From the essential portrait by INSIDE + OUT:

AS A PHOTOGRAPHER, WHAT IS THE MESSAGE YOU WISH TO CONVEY, AND HOW DO YOU CHOOSE A BODY OF WORK OR SUBJECT MATTER TO FOCUS ON?

Bahram Foroughi: I don’t really think in terms of a single message. For me, it’s about capturing something true, something that feels the way it actually was in that moment. That’s what drew me into working with filmmaker Larry Fessenden. Larry’s films live in that space where things aren’t over-polished or forced; they feel human, a little raw, sometimes uncomfortable, but real.

Being around that kind of filmmaking reinforced how I see things as a photographer. I’m drawn to moments that have tension, where something’s just beneath the surface. It’s not about perfection, it’s about truth. Whether it’s on a film set or in a live music environment, I’m looking for that same thing: a moment that feels like it could fall apart or come alive at any second.

TELL US SOMETHING ABOUT YOURSELF THAT PEOPLE WOULD BE SURPRISED TO KNOW.

Bahram Foroughi: I’m a first responder and volunteer with the Woodstock Rescue Squad, and I previously served as a firefighter in Olive for six years. That experience gave me a real understanding of the challenges first responders face, especially when it comes to dealing with PTSD.

I’m currently working on launching a nonprofit that teaches first responders how to fly fish as a way to manage that stress. It’s something I care deeply about, creating space for people who are constantly operating in high-pressure environments to slow down, reset, and find a sense of calm and balance in nature.

Read more of this intertview with this cherished collaborator since BITTER FEAST (2010)

Beck Underwood snaps Sharif El Neklawy snapping Laëtitial Hollard, Gaby Leyner and Aitana Doyle
at the Overlook Film Festival presenting Larry Fessenden’s
TRAUMA OR, MONSTERS ALL

”Larry Fessenden remains indie horror’s most singular visionary…
it’s hard to imagine any other conclusion for this story
that marries so many of his consistent obsessions.”
—J Hurtado, ScreenAnarchy

✭✭✭✭1/2
“preposterousness and poignancy…
Fessenden’s monster movie does not seem inappropriate in today’s world.
In fact, it seems like an unusually sane response.
Fiction is one of many ways through which we might explore better ways
of communicating with one another,
lest we unleash too easily the monsters from the id.”
—Jennie Kermode, Eye For Film

“Fessenden’s final outing for his “monsters” is smart, sometimes scathing
and is best when exploring how scary selfhood and otherness is.
The world is complicated and that’s how people end up putting others in boxes.”
—Nadine Whitney, In Session Film

by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

A new film by horror indie auteur Larry Fessenden is always cause for celebration, and for those lucky enough to be attending the Overlook Film Festival, they have the chance to attend the world premiere of his new film Trauma or, Monsters All, tonight. And we have an exclusive clip!

An aspiring author gets more than she bargained for when she writes an article for the local paper about her small town’s dark history, prompting unwanted speculation on what monsters may lie within. Overlook mainstay Larry Fessenden returns with the thrilling conclusion to his quadrilogy, a thoughtful and fiercely independent monster mash that can be enjoyed on its own or marathoned with his three origin stories – Habit, Depraved, and Blackout.

Laëtitia Hollard, the big breakout star of HBO hit series The Pitt for her role as nurse Emma Nolan, stars in the film, alongside Aitana Doyle, Barbara Crampton, Addison Timlin, Alex Hurt, and Fessenden. The clip that features Hollard and Doyle, helps set the stage for this dark mystery. I am jealous of those who get the first watch in New Orleans tonight. Check out the clip below.

See post at Screen Anarchy

Musings on The Devil’s Share

Having started in the theater before moving to film, my directing experience has always involved the visual medium. Even my prior experiences with the Tales series was onstage at film festivals, when Glenn or Larry needed an extra voice for a role.  So when they asked if I’d be interested in writing or directing on this new season, I was eager to have the opportunity (and the challenge!) of creating a horror tale that was completely audio-based.

I remember watching horror movies in the theater as a kid and knowing to hide when the subs hit your chest and the strings kicked in. Working in the horror genre, sound design and score has always been my favorite part of the process – the moment when everything you’ve done up until that point starts to really come together and the elements of fear are built. I’ve worked with my sound designer Owen Granich-Young and composers The Gifted on almost every single project I’ve ever done, they’re definitely my ride-or-dies and always down to experiment and dig in creatively.  I tried to think of an idea for a tale that would lean into sound as the entity of evil for them to play around with – and also thought of how we consume tales these days.

