Director Report Card: Larry Fessenden (2019)

6. Depraved

Throughout his long career, Larry Fessenden has shown a repeated fascination with the story of Frankenstein. He's spoken before about the influence the Universal Monster movies had on his young mind and it's easy to guess which was his favorite. “No Telling” was directly inspired by Mary Shelly's masterpiece, though in a loose way. His segment in “ABCs of Death 2” featured repeated visual references to the classic versions of “Frankenstein.” Around the same time, Fessenden directed a music video/short film entitled “Frankenstein Cannot Be Stopped.” With his seventh horror feature, “Depraved,” Fessenden has directly adapted the “Frankenstein” premise.

College graduate Alex thinks his biggest problem is the argument he just had with his girlfriend about maybe having kids someday. While out walking, he's attacked and killed. He next awakens in a loft in Brooklyn. He has no memory of his past and does not know his name. He is the latest experiment of Henry, a doctor and veteran of the war in the Middle East, who has sewn together dead bodies to create new life. Henry calls his creation Adam and begins to re-educate him on the ways of the world. Henry's partner, a man named Pollidori, educates Adam in a more cynical way. Soon, the monster begins to formulate ideas of his own.

Given his stated love of the “Frankenstein” story, it's unsurprising that “Depraved” heavily references and even directly adapts past versions of the well-known tale. Within the opening minutes, Alex puts on a black overcoat and Doc Martins, just like Boris Karloff. Fessenden draws directly from Shelley's text when he names the scientist Henry, his creation Adam, and his girlfriend Elizabeth. He even names a minor character Shelly. Since Dr. Pretorious is copyrighted to Universal Studio, Henry's luciferian mentor is named Polidori, a reference to Mary Shelly's social circle that has been made so many time, it's a reference onto itself. Many of the well-known plot points – the monster demanding a mate, seeking vengeance against the doctor, being chased by mobs – put in appearance. “Depraved” is so clearly built upon the “Frankenstein” legacy that simple elements like a burning building or a snowy night feel like references.

Fessenden is clearly a student of the “Frankenstein” story. Yet “Depraved” is not a mere game of Spot the Reference. Instead, the director is once again attempting to update the classical story. “Depraved” is awash in modern American anxieties. Adam is repeatedly told to choke down pills, whole handfuls at a time. The doctor uses this chance to reference the drug crisis sweeping the country right now. Later, we learn that Polidori is an employee of a pharmaceutical company, that a special drug is being tested upon the stitched-together corpse. This continues themes Fessenden has been building on since “No Telling,” showing a clear disgust with corporate science disregarding humanity in favor of advancement, all in the name of profits.

Yet something even more specific is on Fessenden's mind with “Depraved.” Henry is a veteran of the Middle East conflicts. His desire to recreate life is a direct result of all the death and destruction he saw in the military. Liz, a nurse at the V.A., insists Henry has PTSD but he denies this. Even if Henry claims he's fine, his creation seems to reflect his fractured mental state. Much like a soldier recovering from a war wound, Adam is covered in scars. He has to re-learn how to walk, how to talk, how to take care of himself. Even after these lessons, he's still a shell of a human being. His mind is flooded with upsetting memories he has no control over. He has difficulty reintegrating into society. The Frankensteinian sutures and scars are physical manifestations of the psychic scars of PTSD, of traumatic brain injuries, of a long road to recovery with no end in sight.

Still, as willing as Fessenden is to move the story into the modern age, he maintains the essential subtext of Shelley's text. “Frankenstein” is about parenthood and, in its own way, so is “Depraved.” The film begins with Alex and his girlfriend having sex, before they have their argument about the potential to have kids. After being resurrected, the newly rechristened Adam is very child-like, peeing in his pants and being read children's books. More than once, Polidori refers to Henry as Adam's “Daddy.” Following the beats of the “Frankenstien” legend, “Depraved” is ultimately about someone creating life but being totally unprepared for the responsibilities of this choice. (Fessenden also slips in some of that gay subtext people love to read into “Frankenstein,” as Polidori's interest in Adam doesn't seem entirely platonic.)

By setting “Depraved” largely in Brooklyn, Fessenden does something else. He recalls his own early films. In many ways, “Depraved” is on a similar wavelength as “Habit” was. Aside from both modern updates of classic horror archetypes set, they are both largely set in the dismal parts of the big city. “Depraved” makes its home in dark apartments, rundown alley ways, and isolated bars. Several times, Adam is taken for a ride through the city, leading to long sequences watching the characters just go about their business in this urban setting. The isolation of New York proves an ideal setting for a story of a monster realizing his disconnect with the rest of humanity.

