Now well known in the indie horror community as the founder of Glass Eye Pix including its beloved podcast Tales from Beyond the Pale, filmmaker and frequent actor Larry Fessenden is a familiar face thanks to his appearances in numerous horror films (ranging from You're Next to Brooklyn 45) and his influence on and affiliation with the mumblecore movement. It took a while to get there though, with his directorial career now spanning seven full features (and a lot of shorts) building largely through word of mouth in throughout the '90s and early '00s. His first four films remain his best known and have been issued multiple times in boxed sets of different varieties, and seen today it's very obvious how much they anticipated the character-driven mood horrors that would soon comes from Ti West and the A24 stable among others.

Shot in 16mm and barely seen for years unless you hunted down its VHS release or occasional cable TV airings, 1991's No Telling (also promoted as No Telling or, The Frankenstein Complex) is a low-key medical chiller set in the countryside with some interesting riffs on the Mary Shelley classic laced into the script by Fessenden and his wife, Beck Underwood. Anticipating the ambitious eco-horror that would flourish in the later The Last Winter, our story follows the ill-advised and ultimately disastrous summer outing for couple Lillian (Gaines) and Geoffrey (Ramsey) for an extended stay at a summer house in the middle of nowhere. Pharmaceutical exec Geoffrey has decided to bring his work along without telling her, namely by setting up a secret lab near their home and performing secret, ominous experiments on animals in the vicinity starting with rodents but working him way up to pets and livestock. Frustrated with his neglect and lack of interest in starting a family, Lillian becomes attracted to aggressive eco-crusader and farmer Alex (Van Tieghem) which leads them both to become curious about exactly what Geoffrey is up to when he's away for long hours at a time.

Given the influence Fessenden has frequently cited to classic Hollywood monster movies, it's interesting how much No Telling diverges from anything like that with its sedate, country-flavored soundtrack and macabre but sunny and sedate atmosphere that feels more like John Sayles at times. A few showy camera moves and clunky line deliveries give the first timer status away here, but overall it's an assured and effective calling card that makes for a good starting point if you're new to these films. In 2015, the first really solid release of this film was issued on Blu-ray as part of a four-film Fessenden set from Scream Factory with a much improved new scan, DTS-HD 5.1 and 2.0 English tracks with optional SDH subtitles, and a new Fessenden commentary laying out his influences, his short work leading up to this, the development of the script between the pair, and the low budget shoot. Also included is the original making-of featurette (24m16s) with Fessenden providing voiceover for a collection of production footage, self interview, and production coverage, including his approach to dealing with the disturbing elements of animal cruelty (which were carefully handled throughout). Also included are a reel of archival making-of footage with a new Fessenden intro (26m44s), the early 1979 Fessenden short White Trash (9m16s) with a director intro, and a 7m34s Fessenden-hosted sizzle reel for Glass Eye Pix from 1985 to 1990.

Everything from that release was ported over ten years later in 2025 for the Vinegar Syndrome four-disc, two-movie set Of Monsters and Madness: The Films of Larry Fessenden: Volume 1, with this film given the UHD and Blu-ray treatment as an expanded special edition. The new scan looks great, with the HDR-compatible Dolby Vision grading on the UHD pumping far more vibrance into the film. Particularly impressive is an outdoor fire burning scene, which now looks rich and beautifully saturated in a way that was completely missing before. Here you get 5.1 and 2.0 options with SDH subtitles again with the prior Fessenden track included, plus a new commentary with the director and the label's Justin LaLiberty that's quite a bit more quiet and mellow here with an updated perspective on the film, thoughts on how it ties to his later work, and memories of the actors on the set and how they got into the right frame of mind. Also new here is a commentary by film writer Scout Tafoya who threads together literary quotes and references, the genre tropes at play here, an argument that Fessenden is the most important genre filmmaker working today, and the context of this film within his larger body of work.

Also in the Vinegar Syndrome set making its UHD debut with a Blu-ray as well is Fessenden's second feature, the far more widely seen Habit, his take on vampirism made in 1994 but not really released until 1996 after some festival play. Again shot in 16mm and based on his student film (whose year lands somewhere between 1979 and 1982), it starts off on Halloween in New York City as struggling alcoholic Sam (Fessenden himself) is wandering in something of a daze after the death of his architect father and being dumped by his girlfriend. At a party that night he meets Anna (Snaider), who approaches him after he leaves and initiates a dark, tortured, sexual relationship as she infects him with a need to consume blood. While his ex and friends become concerned, Sam is consumed with his transformation and tries to shake the ghosts that are haunting him.

