Habit

Actor/Director Larry Fessenden (I Sell The Dead, Wendigo) plays Sam, a down on his luck slacker with a very dangerous alcoholic problem. His friends try to make him get better but he simply brushes him off. Right in the middle of his downward spiral he meets the sultry and beautiful Anna (Meredith Snaider), who changes Sam’s life completely after giving him a bite in the neck, wink wink. Soon Sam has a hate for daylight and a taste for blood, and in his search for who this mysterious lady might be, she finds out maybe he’s gotten into more than he can chew.

This is one of the most original films in the vampire genre I have ever seen, and from the opening shot, you can tell it was a very personal film for Fessenden. Taking the concept of drug and alcohol addiction and placing it in the vampire context is very hard to do well (see my review of Bled), but this one hits it in the spot. Much of the credit for that is that the film was shot on location in New York City, in some particularly grainy 35mm, which gives it a very depressing look. Fessenden’s performance is great, he’s one of the most underrated character actors out there (see The Brave One) and gives his role a lot of humanity and pathos without making it overly sentimental. On the other end of the spectrum we have Meredith Snaider, who I can’t seem to find anything else done by her. Her acting skills are not as good as Fessenden and in some sequences, she has trouble emoting, but what she has though, is sex appeal. LOTS of sex appeal. The moment she’s on screen, you’re fixated on her like she was the only character in the room. Every line, every look, every step is charged with sexuality and it gives her role that same menace displayed by Gloria Holden in Dracula’s Daughter.
There isn’t a lot of true horror in the film, but there is a lot of suspense, and the sexuality is very explicit. It’s all very realistic, which adds to the atmosphere and darkness of the story. One of the best and most underrated films in the genre.