Habit (1997)
                                         review by Head Cheeze

Habit is not your typical vampire film. As a matter of fact, whether or not we're dealing with vampires at all is what's at the core of director Larry Fessenden's hypnotic slice of surreal New York life psycho-drama.

Sam (Fessenden) is an artsy layabout. His life centers around working at a bar, getting drunk and never growing up. It is for this reason his long relationship with Liza ( Heather Woodbury) has ended, thus taking the only stabilizing element from his life. Sam goes on a bender and winds up at his best friend Nick's (Beall) Halloween party where he meets the seductive Anna (Snaider). Sam and Anna hit it off, but she disappears when he runs in Liza at the party. As luck would have it, however, Sam runs into Anna again at a street festival and they become lovers. At first Sam is thrilled by Anna's violent bedroom antics, but soon the savagery of their affair becomes more than he can handle and he tries to end their relationship. Anna has different ideas, however, and it isn't long before Sam realizes that some habit's are impossible to break.

Habit is a very low-budget character study, with vampirism used more as a dichotomy between Sam's alcholism and his addiction to people, in this case Anna. Those expecting Blade, Vampires, or even Martin should look elsewhere for their blood-sucking thrills, because while Habit does make the occasional foray into that territory, it is mostly in dream segments and through suggestion and Sam's alcohol soaked delusions. Whether or not Anna is in fact a vampire is totally subjective, and Fessenden never really comes out and nails us over the head with it. Instead, he lets his witty script and Scorcese-like vision of New York guide us through the grim tale and figure it out for ourselves, and by the films end, we have have to come to our own conclusion.

The vague nature of Habit is the very reason I cherish the film. It's one of those movies that ends and leaves much to be discussed afterward. Even in his commentary, Fessenden doesn't steer us one way or the other. He simply let's the film speak for itself. The performances are solid, and while the film isn't a technical marvel, it's documentary style camera work and lack of big budget acoutriments add to the gritty realism of Sam's downward spiral.

Habit is pretty well stocked in the extras department as well, with a commentary by Fessenden, a behind the scenes series of documentaries and the usual bios and trailers. The film is a steal at under 10 bucks, and blows away most of the movies I've spent three times as much on. If you are in the mood for a dark, pseudo-horror film with a lot of heart and ingenuity, then Habit is definitely on to grab for the collection.