Larry Fessenden is merging his takes on the vampire, Frankenstein’s monster, and the werewolf into one film. “Trauma Or, Monsters All” opens at IFC Center in New York November 4, followed by a Los Angeles screening at Lumiere Music Hall November 11 and a nationwide VOD release November 24.
The film brings together creatures from Fessenden’s previous work, Habit, Depraved, and Blackout, into a single story set in the upstate town of Talbot Falls. Visiting writer Cassandra (Laëtitia Hollard, who plays Nurse Emma Nolan on NBC’s The Pitt) arrives to research a book on George Washington Carver. After she publishes an article about the town’s past, buried secrets surface and the three monsters emerge, forcing the town to confront generations of fear and guilt.
Dark Sky Films is releasing the film, continuing a partnership with Fessenden’s Glass Eye Pix that stretches back nearly two decades and includes Ti West’s The House of the Devil and The Innkeepers, along with Stake Land, Hypothermia, Late Phases, and Blackout.
The cast includes Aitana Doyle, Addison Timlin, Alex Hurt, Alex Breaux, John Speredakos, Marc Senter, Micheál Neeson, Joshua Leonard, Barbara Crampton, and James Le Gros.
“I’ve spent my career reimagining classic monsters because they reveal something deeply human about us,” Fessenden said. “TRAUMA OR, MONSTERS ALL brings those stories together into one film about memory, identity, and the wounds we carry.”
The New York opening coincides with IFC Center’s ongoing OPTIC NERVE: A Tribute to Glass Eye Pix, marking the 40th anniversary of Fessenden’s production company.