Larry Fessenden’s Habit is a favourite vampire film and I knew that he had based it on a previous short. The Blu-Ray of the feature, in the Larry Fessenden Collection, features the short as an extra.
A note about the release date. IMDb suggests 1982 and the date on the Blu-Ray box also says this. However, there is an errata sticker with the Blu-Ray that then corrects the date to 1981. The Official Site says 1981, but conflates the run-time with the feature. The date is, therefore, contested but I have settled for the corrected date as per the Blu-Ray.
The short isn’t a great quality recording, clearly from a video transfer but offers a unique look into the genesis of the fabulous feature. It begins with Anna (Anne Phelan, though IMDb says Meredith Snaider who was Anna in the feature) and Sam (Larry Fessenden) coming into shot, chatting about the party they have left, he is drunk. This mirrors their meeting in the film, though we don’t see the party itself.
The film then follows the two, she a vampire who feeds upon her new lover. The scenes are familiar, they will make their way into the feature in one way or another, but with superior cinematography and much more consistent acting. This feels like the student film that it was, so may not appeal to the casual viewer, but for the student of the film it is an essential little short, giving an insight into how the concept developed.
The imdb page is here.
The Larry Fessenden Collection can be found at Amazon US and Amazon UK (be aware it is region A).
A note about the release date. IMDb suggests 1982 and the date on the Blu-Ray box also says this. However, there is an errata sticker with the Blu-Ray that then corrects the date to 1981. The Official Site says 1981, but conflates the run-time with the feature. The date is, therefore, contested but I have settled for the corrected date as per the Blu-Ray.
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| Larry Fessenden as Sam |
The short isn’t a great quality recording, clearly from a video transfer but offers a unique look into the genesis of the fabulous feature. It begins with Anna (Anne Phelan, though IMDb says Meredith Snaider who was Anna in the feature) and Sam (Larry Fessenden) coming into shot, chatting about the party they have left, he is drunk. This mirrors their meeting in the film, though we don’t see the party itself.
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| more Sam |
The film then follows the two, she a vampire who feeds upon her new lover. The scenes are familiar, they will make their way into the feature in one way or another, but with superior cinematography and much more consistent acting. This feels like the student film that it was, so may not appeal to the casual viewer, but for the student of the film it is an essential little short, giving an insight into how the concept developed.
The imdb page is here.
The Larry Fessenden Collection can be found at Amazon US and Amazon UK (be aware it is region A).
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