Though its roots go way further back, Habit often got grouped in with the strain of '90s indie vampire films like The Addiction and Nadja that used the big city to make comments about the ills of society like addiction, greed, and psychological distress, all with an arty visual sheen. In this case the aesthetic merits were hard to appreciate for a long time due to grungy prints and an awful-looking 2001 DVD that buried much of the film in a dark, hazy muck. It's actually quite stylish with some intelligent and often intense color coordination, with red, purple, and blue playing an eye-catching role in several scenes. Fessenden is highly effective in the lead and makes effective use of his distinctive missing front tooth (lost years before in a mugging), and it has a fine lived-in feeling that makes for a progression beyond his first film.

The first Blu-ray from Scream Factory in the aforementioned set was a significant improvement across the board for most viewers of this film, revealing substantial colors you never saw before, and again it features DTS-HD MA 5.1 and 2.0 English tracks with optional SDH subtitles. It also features another excellent, thorough Fessenden solo track laying out the Bram Stoker influences, the real music talents brought aboard, the mechanical nature of shooting sex scenes, his amusement at getting labeled as the naked director for his dream sequence here (at least until pal Joe Swanberg rocketed way past him), and lots more. Also included is a 1995 making-of featurette (24m17s) which mixes audition footage, Fessenden narration, and production footage into a scrappy and entertaining chronicle of the film's creation. Then you get a "Save You from Yourself" music video, the trailer, the original 17m42s shot-on-video short and its 5m39s making-of featurette, a "Frankenstein Cannot Be Stopped" music video, and his short film "N Is for Nexus" (from the anthology film The ABCs of Death 2) plus its own 3m55s making-of.

The Vinegar Syndrome UHD and Blu-ray upgrade looks even better with some dynamic color schemes on display (especially thanks to that Dolby Vision again on the UHD), and here it also fixes a small but annoying element of the previous scan during which transitions from night to daytime (or vice versa) didn't time correctly for a few frames; see the third frame grab comparison below for one glaring example during a morning shot. Again the DTS-HD MA 5.1 and 2.0 tracks are here and sound great, with SDH subs, and the earlier Fessenden track is included. Here he turns up again for a new track with LaLiberty chatting about the film's long and bumpy road to being seen outside fests, the casting process, his thoughts on other vampire films including Bram Stoker's Dracula, and his philosophy of what you bring to a film and how to make your way to represent yourself. You also get a new Fessenden group commentary with cinematographer Frank G. DeMarco and producer / assistant director / sound recordist Dayton Taylor who swap tons of production stories and have some good laughs along the way, noting shots achieved with devices like poles and how they pulled off that astonishing final apartment scene. Finally a lively new commentary with film historian Shelagh Rowan-Legg and culture writer Leila Taylor dissects the Upper West Side setting and inhabitants, the delights of a "half-assed" New York Halloween party, the use of vampire conventions, '90s American indies, the treatment of sexuality and addiction, and more.

The 24-minute featurette, original short film and its making-of, and a video trailer are also included, plus two more archival featurettes made as part of a Glass Eye retrospective, 2016's "Looking Back on Habit" (15ms) and 2015's "Gothic Corners: Habit's New York City" (3m41s). Two big new additions here are audio interviews with Snaider (54m34s) and actress Heather Woodbury (24m32s) conducted with Fessenden, played over scenes from the film and quite a fun listen as they reminisce about how they were brought onto the film (which featured an ad placed during pre-production), the longer history he and Woodbury had together, their thoughts on rewatching the film later, and the elements of their own personalities and lives they brought to the film. The set also comes with a 40-page perfect-bound book featuring essays by Mallory Andrews ("Suicide on the Installment Plan"), Justine Smith ("Filling the Void in Larry Fessenden's Habit"), and Isaac Feldberg ("Paradise Lost").

NO TELLING: Vinegar Syndrome (UHD)

Scream Factory (Blu-ray)

HABIT: Vinegar Syndrome (UHD)

HABIT: Scream Factory (Blu-ray)

Reviewed on September 5, 2025