Horror Movie Reviews
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Title: Habit (1999) |
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Review of Habit
- When Sam meets Anna, his alcoholic delusions lead him to believe she is a vampire. His dilemma becomes a struggle with sanity, truth and fiction, all the while straining his relationships with friends and family.
Description
- New York indie filmmaker Larry Fessenden wrote, directed, and stars in this 1997 tale of urban vampirism overlooked in the wake of two similar productions, Michael Almereyda's Nadja and Abel Ferrara's The Addiction. Less precious then the former and less pretentious than the latter, Habit is a modest, intelligent study of loneliness, addiction, and urban alienation. Fessenden stars as alcoholic hero Sam, a shabby, shaggy guy in a dead-end job who falls madly in love with a mysterious young woman (Meredith Snaider). She'll only see him at night, draws blood during ferocious, animalistic sexual encounters, and has a strange habit of disappearing, but when he suspects she's more than she appears, his life turns from romantic idyll to sinister nightmare. Fessenden makes an oddly charming lead with his crooked, broken-toothed smile and distracted demeanor, and Snaider is appropriately cryptic as she blows in and out of his life with nary an explanation. Shot in the streets of New York in a style that recalls John Cassavetes (a hero of Fessenden's), the picture periodically loses itself in side stories and long conversations, and Fessenden doesn't quite have the resources to make the jump from naturalism to supernatural. But at their best his low-budget special effects take on an eerie beauty, turning this indie bloodsucker into a compelling paranoid psychodrama. The DVD also features a making-of featurette directed and narrated by Fessenden. --Sean Axmaker
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Comments for Habit
- Posted on 2007-05-25
What did I get from this film? #1: Never drink around vampires
I support local filmmaking. I support the independent artist that wants to express himself/herself in the cinematic way. What I enjoy with the independent artist is their way of expressing the already known. For example, one of my favorite films is the independent sci-fi time travel piece called "Primer", you may or may not have heard of it. The reason that I enjoy it so much is because it takes an old idea (that of time travel) and redefines it. It recreates the wheel that Hollywood seems to cannot seem to do without CGI and actors with too much money. It was exciting then to get Larry Fessenden's original student film "Habit" except with a bigger budget and after being immersed in the game a bit longer. Fessenden's newer version of "Habit" gives us more gore, more scenery, and more ... well ... nudity than originally envisioned. He takes the typical "vampire" wheel (a story that we have seen in countless films) and recreates - giving us a modern day horror that is built upon both mythological lore as well as personal demons. During the course of 112 minutes, a great story is unfolded before our eyes - alas, it isn't the most powerful of stories, nor is it the most well-acted of stories, but it has something most Hollywood big-budget films seem to lack today , that is heart and substance.
Fessenden, who not only does work behind the camera, but also as the main character named Sam, gives us a glimpse of New York city circa 1990. Times seem to be tough, Sam works nights as a bartender and has found (after the death of his dad), that drinking dulls most of the pains. One of our first introductions with Sam is at a party, where he arrives drunk and continues to drink throughout the course of the evening. It is during this party that we meet the somewhat sensual Anna, who immediately locks target with Sam. She entrances him similar to what Dracula did to Miss Mina, but in an eerie role reversal. They continue their gathering outside, but in Sam's drunken stupor, he misses the opportunity to connect with Anna. Not to worry vampire lovers, they reconnect after Anna supposedly snacks on one of Sam's friends - and the two begin a very physical courtship. Oddly, Anna only appears at night, away from friends, and will not tell Sam anything about her. She bits his lip, he thins its foreplay. It dramatically changes when Sam seems to get sick over time, forgetting the simplest of tasks, and eventually driving himself mad with scenarios of what Anna may be doing to him. Of coarse, nobody believes him, so not only does he battle with Anna's vying but also with his friends who seem to believe he is slowly going mad, which becomes the eventual focus to this film. We are left with this surprising question in our minds as Fessenden ends with anything but your moment of zen.
