Monsters Collide in Larry Fessenden’s Latest “Trauma Or, Monsters All”, Presented at Fantasia Festival [Movie Review]

Don’t we all love a monsters’ collaboration? Or when they actually face-off against each other? Think of 1987’s “The Monster Squad”, or “Freddy Vs. Jason” from 2003. Well, indie-horror legend Larry Fessenden succeeds at both with his latest film, “Trauma Or, Monsters All”, completing a quadrilogy along with three of his earlier projects. The movie made its international premiere at Montreal’s Fantasia Festival, celebrating its landmark 30^th edition.

Cassandra (Laetitia Hollard; “The Pitt” TV series) has moved into the small town of Talbot Falls, in upstate New York, to work on her book about George Washington Carver. Seeking tranquility to focus, she also is distracted by her next door neighbor: an odd-looking man who only comes out at night to check on a chained door on the side of his house. Perplexed and creeped out by this, she writes an article for the local newspaper concerning “monsters” and the recent history in the town, afflicted by horrible events in recent years. She ends up stirring up a storm within the town with her commentary as most of its citizens are now giving her the side-eye. Turns out she wasn’t entirely wrong, since her closest neighbors are in fact Adam (Alex Breaux; “Stranger Things” TV series, “Trick” (2019), and “Depraved” (2019)), a sewn-up Frankenstein-of-a-man, and Charley (Alex Hurt; “Blackout” (2023)), a lycanthrope when the moon is just right. Cassandra’s article attracts Sam (Larry Fessenden; “Habit” (1995), “The Dead Don’t Die” (2019), and “You’re Next” (2011)), a vampire who is fascinated by the fact that he could have a real-life “Universal monsters” reunion because it simply delights him. Once everyone’s paths cross, all Hell breaks loose.

Trauma Or, Monsters All

For those who enjoy Larry Fessenden for his work on the silver screen as well as him being an overall great guy in real life, “Trauma Or, Monsters All” will be no different from his other projects. The writer-director-producer-editor-actor of his latest movie manages to collide the worlds of three of his previous monster movies (“Habit”, “Depraved” and “Blackout”) in truly amusing fashion. His films, despite dealing with stereotypical monsters that would usually encompass dark and uneasy atmospheres, instead add some lightheartedness to their overall ambiance. Just like Fessenden offscreen, he adds sarcasm to some of his characters (especially his own), sprinkling a great touch of dark humor, as always. In spite of having some scene transitions that truly add to the “indie” feeling of the film, it only boosts the charm of the experience in itself.

The new cast members, Laetitia Hollard and Aitana Doyle (in the role of Agnes), bring some fresh blood to a cast that sees returning main (and secondary) characters from the previous films (with horror icon Barbara Crampton even reprising her role from “Blackout”!). Both women display a wide array of authentic emotions, particularly Hollard, throughout the events of the feature film, embarking the audience into the tale’s culmination of the monsters’ collision and all the collateral damage in between.

“Trauma Or, Monsters All” displays some decent special and make-up effects, despite not on track to winning any awards for them, either. The American independent film still succeeds in revealing genuine details across the body of Adam, patched up like any other great Frankenstein-like being, yet lacks a little finishing touch on Charley’s werewolf design. Nonetheless, the audience will undoubtedly grow attached to each of the three monsters for distinctive reasons, varying from charisma, to benevolence, to empathy.

In a post-screening Q&A, along with some of his crew members, Fessenden explained that, among other things, this film was to explore the backgrounds and current states of the new characters, since each of the monsters’ backstories had already been developed in each of their respective films. In doing so, however, he does create some lulls throughout the plot with repetitiveness in their character tendencies and dialogue.

Larry Fessenden

For fans of Fessenden’s previous motion pictures, this one unites all 3 universes into one in an admirable manner, combining violence with humor, empathy, and passion. “Trauma Or, Monsters All” receives a score of 3.25 stars out of 5.