Indie horror guru Larry Fessenden hasn’t directed a feature film since 2013, but he’s returning with Depraved. The film is a reimagining of Frankenstein, told through Fessenden’s own unique lens. Starring David Call, Joshua Leonard, Alex Breaux, Ana Kayne, Maria Dizzia, Chloë Levine, Owen Campbell and Addison Timlin, Depraved will have its world premiere this month at What the Fest!?, and in honor of the festival debut, the first Depraved trailer is here. Watch it below.

Depraved Trailer

Larry Fessenden may not be what you’d call a “household name”, unless you’re a weird nerd like me. Fessenden is a writer, director, actor, editor, and producer whose credits include Habit, Wendigo, and more. His indie production home Glass Eye Pix is responsible for working on some of the quirkiest, out-there genre pictures in the last few years – The House of the Devil, Late Phases, and more. And now he’s back with Depraved, a reimagining of Frankenstein set in modern Brooklyn that “explores the crisis of masculinity and ideas about loneliness, memory and the subtle psychological shocks that shape us as individuals.” Here’s the official synopsis:

Alex (Owen Campbell) leaves his girlfriend Lucy (Chloë Levine) after an emotional night, walking the streets alone to get home. From out of nowhere, he is stabbed in a frenzied attack, with the life draining out of him. He awakes to find he is the brain in a body he does not recognize. This creature, Adam (Alex Breaux), has been brought into consciousness by Henry (David Call), a brilliant field surgeon suffering from PTSD after two tours in the Mideast, and his accomplice Polidori (Joshua Leonard), a predator determined to cash in on the experiment that brought Adam to life. Henry is increasingly consumed with remorse over what he’s done and when Adam finally discovers a video documenting his own origin, he goes on a rampage that reverberates through the group and tragedy befalls them all.

Frankenstein is a story that’s been told on film time and time again, but I’m incredibly curious to see what Fessenden brings to the material. This isn’t the first time Fessenden has dipped into the pages of Mary Shelley’s immortal classic. His 1991 film No Telling, about a man experimenting on animals, has a distinct Frankenstein-vibe as well.

There’s no official release date for Depraved yet, but the film will debut at What the Fest!? on March 20, 2019.