than the movie itself. A bit harsh, but
for many people likely true, so even people who are generally Fessenden
fans but not keen on
Beneath may want to pick this disc up,
especially if they see it cheap. There's an hour long 'making of' doc
that runs considerably longer than the movie itself. It's by Fessenden
himself (well, and his son and the rest of his Glass Eye Pix family; the
credits don't seem to list a director proper), and as we'll see
throughout his releases, he loves this stuff and crafts seriously
thorough, rewarding bonus content that takes you from early
pre-production to post. And that same enthusiasm and appreciation for
special features carries through to his commentary, this time alongside
sound designer
Graham Reznick. Besides that, there's a
collection of outtakes, a brief featurette on the film's poster and a
longer one on his youthful, incomplete adaptation of
Jaws. Then there's a separate on-camera interview with Fessenden, a collection of
What the Zeke
promo videos (found footage prequel videos ostensibly created by the
nerdy kid with the camera from the movie... only the strongest willed
among us will be able to sit through them all, though it is impressive
they hired a bunch of exclusive actors and locations for these things),
plus the trailer. It comes in reversible cover art and a slipcover.
But that was just the "bonus" review. Now let's get to the films
that are actually in the collections, starting chronologically with
No Telling, Fessenden's 1991 feature debut. This is his first
Frankenstein tale, well before
Depraved,
and takes place on a small-town farm. If you have issues with
(fictional) violence against animals, boy, this is not the movie for
you. It's also one of Fessenden's preachiest. I mean, he always lays
messages in his monster movies, but in this and
Last Winter, it's
right up front. Larry wants to talk about the issues, and if you were
just hoping for casual entertainment, prepared to be annoyed. But if
you're up for the discussion, this is a smart and engaging thriller.
It's a slow burn in the sense that it's not a bodycount flick, at all,
but it's disturbing, and all the stylistic flourish that Fessenden is
known for is right here in his debut.
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| 1) 2015 SF BD; 2) 2025 VS BD; 3) 2025 VS UHD. |
Once again, we see Scream Factory presents this in 1.78:1, but now
we have Vinegar Syndrome correct that to 1.85:1. This is basically just a case of matting a little tighter, however. The new scan reveals only the teensiest, tiniest sliver on the right-hand side. This one was shot on
film, 35mm in fact, so there's more restoration work to cover here. And the image is pretty strong across the board. But if you look at the film grain in the bright parts of that guy's hat in the second set of shots, for example, you can see it disappears on the Scream disc, but all that info is retained on the VS disc, particularly on the UHD, but even on their blu. And there is more detail in the 4k, like if you look at the firetruck way in the background of the first set of shots, you can clearly see delineations on the UHD that are a smeary mess on the old blu. But it may be pretty academic if you're not looking at screenshots zoomed in to 500%. The bigger benefit is more in the realistic color timing of the HDR, and maybe the AR, if you're bothered by the 1.78s.
Again we have the choice between 5.1 and 2.0 DTS-HD mixes in the old set. I think these 2.0s might just be mix-downs. VS scraps it and just gives us the 5.1. Both discs include optional English subs.
Scream's extras are along the same lines as
Beneath. We start with another great commentary by Fessenden, and a vintage 'making of' documentary. This one's shorter, only 24 minutes, but it's accompanied by another 27 minutes of archival footage, consisting mostly of behind-the-scenes footage, but also some deleted and alternate scenes. We also get his old student film from 1979 (it's lightly amusing)
White Trash, with a new intro by Fessenden. There's also the first of four "Glass Eye Pix Sizzle Reel"s, which are exactly what they sound like (Glass Eye is Fessenden's production company). But if you're only going to watch one of these, watch this one, since it also has an intro by Fessenden.
Vinegar Syndrome carries all of that over. Then
they also brought Fessenden back in 2025 to record a commentary (which they've done for all four films), this time with a moderator, which is... highly redundant. He's mostly saying all the same things a second time. In
fact, the original commentaries are probably better. Fessenden's
recollections are stronger, and there is a weird sound mixing issue with
the new ones, where the moderator seems unmic'd, so you have to crank
the volume to 100 to hear him, and then Fessenden's response blows out
your eardrums. Otherwise, they're fine commentaries on their own
terms. They're just generally pointless when we've already got his
initial tracks. And speaking of redundant, they recorded another commentary with an expert who isn't left with much to add to the conversation either. In brief, all of VS's new commentaries on this disc and going forward, while not bad, can largely be written off as skippable filler.
