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19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Lady IS a Vamp...Isn't She?, February 12, 2004
Over the past fifteen years or so, talented indie writer and auteur Larry Fessenden has earned a reputation for creating high-quality, highly aesthetic films within the constraints of extremely meager budgets. Many of his films have been short works and have, unfortunately, gone unnoticed by the public at large, but in recent years, he has written and directed a handful of low-budget but high-quality feature-length horror films that have pushed him further and further into the limelight. HABIT is the second of these films, and it is his first work to have garnered both a high level of public attention and major critical acclaim (including a three-star "thumbs-up" from the venerable Roger Ebert).The movie examines a small slice from the life of Sam (portrayed by the writer/director himself), a somewhat hapless part-time nightclub manager who has just split with his live-in girlfriend. At the Halloween party of some friends, a drunk and grungy Sam is inexplicably singled out by the attractive yet dark and ethereal Anna. In spite of the seeming mismatch, one thing leads to another, and Sam hastily plunges into a hot but reckless sexual relationship at the urging of this mysterious dark-haired beauty. During the next few weeks, they have sex in a park, sex on the rooftop of a New York apartment building, sex in a hospital examination room, and sex in numerous other bizarre situations and places. It isn't that Sam has a problem with copulating in risky environs; it's just that he's a bit put off by Anna's habit of biting and nipping him during the act. After every lovemaking session, Sam falls into a deep sleep, only to wake up the next morning, alone, with a new collection of bloody scrapes or bite-marks somewhere on his bod. Sam has been feeling week and sickly as of late, though he at first attributes it to late-night work schedules and excessive drinking. But when his close friends start openly commenting on his increasingly gaunt appearance--or pointing out the freakish cuts and bites all over his arms and face--a light clicks on in his head. It suddenly dawns on him that he's never seen Anna in the daylight, he's never known her to perform common bodily functions like peeing or taking a crap, and he's never seen her eat or drink anything...that is, anything other than blood--HIS blood! As crazy as it seems, Sam can't help but ponder the possibility that Anna might be a vampire. Once the vampirism seed in planted in Sam's own alcohol-saturated, sleep-deprived gray matter, he's unable to shake it off, even when his good friend Nick (Aaron Beall) points out the blatant absurdity of the idea. And the more obsessed Sam becomes with his belief, the more Anna reveals her true undead, bloodsucking nature. Or does she? Fessenden is a master at subtly weaving the main themes of his stories into scenes that appear to be little more than visual records of common, everyday details. Perhaps it can be attributed to the human propensity for voyeurism, but these slice-of-life scenes are usually written and acted out with such objectivity and realism that the audience is compelled to keep watching, unaware that they are subliminally soaking up Fessenden's real message or theme. Then, when the audience is unwittingly hooked, Fessenden reels 'em in to an intensely emotional climax. Now, even though the closing scene of HABIT is quite intense, it is still ambiguous enough to leave the movie open to interpretation. As mentioned above, the surface details of his films are starkly realistic and objective, but Fessenden nonetheless has a strong predilection for building these details around subtle and subjective themes. When a film reaches its conclusion, Fessenden wants the audience to discover for themselves--or, more accurately, to DECIDE for themselves--the underlying truth of that final scene, how that truth re-colors earlier events in the film, and what that truth ultimately means for the film's primary characters. In one of the "making-of" featurettes on the HABIT DVD, Fessenden refers to this approach as his version of "interactive" cinema. This is a sort of cyberpunk way of saying that, like an expressionist painting or a cubist sculpture, a movie is more satisfying for the viewer if they have to do a little thinking and decide for themselves what the filmmakers are trying to say. Films that do so become more personal, more moving, and ultimately more important to the individual viewer. With HABIT, Fessenden excellently bears out this theory. The audience is allowed to decide on their own if Anna is a vampire or if Sam is just experiencing a mental breakdown. And interestingly enough, the details of the film are such that a cogent argument can be made for either interpretation, or even for a combination of the two. The DVD from Fox Lorber/Glass Eye Pix offers a great transfer of HABIT in its original aspect ratio of 1.33:1. The disc also contains the original theatrical trailer, several mini "making-of" featurettes, and a really cool music video for the song SAVE YOU FROM YOURSELF by Just Desserts, one of the songs featured in the film. (Larry Fessenden plays sax for Just Desserts, and he also worked on the filmmaking side of the humorous video featured on the disc.) Indie films don't get much better than HABIT, and it will make a fantastic addition to the collection of any horror fan or film lover. And at amazon.com's excellent asking price for the DVD, it's a real steal!
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