‘I figured out how to bring them back…’
Even as a horror obsessive, you can’t watch everything. Which is one of the things that makes horror so exciting. It’s evergreen. Larry Fessenden is a much-loved independent writer, director and actor working out of New York City. He has made his name as the director behind several low-budget horror films such as Habit and Wendigo. Depraved, Fessenden’s 2019 take on the Frankenstein myth, was my first interaction with the guy, and, I’ll be the first to admit, I didn’t really give Fessenden or his film a fair shake…
Henry (David Call) is Frankenstein. Adam (Alex Breaux) is his monster. We are in modern-day Brooklyn. Joshua Leonard from The Blair Witch Project also appears. That’s pretty much all she wrote plot-wise.
Now, what do I mean when I say I didn’t give Depraved a fair shake? Well, I watched it when I was tired, distracted and in a stinking mood, for one thing. I also watched it at a time when I was in the midst of hoovering up a bunch of Frankenstein adaptations and so I was a bit fatigued by the whole thing. As a result of this, I could barely remember the film moments after the credits rolled, but I will say, Breaux, an actor who doesn’t even have a Wikipedia page, delivers a nuanced and effectively childlike performance as the monster, and the contemporary Brooklyn setting and modern characters provide a breath of fresh air to a subgenre that is often stale and derivative.
To summarise, Depraved never really stood a chance, but I will make a promise here and now to Mr Fessenden that I will watch one of his other flicks in due course and give it my full attention.