That brings us to film #2:
Habit from 1995. Fessenden explained on the previous disc that, because of the
No Telling's
lack of success, he had to drastically scale back his filmmaking
ambitions, and you can tell this is a much scrappier, indie flick. Not
just because we go from wide 35mm to fullscreen 16, but the whole thing
just has a much more homemade with friends vibe. Whether that's part of
its appeal or a detriment is up to you. Personally, this is my least
favorite of Fessenden's work, but that has much more to do with the
pacing and the conventional nature of the story than anything
budget-related. I don't know how many vampire movies we've had where
drinking blood is a metaphor for alcoholism/ addiction, but it's a lot.
Still, it's a good flick. He said he was aiming for a
Scorsese-style vampire film, and that definitely comes across.
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| 1) 2015 SF BD; 2) 2025 VS BD; 3) 2025 VS UHD. |
Habit is the one film that doesn't stick with the 1.78/ 1.85 pattern here; it's presented in its OAR of 1.33:1 on both labels' discs, though the framing has shifted very slightly. You'll notice in the shots above, the framing moves ever so slightly down and to the right. More importantly, this new 4k scan is sharper and grain that's only hinted at on the old disc is crisp and clear on the Vinegar Syndrome disc. This is film looks the roughest just by its nature, but it's also taking the biggest step forward from its 2015 to 2025 release.
Again, we have the 5.1 and 2.0 DTS-HD tracks on the Scream disc, dropped down to just the 5.1 on VS, and both have English subs.
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the original 1981 Habit short film
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Habit also has the best improvement in terms of its special
features, despite taking a small step back at the same time. So let's
start Scream, which has another excellent commentary by Fessenden and a
24 minute 'making of' featurette. It also has his original student film
version of
Habit (shot on VHS, fullscreen at 1.24:1 on both discs), and a brief 'making of' featurette (created
for public access television at the time) for that. And there's the
trailer. All of that has been ported over to the VS set as well.
But
the theme of the VS set is his monster movies, and the theme of the
Scream set is his general filmography, so there are a few things on the
Scream set that didn't make it to Vinegar Syndrome. There are two music
videos, one with an intro by Fessenden, and there's the short film segment he
made for
The ABCs of Death 2. There's also a short 'making of' for that, which is the same one included on the
ABCs of Death 2 blu-ray.
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N Is for Nexus
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Yeah, VS lost those, but they replaced them with better stuff, better suited for
Habit.
There are two new commentaries again, including another newer Fessenden
one. The latter is probably the least redundant of the four, since
they wind up going on long tangents about how artists can succeed
independently in the film business, but on the other hand, they're
frustratingly off topic. Then the other track is two experts who take a
fairly lackadaisical approach. One says, "I actually don't know if
Rivers Of Grass came out before or after
Habit"
(maybe look it up? What are you on this disc for?) and the other even
confessing to not being familiar with Fessenden's work ("I can't believe
I never even heard of this movie before")! But far better are two
lengthy audio interviews with the lead actresses, which you won't want
to skip. One of them also includes
footage of a short film she made with Larry; they're great additions.
So in the extras dept, too,
Habit proves to be the biggest upgrade of the four.
And that takes us to what is probably still Fessenden's most famous film, 2001's
Wendigo.
Patricia Clarkson (
Dogville,
The Safety of Objects)
stars as the mother of a family who move into an Upstate New York town
that's a little more backwoods than they expected. There might also be
an ancient wendigo out there in the woods taking heads, but that's the
least of their problems. This one's shot on 16, too, but it looks more
like a proper movie, with moody photography and stylized editing. It's
more of a drama than a thrilling horror, something which could be said
of most Fessenden films really. But if you're up for that, this remains
one of his best works.
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| 1) 2015 SF BD; 2) 2025 VS BD; 3) 2025 VS UHD. |
So
yes, this is another situation where Scream gives us this film in
1.78:1 and VS mattes it to 1.85:1. To the casual observer, these discs
will look pretty similar, but VS's new 4k scan is much better. Even
comparing the two blu-rays, you can see information on the signs posted
to the telephone ball that is missing from the SF disc but restored on
the VS one (and yes, even clearer on the UHD). The colors are similar,
too, but more natural and authentic in the newer set. You can see an
over-saturated orange glow to Clarkson in that second set of shots, for
example, on the Scream disc that VS clears up. You could argue this is
all too obscure for most viewers, but VS's is inarguably the superior
transfer.
Audio-wise, the story's the same: 5.1 and 2.0 DTS-HD
tracks on the Scream disc, curated to just the 5.1 on VS; and both have
English subtitles.
Wendigo is another packed special edition, with great extras
dating back to the original DVD carried over to Scream Factory's set:
another great Fessenden commentary and a first class (half hour+)
'making of documentary, plus an on-camera interview with Fessenden, a
photo gallery and the trailer. Then Scream added a second commentary
with stars Clarkson,
Jake Weber, and
John Speredakos, plus a brief teaser for a proposed
Wendigo cartoon
(neat, but hard to believe any channel ever would've made this) with an
intro by Fessenden, another sizzle real and a 2008 short film called
Santa Claws (a quick little 4-minute thing made for a digital film festival), which also has a Fessenden introduction.