It's not just Fessenden's use of location and themes that roots “Depraved” to his earlier movies. This is, by far, his most visually stylistic movie since “Wendigo.” Though the lightning bolt integral to Frankenstein's origin is excised from the story, lightning bolts flash on-screen repeatedly throughout the film. As we often assume Adam's perspective, we often see things through his fractured minds. Swirling splotches appear on-screen, blurring blobs of color visualizing the “monster's” splintered mental state. Montages show puzzles being perfectly assembled in seconds. Any time someone is subdued by drugs, we see a cloudy plum floating on-screen. Some might find this extreme stylization distracting or overdone but Larry has been doing this for years. It's cool to see him embrace that visual panache once more.

“Depraved” is similar to “Habit” in that its more of a character study, than a horror movie setting out to scare its audience. Yet there are undeniably disturbing moments in the movie. In the film's last third, there's a brilliant black-and-white sequence – the movie's most blatant homage to the Universal films of the 1930s and 1940s – that is fantastically dream-like before growing more visceral. The most unnerving scene in the film concerns Adam uncovering the true nature of his origin. He stumbles upon gritty, handheld recordings of the doctors stitching his body together, cutting it open before sealing it back up. Naturally, Adam freaks out a bit. How off-handed and casual the recording is makes its contents even more disturbing, showing unnatural science being performed as if it was nothing unusual at all.

“Depraved” features Fessenden working once again with a cast of relatively unknown actors. David Call, best known for television and indie films, plays Henry as a man not entirely determined to achieve his goal. He frequently seems exhausted by the responsibilities of caring for Adam. Call, often bringing a degree of humor to the part, creates a man grappling with a mental illness while refusing to acknowledge that illness. Even better is Alex Breaux as Adam. Breaux manages to combine all the necessary elements of the Frankenstein monster. He is child-like, an innocent thrust into a life he never chose. Yet as he is abused more and more by those around him, he brings a determined fatality to the role of a not-quite human monster.

The weakest link in the cast is Joshua Leonard as Polidori. Its a verbose part, as Polidori likes to monologue extensively about the nature of the world, life, and existence. Leonard can't make thes reams of dialogue sound nature and the character just ends up becoming insufferable. Ana Kayne projects a sure-handed kindness as Liz, to the point where you wonder why she's interested in a guy like Henry. Chloe Levine is largely adorable as Lucy, Alex's fiance in-life. Lastly, Addison Timlin – excellent in “Like Me,” another Glass Eye Pix production – brings a lot of color to the small role of Shelley, the unlucky girl chosen by the monster to become his mate.

“Depraved” rolls along pretty smoothly for most of its two hour run time. However, in the last third, the film suddenly changes direction in a very odd way. Alex/Adam has more-or-less been the protagonist for most of the film. We've been following him from the first scene and have largely assumed his perspective as he was brought back to life. Suddenly, the monster is out of the story and Henry becomes our main character. The shift totally throws the film's pacing off and it never recovers. The last half-hour of “Depraved” comes as off sluggish and disorganized, the ending pulled in multiple different directions in a very unsatisfying manner.

It's a shame that “Depraved” falls apart a bit as its coming to an end. Up to that point, it was a nicely acted, smartly written, and disturbing update of the “Frankenstein” premise, bringing a totally new perspective to the material without compromising its basic ideas. Despite a weak ending, “Depraved” has still won Larry Fessenden some of the best reviews of his career. Especially coming after the weak “Beneath,” it can certainly be called a return-to-form. You can definitely tell this is a movie he has wanted to make for quite a while, a personal and highly relevant reinvention of one of the greatest horror stories of all time. [Grade: B]

Larry Fessenden seems to take fairly long breaks between his feature films. But he's definitely not relaxing during that time. Through his Glass Eye Pix production company, Fessenden is highly busy producing and acting in other people's films. Right now, he has four films in production, appearing either in front of the camera as an actor or behind it as a producer. So I'm sure Larry Fessenden will direct another clever, socially conscious horror movie at some point. But it'll likely be a while, as he lends his talents to other filmmakers. But, hey, the guy likes to stay busy. There's nothing wrong with that.