Larry Fessenden's Habit (1997)

* * * 1/2 (out of 4)

It's those mundane household objects you need to watch out for, especially when stumbling home in the bleak light of day after an all night binge of booze and cheap, sloppy sex. The cold metal of the faucet chafes against your fragile skin flecked with blood, the wire coathanger which you left in the shower stall seems somehow violent, and that razor blade you left on the counter seems awfully tempting.

Larry Fessenden's Habit takes place in a world which is slightly askew - existing in that metaphysical zone of weeks and months after the death of a father or a recent break-up with a girlfriend whose arid relationship you've suffered through.

Those are the worst times, especially if you stay up all night like some stinking barfly drinking your troubles away. That's the plight of poor Sam, a thirtysomething East Village resident who is going through his own private meltdown.

Did I mention that Habit is a vampire film? A scary movie?

It's the perfect film for Halloween night, painted in the pumpkin oranges and coffin dust browns of the October season. If there is any hope for the independent American horror film, it lies in the hands of filmmaker Larry Fessenden.

Larry Fessenden's Habit

Sam (played by Fessenden himself) is hardly a reliable guide. From the beginning, he's out of whack, sorting through his father's papers, preparing a speech for the old man's wake. The apartment is empty, ominous yellow papers covering the bed and furniture draped under ghost white sheets.

Only the old man's photographs remain to keep Sam company - pictures of old ruins, catacombs, churches and tombs. The somber nature of the photographs and the empty rooms set the mood for Habit - a horror film about being alone, sad and disturbed.

Lest we should think this is one of those maligned art house films, Fessenden immediately gives the film a stout kick into gear by dragging Sam into the New York City streets on Halloween night (with an almost documentary style catch-as-catch-can approach from cinematographer Frank DeMarco, picking up the macabre and mischievous details of the city.)

Enter the Vampire

Sam meanders into a friend's party, hoping to cash in on the well stocked liquor cabinet. We meet a few of the other characters, all familiar faces from the theater scene below Houston Street. (Aaron Beall, who plays Fessenden's friend, owes a lot of my friends some money - I hope you're reading this, Aaron! Ya cheap bastid! Forgive my digression, casual readers.)

Go To Page: 1 2 3 4