And VS carries all of that over, including
Santa Claws,
as well as adds a couple new things. Once again there's another new
Fessenden track and another new expert commentary, both fine but
unenlightening and boring if you've already watched the old stuff. But
they also add the alternate ending that Fessenden talked about in his
original commentary, which uses the original wendigo suit they wound up
replacing, so that's cool to finally see.
Finally, we come to the most recent film in this set, and Fessenden's second wendigo story, 2006's
The Last Winter. This was, and remains, his biggest budget endeavor, with several names (
Ron Perlman,
James LeGros,
Connie Britton and
Kevin Corrigan),
an international film shoot and a major set piece I won't spoil, but
probably cost more than the total budget of his two 16mm films
combined. That's right, we're also back on 35 as well, though we do pay
a little bit of a price for his move into the big leagues with some
dodgy CGI we wouldn't have to suffer anywhere else in Fessenden's
catalog. To be fair, it's minimally and tastefully employed. But
there's a few shots that make me wince every time. But that's a minor
nitpick in this excellently written, shot and performed piece with a
great point and a ton of creepy atmosphere.
I've also got the original 2007 IFC Films DVD for this one, so we have a little more to compare here.
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| 1) 2007 IFC DVD; 2) 2015 SF BD; 3) 2025 VS BD; 4) 2025 VS UHD. |
All
three labels present this film in 2.35:1. although VS's scan pulls back
slightly to show a little more along the all four edges. You can also
see in the first set of shots that they've taken the opportunity to
adjust the framing of some shots. VS's grain is a little light even on
the UHD in that second set of shots, but it's mostly pretty strong
throughout the rest of the movie, as opposes to the Scream disc, where
it's barely hinted at. And don't even bother looking for any on the
DVD, which is more of a smudgy mess that also seems to be plagued with
artificial edge enhancement and a smidgen vertically stretched.
And
yeah, again Scream has 5.1 and 2.0 DTS-HD tracks with English
subtitles, which VS narrows down to just the 5.1 and subs. It's worth
noting that the DVD also only had the 5.1 (with English subtitles), so
it's Scream coming up with all these 2.0s. Oh, and of course, the DVD's
audio is lossy.
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some Stake Land stuff
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Even
the DVD hits us off with a very solid special edition, starting with
another excellent Fessenden commentary and
doc. The 'making of' for this one is longer than the film itself! Then
there's a good on-camera interview with Fessenden, plus a couple of
bonus trailers. Scream keeps all of that, except the bonus trailer, and
adds some more goodies: primarily an additional collection of behind
the scenes footage,
including an elaborate prank Perlman played on a local radio station
while filming. There's also, a
music video, another sizzle reel and three short films Fessenden made
for the vampire film
Stake Land (he didn't direct that film; but Glass Eye produced it and he has a supporting role).
Vinegar Syndrome carried all of that over except for the
Stake Land shorts (I checked, though, and they are on the
Stake Land
blu-ray if you want to see them). And they added the new Fessenden
track and another new expert track, which is... the most interesting, at
least. Something about it is really off, if not flat-out broken, where
we
repeatedly hear the commentator do alternate takes of the same
sentences, stumble lines and than awkward blocks of silence mid-word. I
suspect in this case they actually submitted the wrong audio track to
Vinegar Syndrome, and somewhere on their laptop is a finished, edited
track sitting in the wrong folder. So that's a little more forgivable,
and she actually also has perhaps the most unique insight and info not
already found in the preexisting extras. And it does give some
interesting insight into how these tracks are
made, hearing her talk to herself, make the same statements multiple
times, etc. But it can't have been intentional.
One interesting wrinkle is that the
Scream Factory set had a sticker on the back labeled "UPDATED CONTENT
DESCRIPTION" that spelled out some corrections to the special features
on the packaging. It said that
No Telling deleted scenes and
Habit
archival footage do not actually appear. So as soon as VS announced
their sets, I was wondering if those extras would finally turn up. They
did not. Shout's set is a wide amary case that came in a slipcover and
also included a 24-page booklet with notes by
Michael Gingold.
VS's sets are two amary cases apiece, housed in a very solid and sturdy
slipbox (honestly, I was impressed). Each case has reversible artwork
and a slipcover, and both sets contain 40-page booklets with notes by
Phillip Escott,
Filipe Furtado, and
Esther Rosenfield in Volume 1 and
Mallory Andrews,
Justine Smith, and
Isaac Feldberg
in Volume 2. All told, these are some sweet, definitive sets from
Vinegar Syndrome, and a solid if not always overwhelming upgrade of the
Scream set.
