Fade to Black (1980)

Fantastic!

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

A movie about a socially awkward, totally obsessed film fan whose love of old films borders on the obsessive, with nights filled with movie after movie after movie? This one hits a little too close to home.Eric Binford (Dennis Christopher, Breaking Away) works in a Los Angeles film distributor warehouse by day and watches movies by night. He' the guy I was referring to earlier - someone so into movies he gets bullied by his family and co-workers. And when he meets Marilyn O'Connor, who looks like Marilyn Monroe, he finally finds someone whose looks are similar to the movie ideal that life does not always achieve. Or maybe he's just so crazy that when he sees her, he goes into a fantasy fugue state and only sees what his brain will allow him to see.Somehow, Eric is able to ask her out, but she stands him up by accident. This makes him go completely out of his mind, transforming himself into various film icons to destroy his enemies.First, he re-enacts Kiss of Death by pushing his Aunt Stella (who is really his mother) down the steps, showing up to her funeral as Tommy Udo, the role Richard Widmark played in the film. No one gets it. No one has seen the movies that Eric loves. There is no one to discuss them with. They can't even put her grave next to Marilyn Monroe's grave in Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetary.Eric then becomes Count Dracula, attending a midnight showing of Night of the Living Dead. Eric then goes to Marilyn's house in a scene that's taken from Psycho. She screams, he drops his pen into the water and the ink becomes the blood. "I only wanted your autograph," he yells as he runs.Eric then goes back to find a hooker who had been rude to him. He chases her, she falls and dies, then he drinks her blood. Obviously, Eric has not seen Martin. Actually, the way this scene is intercut with scenes from old black and white horror films, I am certain that the makers of this film have seen Romero's vampire film.Now that Eric has gone this far, why not dress up as Hopalong Cassidy and kills off Richie(Mickey Rourke in an early role), a co-worker who bullies him. Oh yeah - Tim Thomerson is a criminal psychologist who is working with a policewoman (they're having sex, because 1980 and all) to find what he believes is a serial killer. The big problem is that his captain wants all the glory for himself.Eric talks to his aunt as if she were still alive, then after watching Halloween (producer Irwin Yablans also produced that film), he pleasures himself to a photo of Marilyn Monroe.Eric's dream has been to own his own movie theater and to make his own movie. He tells a sleazeball named Gary Bially his idea, Alabama and the Forty Thieves and you get the feeling not much good can come of it.Eric's boss fires him and won't allow him back into work to get his posters. As his everyday self, even when trying to talk like a movie character, Eric is impotent. But when he's dressed as The Mummy, he can frighten his boss into a heart attack.After seeing Gary Bially on a talk show, talking up the movie Eric created as his own, Eric shows up to the produer's brithday party. Dressed as James Cagney's character from White Heat, he fires a submachine gun at everyone in the room before killing the man who stole from him.The cops are on to Eric, but he's hired Marilyn for a photo shoot and is all set to re-enact The Prince and the Showgirl when Thomerson's character arrives. Eric runs to Mann's Chinese Theater and makes it to the roof before dying just like Cagney in White Heat, yelling, "Made it, ma! Top of the world!"Writer and director Vernon Zimmerman also created Unholy Rollers, but this movie is way beyond that. It shows how only seeing the world as the movies can be a danger to yourself and everyone else. Eric goes from shy and withdraw to dark and mean by the end of the movie, as he slowly becomes a new character. I wonder what he would have thought about the movie that they made his life into?

The plot = A young man named whose obsessed with classic movies, is driven to madness and decides to make his fantasies real, by murdering those who've wronged him."Fade To Black" is a reasonably entertaining movie, it's not brilliant but it's not terrible either, many movies from this era justified they're maniac's actions with a brief back story, here we get to see the main character slowly descending into madness, an angle which was interesting and I did like for part of the time, but there were times where it just seemed too far-fetched and unbelievable.This movie could have been one of those defining moments of the slasher genre, but sadly it doesn't quite build enough steam. The supporting cast aren't given enough screen time to be fleshed out or to be cared about, and none of the murders build any real tension or decent gore effects. Although there some interesting set pieces but all that falls flat, although the main character's obsession between fantasy and reality was fun and interesting showing clips from different movies but its abruptness and simplicity leaves you unfulfilled and doesn't deliver as much as it could have.Dennis Christopher gives a pretty good performance as the lead Eric his descend into madness was memorable, but he doesn't always comes across as very menacing, but he is the only cast member that's even fleshed out. Linda Kerridge (Marilyn) gives an OK performance as the centre of Eric's obsession but she kind of falls apart at the end, but she was beautiful. and it's also worth pointing out is that we get a young Mickey Rourke here in a minor role and does alright in his small amount of screen time, another big star making they're mark in a slasher before going on to bigger success.All in all "Fade To Black" is not as brilliant or memorable as it could of been and this could have been up there with some of the other 80's slasher greats (Friday The 13th, My Bloody Valentine, House On Sorority Row, Happy Birthday To Me) but sadly due to the many faults this just becomes average.

What seemed to be a promising horror movie with a good plot turned out to be a sour lemon. Fade To Black is a typical slow paced horror movie about a young man taking his love of classic movies too far and his infatuation with Marilyn Monroe way too far. I'll admit the characters the lead man transformed into were well brought out and make up wise very good. Acted out however is a completely different story. The only reason I saw this movie is I bought the double feature disc that also has the classic Hell Night which was much better than this sorry excuse of a movie. Sorry to be bashing a horror movie, which is a rare thing I since I love horror movies, but the make up effects alone were not enough to save this movie from taking the plunge to my Bad Movie list. If you get the double feature disc, watch Hell Night and avoid the Fade To Black on the other side.

This movie bills itself as a "nerve-wracking, suspense filled film [that will] leave you clinging to the edge of your seat until the screen turns black". Although it fails entirely to do this, when I watched it recently I became more interested in young Eric himself. He's a lovely character, and I think Dennis Christopher plays him very well. (I love his camp Cody Jarret). Don't go looking for horror here, the real interest in this film is seeing Eric slowly and tragically break down. In the end I found myself just wanting to give him a hug. If I had a friend who knew loads of trivia about films, I'd love it! I'd talk to him all the time about really obscure, cool films. one for the B-movie lovers. Also, does anyone know if there's any significance in the words that stand out of nearly every scene? e.g. in the first scene two workmen walk past holding a sign which says "HEAVEN". Another obvious one is in a low angled shot of the hooker, when her head and the crop obscure certain letters of a sign in the background to make the words "NEVER LOSE". Just wondering if I'm going crazy, or there really is a hidden message, it is a film about someone who knows every tiny detail from films, maybe its an inside joke or something?