I would like to begin by saying that I thought this was an extremely strong outing for a low-budget director. I wasn't hoping for Troma level, and I didn't get it. I wasn't hoping for another repeat of "Def By Temptation", and thankfully it never showed. What I witnessed with this film was an innovated director reinventing an old genre. Hollywood continues every year to do this type of story, but their moments seem stale and recycled more than innovative and classic. Fessenden uses his mind and truly makes a terrifying film that questions the basics of the vampire genre and relates them to modern cinema. It is almost like a horror version of "Fight Club" except not as strong. He uses violence, nudity, and realism to bring this fictional story into the light of New York City taking us to places that are familiar and at most, extremely spooky. This is not a bad film, but I cannot boast that it is perfect. It is continually flawed, forcing your to focus on the story because at times the acting is laughable at best and his "A to B to C" logic seems too overloaded and detailed. The acting, outside of the verbal slandering of Aaron Beall's Nick, was just poor. This could have been tightened up a bit to create stronger scenes between the characters. I thought Sam was "acting" like he was drunk more than he was, the moments of intimacy seemed to be wanted instead of needed, and as we get closer to the end, the moments between Nick and Rae seem distant and lost. Strength in the words would have tightened up this loose end.
Secondly, I had trouble with parts of the story. I don't want to disregard what Fessenden has done here because I think it is a strong moment in cinematic glory, but just small ends that needed to be less loose. He started so strong with "Habit" that he couldn't keep the momentum flowing until the end. One of my favorite scenes in the film is when he walks by a artist doing nude photos at night - a moment that seems similar to the movie that we are watching, but I loose it when he goes to Rae's grandmother's house and the Thanksgiving dinner there. Fessenden also seems a bit loose on the entire "loosing his father" moments that seem to peak in and out of existence throughout the film. I think that it helps us understand Sam's moments of insanity - especially near the end - but we needed more spent towards his father than at the ocean with friends. There just seemed to be an unbalance in the force. There are my only two complaints about the film (outside the fact I wished there was a director commentary), because I think Fessenden can do a decent job - just don't go off focus.
Overall, I would suggest this film to only a select number of friends - those that appreciate the cinematic art. I say this because to the unwilling eye, this will look like a cheap "B" horror film that teeters on nothing, but I saw so much more than that. I saw a skilled director revisiting his old work to bring back into the public eye. This is a great film about vampires, or at least the idea of vampires - but it is not for everyone. It leaves the story open-ended, giving us a chance to make decisions for ourselves and that, in itself, is what creates the true horror.
Oh, what about that goofy video that didn't seem to fit with the film - I guess I could do without that again, but I digress...
Grade: *** out of *****
Score: 3
- Posted on 2007-02-12
Vampire Love Story
I highly recommend this movie to all the vampire lovers out there. It is a very realistic, modern day love story, set in NYC. PLEASE be careful about who you may pick up at a halloween party!
Score: 4
- Posted on 2006-02-26
East Village captured.
Best capture of NY's East Village in it's hey day yet. Snaider is amazing.
Score: 5
- Posted on 2005-07-01
Sexy, Smart, and Very Well Made
Larry Fessenden is an excellent director. I appreciated HABIT very much, having sat through numerous weak, lumbering yawners in the Vampire genre. Fessenden surprised me with this film by delivering a smart, well-written, well-acted indie film. The best thing about HABIT is that I believed every plot twist and every line of dialog. I got hooked in... wanting to see what happened next as the movie moved forward.
The cinematography and editing are dreamlike, giving the film a feverish tone. The acting, especially from star/director Fessenden, is dead on.
The use of an urban setting also makes this vamp pic unique... the gritty, grim city imagery adds tension to the drama.
This is excellent independent filmmaking and a very well executed horror movie. Buy it!
Score: 4 - Posted on 2004-11-13
Haunting and Mesmerizing
This is a film for people with a high degree of imagination and intelligence. The story is not necessarily what it seems, or perhaps it is, it's for the viewer to interpret. Sam may indeed be the prey of the mysterious and beautiful vampire, Anna; or he may be imagining more than there is due to his own draining excesses of despair, loss, isolation, and alcoholism. This is what makes the film so interesting. If you want a cut and dry, highly special effect-laden vampire flick, this is likely not for you. For those that like their mind challenged, see it.
Filmed on a relatively low budget (and based on an earlier video work) Larry Fessenden has achieved a more engrossing film than I've seen on the big budget screen (as an example, while "The Hulk" was a nice exercise in special fx, it bored me in comparison to "Habit"). Habit's history is nicely chronicled in the bonus features on the DVD.
Meredith Snaider is wonderful as the mysterious Anna. She remains a mystery in life. All we know about her in the bios included in the disc is that this is her only film; there is no background info on her at all; I did, however, learn that she became a social worker in real life after this film. I hope she is aware that her talent is truly appreciated in her one screen appearance.
Amaze your friends, invite them for a showing of a truly innovative and often disturbing film. Let the independant fimmakers show how they pioneer the art, especially Larry Fessenden. See "Habit."
Score: 5