I come from a very rural rustbelt town, where tales told about the town itself down through the generations is a common occurrence – a shared communal history.  The sound of where I grew up – that Appalachia feel – is also something I really wanted to bring out in the story – growing up in that area it has a very distinct audio element in my mind – creaking trees, work boots on wooden floorboards, cicadas and a suffocating humidity – and that small town been-here-for-generations-everybody-knows-everybody closeness that can also be suffocating in its own right. That got me thinking – what if that small town ‘putting down roots’ charm wasn’t about not wanting to leave – but not being able to?  Being stuck in generational patterns and shared history.  Hence were the seeds of ‘The Devil’s Share’ born.

I’m lucky to work with so many talented folks who genuinely enjoy what they do. What I love about Zach Gilford is all you have to say is I got this idea or role I’m thinking you’d be good for and he immediately responds with ‘I’m down’ before you even tell him what it is. It also doesn’t hurt that he’s one my favorite actors both to watch and to work with.  I also have my own roots in the comedy community here in LA outside of the horror community – we’ve all ended up working on each other’s projects in different roles over the years -hence why so many comedy folks end up popping up in my work.  You’ll hear some of my ‘regulars’ like Susan Burke, Jonah Ray and Matt Peters along with comedian and Fallout Fake Talk Show host Jon Daly, and a newcomer (for me!) whose work I’ve long admired  – Liana Liberato – who is absolutely phenomenal as Taylor and has the best cackle you’ve ever heard.

And of course, writer/directors are not spared their turn at the mic – Kate Freund, Evan Katz as ‘Drunk Hank’ and the imitable Larry himself join the cast.  I could go on at length about how much we all enjoyed this process (and the ability to just do as many takes as we want and try new things without the ‘burden’ of physical production) but I feel I’ve rambled on enough and I could go on singing all the cast and crew’s praises for pages –I’ll just leave you with I hope you enjoy listening to The Devil’s Share as much as all of us enjoyed making it together. All photos probably by Jen Yamato at Monkeyland Audio.

 THE DEVIL’S SHARE
written, directed and edited by Roxanne Benjamin
An investigation into the strange goings-on
in a rust-belt factory town quickly goes south. 

Cast: Zach Gilford, Liana Liberato, Jonah Ray Rodriguez, Larry Fessenden, Jon Daly,
Matt Peters, Susan Burke, Kate Freund, Rigo Garay, Evan L. Katz, and Owen Granich-Young.
Sound Design and Mix, Owen Granich-Young
Score by The Gifted
Recorded at MonkeyLand Audio in Los Angeles
with additional recording at Underground Audio in New York City.
Produced by Larry Fessenden and Glenn McQuaid
along with Jordan Gass-Pooré and Rigo Garay. 
Tales Theme by Jeff Grace. 
Post Art: Brian Level

Visit TALES FROM BEYOND THE PALE for all 55 TALES, VIDEOS, PHOTOS & More

From Bloody Disgusting

By Alex DiVincenzo

The Larry Fessenden cinematic universe takes shape in Trauma Or, Monsters All, which crosses over three of the indie horror icon’s creature features: the 1995 vampire cult classic Habit, the 2019 Frankenstein riff Depraved, and the 2023 werewolf movie Blackout.

Bloody Disgusting has an exclusive first look at the poster and a batch of stills from the film, in which Fessenden blends social commentary with archetypes of horror into a reflection of our times through a gothic lens.

Trauma Or, Monsters All follows Cassandra, an aspiring author who travels to the small upstate town of Talbot Falls to write a book while working a day job at the local library alongside Agnes.

The new friends’ lives change when Cassandra writes an article for the local paper exposing the dark history of the town: are there monsters among them?

Speculation bubbles into conflict as a werewolf, a vampire, and a Frankenstein creation emerge into the light, revealing deep suppressed trauma in the inhabitants of the town.

Laëtitia Hollard (“The Pitt”), Aitana Doyle, Addison Timlin (Depraved, Odd Thomas), Alex Hurt(Blackout), Alex Breaux (Blackout, “Stranger Things”), and Fessenden (Habit) star.

Genre favorites Barbara Crampton (Blackout, Re-Animator), Joshua Leonard (Depraved, The Blair Witch Project), and James Le Gros (Blackout, Phantasm II) also make appearances.

