Habit Reviews

An odd, morosely paranoid drama of inner demons and, perhaps, real demons as well. Manhattan night crawler Sam (Larry Fessenden, who also wrote, directed and edited) is a man adrift; once an artist, he's stopped working creatively in favor of living on a small inheritance from his mother, tending bar and partying hard and joylessly. He's in no shape to deal with even one tough break, let alone a whole series: His father dies, longtime girlfriend Liza (Heather Woodbury) moves out because of his boozing, and drinking buddy Lenny (Jesse Hartman) vanishes shortly after describing a wild night with a mysterious woman. Best friends Rae and Nick (Patricia Coleman and Aaron Beall) are caught up in their own troubled relationship, so Sam is ripe to succumb to the enigmatic Anna (Meredith Snaider), whom he meets at Rae and Nick's Halloween party. The exhibitionistic and frankly sensual Anna is an erotic fantasy made flesh, but she's also cruelly elusive. Enthralled by her remoteness, bewitched by the erotic buzz and fueled by alcohol, Sam alienates his friends and convinces himself that Anna is a vampire. That said, you can't really call this a vampire movie: Fessenden succeeds where many have failed, maintaining a disturbing sense of ambiguity to the very end. Despite its low budget, the assets of Fessenden's film include startlingly rich cinematography and an above-average cast, most of whom have roots in New York's downtown performance scene. Fessenden himself is an unlikely leading man, but has something of the offbeat appeal of the young Jack Nicholson. In all, an auspicious feature-length debut.