Summary
- Yellow Veil Pictures and Glass Eye Pix release trailer for indie horror film Blackout starring Alex Hurt as a werewolf in a small town.
- Filmmaker Larry Fessenden blends classic monster tropes with contemporary themes, creating a naturalistic and stylized portrayal of the werewolf story.
- Blackout serves as part of Fessenden's triptych of classic-monster homages, alongside previous films Depraved and Habit, forming his own Monsterverse on a different budget.
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Yellow Veil Pictures and Glass Eye Pix have released the trailer for the new horror movie from indie auteur Larry Fessenden (Habit, Wendigo, The Last Winter), Blackout. Alex Hurt stars as fine arts painter Charley Barrett, who becomes convinced he is the werewolf plaguing the small town of Talbot Falls whenever the moon is full. Check out the trailer above and the full synopsis below:
"Painter Charley (Alex Hurt of Minyan, TV's New Amsterdam) wakes up in an upstate motel where he appears to have been living for some time. After he packs and leaves he encounters various people in the small town where everybody knows your name. Charley is saying goodbye to the long-suffering love of his life, Sharon (Addison Timlin of Submission, TV's American Horror Stories), and settling his affairs with a strange urgency that culminates with a call to a friend, Earl (Motell Gyn Foster of Marriage Story, A Dog's Way Home), saying: 'You better be ready, I’m coming.'
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"But Charley never makes it to his friend’s house: When the sun goes down he has convulsions while driving his car, goes off the road and ends up in a ditch. Charley, it seems, is a werewolf. He attacks his rescuers and moves through the outskirts of town at night wreaking havoc. But the next day he can’t remember the things he’s done. Now the tight-knit town must rally to find out what is tearing it apart: mistrust, fear, or a vicious monster."
Bloody Disgusting reported on Blackout ahead of its 2023 screening at the Fantasia Film Festival. At the time, Fessenden said:
"I am interested in finding new truths in the classic monster tropes of my youth. The essence of each creature dictates the milieu of the film, and of course, the werewolf is both out of control and regretful so that duality shaped my story. I am excited to work with Yellow Veil again, they understand my filmmaking and have been fierce advocates."
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One of the horror movies Fessenden is known for is Habit, in which he starred as the main character in addition to his work behind the camera. It's a vampire movie known for its "gritty 90's New York atmosphere." Blackout will likewise serve as a "portrait" of Hudson Valley and the surrounding area, consisting of Woodstock, Olivebridge, Andes, and Kingston.
"My approach was to blend a naturalistic docu-style with the mythological tropes of the werewolf story, an ongoing interest to blend realism with stylization, and to fuse themes of contemporary society with classic monster movie clichés."
Previously, Yellow Veil Pictures and Glass Eye Pix teamed up for Fessenden's previous film, Depraved, a brilliant Frankenstein-inspired movie starring David Call, Joshua Leonard, and Alex Breaux. Together, alongside Blackout and Habit, Fessenden has formed "a triptych of classic-monster homages," as Fangoria calls it. Something that he's wanted to do for a long time.
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"Yes, I'm competing with Marvel and Blumhouse to create my own Monsterverse, but at a very different price-point."
RELATED: Werewolf By Night: Monster Or Superhero
Larry Fessenden Makes Protest Films
Blackout
- Release Date
- April 12, 2024
- Director
- Larry Fessenden
- Cast
- Marshall Bell , Michael Buscemi , Joseph Castillo-Midyett , Kevin Corrigan , Barbara Crampton , Stirling duBell
- Runtime
- 104 Minutes
- Main Genre
- Horror
- Writers
- Larry Fessenden
- Studio
Director Larry Fessenden described the making of the film and the challenges of indie cinema in general to MovieWeb in our Fantasia interview for Blackout:
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"With the little bit of money we had, we were very resourceful, so it was very integrated in the town [where we filmed]. I was doing the schedule, because I knew that at two o'clock we could get into the hardware store, but we had to be out by three, and blah blah blah. So in a way, it's how I like to make films, it's extremely hands-on. On the other hand, you realize, 'Oh my god, no one cares about this but me.'"
"Indie cinema is a brutal landscape. And then the idea of just having a working class life as an artist, which is to say a writer," continued Fessenden. "What kind of society did we build when the top dogs are getting all the money, and then the middle guys — who are doing the work, by the way — the creative forces aren't getting compensated in a way that they can have one or two children and a dog? So this is the problem, and it's happening in all aspects of society, and nobody seems to call anyone on it."
In a way, that's why my movies are what they are. I make protest films.
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The film also stars Addison Timlin, Motell Gyn Foster, Joseph Castillo-Midyett, Ella Rae Peck, Rigo Garay, John Speredakos, Michael Buscemi, Jeremy Holm, Joe Swanberg, James Le Gros, Kevin Corrigan, Marshall Bell, and Barbara Crampton, most of whom have worked with Fessenden in the past, if not in the movies he directed, then in movies where they acted alongside him. Indie cinema truly is a family.
Blackout will open for a one-week exclusive NYC theatrical engagement at IFC Center on March 13th, which will feature special cast appearances and a Q&A. The film will be released nationwide on digital platforms and VOD on April 12th.