The ensemble is rounded out by John Speredakos (Blackout), Cody Kostro (Blackout, “Mare of Easttown”), Marc Senter (Blackout, Cabin Fever 2), Micheál Neeson (Cold Pursuit), Joseph Castillo-Midyett (Blackout), and Rigo Garay (Blackout).

Fessenden writes, directs, edits, and produces via his Glass Eye Pix. Gaby Leyner, James Felix McKenney (Blackout), and Tilson Allen-Merry also produce.

Trauma Or, Monsters All will have its world premiere this weekend at the Overlook Film Festival, which will also feature repertory screenings of Habit, Depraved, and Blackout.

LINK TO TICKET PURCHASES HERE

It feels like since 2008, the global economy has never been more than a nickel’s throw from ruin. At the same time, consumerism and consumption through physical or online goods have never been higher. It’s a delicate balance, walking a tightrope teetering over a likely collapse, and one that is explored masterfully and musically in James Siewert’s continuously revolving music video for Tender, the first single from Just Desserts’ fourth studio album, Curtains. Returning to Directors Notes, a few years since we last spoke to him, this new animated music video illustrates through stop motion the creation of our society as we know it today and how perilously – or inevitably – close it is to falling down around us. Watch Tender below, after which Siewert talks to us about the building of his own rotating Tower of Babel, collaborating with musician/actor/filmmaker Larry Fessenden to bring his song to the screen, how real-life fire and stop motion animation do not make happy bedfellows, and his hopes of hypnotising his audience.

Congratulations on the release of Tender. What was the thematic inspiration for the imagery that would accompany the song by Larry Fessenden?

When Larry sent me the song, I think I had already started envisioning a Babel-like construction on the rotating platform, being inspired by my printmaking professor Lothar Osterburg’s series of prints reinterpreting Bruegel’s Babel. Tender, with its themes of accumulation, consumption and decay, seemed like the perfect opportunity. Larry Fessenden – an indie horror auteur, here moonlighting as a musician – told me that the single’s leading image was in fact the Tower of Babel, and it felt like we had to do it.

You previously created an animation built on a rotating platform. What is it about that storytelling base that appeals to you?

I was interested in the dynamic between the growing sculptural form of accumulating frames and the more two-dimensional experience of the interior animation. The sculpture becomes the carcass of the film’s expired animated life, and by reconciling the needs of the sculpture with the needs of the animation, both end up taking on unexpected organic qualities, suggesting further growth.

The stop-motion animation reminded me of Peter Gabriel’s Sledgehammer music video, also with lovely visual cues on each lyric. What are the references and influences that inform your filmmaking style?

That’s great. I love that video – and it does have a great sense of play. You can tell that even though all the animation is very much of a piece, it wasn’t workshopped and mood-boarded to death, but they were kind of making their way through the song playfully. And that song is an absolute blast. I mean, of course, I don’t know exactly how that video was made, but there’s a sense of discovery in it. There are ads and music videos that ape that style but you can tell the frames have been picked apart by the agency and it doesn’t feel surprising – they feel ‘fun’ in scare quotes but you can tell that the artists weren’t actually let off the leash and allowed to have very much fun.

Read Full interview at Director’s Notes

TRAUMA OR, MONSTERS ALL
Laëtitia Hollard, Aitana Doyle
Addison Timlin, Alex Hurt, Alex Breaux, Larry Fessenden
John Speredakos, Cody Kostro, Marc Senter, Micheál Neeson,
Joseph Castillo-Midyett, Rigo Garay
Barbara Crampton, Joshua Leonard, James Le Gros

Fri, Apr 10th, 7:00 PM @ Prytania Theatres at Canal Place B
Sun, Apr 12th, 8:10 PM @ Prytania Theatres at Canal Place D

SUNDAY APRIL 12: FESSENDEN MONSTERVERSE MARATHON

HABIT
Sun, Apr 12th, 11:30 AM @ Prytania Theatres at Canal Place D

DEPRAVED
Sun, Apr 12th, 2:30 PM @ Prytania Theatres at Canal Place D

BLACKOUT
Sun, Apr 12th, 5:20 PM @ Prytania Theatres at Canal Place D

TRAUMA
Sun, Apr 12th, 8:10 PM @ Prytania Theatres at Canal Place D

Fessenden and select cast in attendance