After his involvement in such films as the disturbing Wendigo, the documentary short, Searching for the Wendigo, his latest film, The Last Winter (also about a Wendigo), and his Fear Itself episode (featuring, yup, you guessed it?a Wendigo!), you may be wondering (as we were): ?Hey Larry Fessenden, what the hell is the big fascination with this mysterious, bloodthirsty, cryptozoic creature?? In anticipation of the DVD release of The Last Winter and his upcoming Fear Itself episode in late July, we caught up with the genre writer/director/producer/actor and asked him!

"Only my shrink knows for sure,? he says, half facetiously. ?But very simply, I grew up in New England, and the winters in Vermont visiting family and friends made a deep impression on me. Got to my soul. Same with the wendigo. It was a story told to me by my 2nd grade teacher and I was very struck by the image of this creature as he described it. I don?t remember it well at all, and years later I tracked down the teacher and asked him how the story went. He had no recollection of ever telling it...?

The works of Fessenden and many other young New York filmmakers working in the horror genre are often labeled ?art house horror? for their distinct visual styles and attention to history, society and realism. By contrast, there?s also that group of Los Angeles filmmakers with the same noble intentions of bringing the genre back to life respectably, who are often labeled the ?Splat Pack? for their overt use of gore and violence. We asked Fessenden to weigh in:

?I don?t know who the ?splat pack? is, but let me tell you, anyone who is getting their movies made is doing something right and I admire that.? He continues, ?I will say one thing though. I?m annoyed that horror has become about ?violence?. Seems like horror is expected to be a big gross-out. Well, that?s not what got me into the genre. That?s just a tiny element in my mind. I am interested in the uncanny, in monsters, in the tricks of the mind, in the fantastical. I like vampires and werewolves and creatures from lagoons and other planets. When did horror become only about serial killers and the body count and torture? I think it?s pathetic. It?s all spectacle, no soul.?

So how do you gauge gore in your films?

I don?t think much about gore. As a result, I am often under-prepared when we get to scenes that might have more explicit gore. I admire gore when it?s well done in films, but I don?t fetishise it. I think in a movie like Friday the 13th the gore becomes like a cum shot in porn?regular, predictable, it no longer shocks, it titillates. This to me is the downfall of the genre: it?s lost the ability to shock.

How did you come up with the concept for The Last Winter?

I wanted to make a movie where two people with opposing world views would be stranded in the middle of nowhere, dependent on each other. I also wanted to make a film about Global Warming and how scary it will be when the weather turns on us and becomes threatening, which is already happening to a lot of people all over the world.

What was involved in casting such an all-star group including Ron Perlman, James Le Gros, Connie Britton etc.?

I had seen Ron in Hellboy and thought he would be a perfect Pollack. We offered him the role and I think it seemed refreshing for Ron to get a part without the makeup, and also the character was not just one-dimensional. I think for Le Gros it also seemed like an opportunity to spend time in Iceland and play a lead, and for Connie it was a departure as well. Kevin Corrigan is a character actor that had always appealed to me, ever since I saw his first movies made by mutual friends out of the East Village in New York. Everyone else I found through auditions. We had a great casting director, Laura Rosenthal, who got us in touch with all the actors. And my producer Jeff Levy-Hinte had made good films like High Art and 13. So actors seemed to trust who we were.

The Last Winter has dual scares. Would you label it an eco-horror or a creature film?

The Last Winter is an eco-horror film and a creature film and a ghost story and a cautionary tale all at once. I don?t see the point of any art form that doesn?t draw on the current moods and trends in public discourse, that doesn?t reflect something about the world we?re in. I have made genre films that speak to issues of class, addiction, pesticides, vivisection, global warming, and the basic inability of people to get along or understand each other. This is to me the root of all horror: the sense of isolation, the lack of empathy, and the creeping sense that things are in collapse and out of our control. Every generation feels that at some point, that?s why horror is the most enduring genre. I enjoy seeing how age-old horror clichés are still true in modern contexts. All my films are about how difficult it is to make sense of reality, and how scary it is when you lose your grasp on what?s really happening. So the ambiguity in my films is intentional.

How did you achieve the haunting look of the frozen (and maimed corpses)? Mostly CGI or practical?

The corpse in The Last Winter was made by Stefan Jorgen and it is a beautiful sculpture made from casting the actor. It is absolutely detailed in every way. That is the centerpiece of the film. The wendigo specters are less successful if you are to read the reactions on-line, but I think that is because people have very rigid expectations about what a monster is and what its purpose is: to be scary, growl, and tear people apart. I see it differently. I wanted to convey a sense of strangeness and awe as in the work of the great animator Miyazaki. Admittedly, achieving that with a rag tag team of effects guys at the tail end of a production when the money had ran out was not easy, but I like the results. I still like ?rubber? in sfx, but CGI has its place, no point in resisting a valuable tool.

What is your biggest fear?

I won?t say, because someone will try to do it to me!

And what can fans expect in the very near future from you?

I Sell the Dead; [I Sell the Dead] is a movie I produced and star in. It?s the story of two grave robbers, myself and Dom Monaghan, who dig up corpses and sell them to Angus Scrimm. It?s set in 18th century England and we filmed it on a low budget in New York City. We got Ron and Dom involved on the strength of the script, and Angus has been a regular player in the films we?ve made with James McKenney so he knows how we like to make movies and seems to enjoy it. It?s a great romp, an atmospheric, drunken fool of a movie. Can?t wait to get it out there. Like nothing we?ve seen of late.

I produced Ti West?s first film The Roost, so he invited me to play a part?a cameo more like?in his Cabin Fever sequel.

And I have directed an Episode of the NBC horror anthology Fear Itself broadcast on Thursdays at 10 PM. My episode stars Abe Sapien? Doug Jones himself (Pan's Labyrinth, Hellboy) ? and it airs July 31st. Check it out!!

written by Gabrielle DiPietro