FADE TO BLACK (1980)

4 stars

88 Films. Limited Edition 4K/Blu ray. 16th March

Eric Binford (Dennis Christopher) is a shy, introverted movie obsessive who lives with his wheelchair bound Aunt Stella (Eve Brent) who doesn’t approve of his fixation – he decorates his room with posters and stills of movie stars, including Marilyn Monroe, who he is besotted with. He also works at a film distribution warehouse, to feed his love of movies. Shelves and shelves of film prints ready to be shipped – these days I guess it would be stacked with hard drives!

When he spots a lookalike to his favourite female star, also called Marilyn (Linda Kerridge), at a diner, he plucks up the courage to talk to her and even gives her a lift to work and sets up a date with her – at the cinema of course. However, she unintentionally stands him up and something flips inside him and he changes from the mild mannered movie geek to a murderous psychotic. First to go is judgmental Aunt Stella – who gets pushed to her death down a staircase, in an echo to the 1947 film KISS OF DEATH.

He is soon transforming himself into various cinematic characters – he takes on the persona of Dracula, The Mummy, Hopalong Cassidy and others as he carries out his killings. The film is replete with scenes from various classic movies – so much so that they were hit with a lawsuit after release for using unauthorised clips from Hopalong Cassidy films. One assumes it was settled…

Dennis Christopher captures both the sadness and mania of his character. Look for an early appearance by Mickey Rourke as one of the bullies at his workplace. Tim Thomerson feels miscast as a criminal psychologist and the film itself is a bit uneven. With it’s striking cover image of Binford with white make-up on one half of his face, this was one of those slightly obscure movies that we used to recommend to people who had seen everything, when I worked in a video store back in the VHS days. 88 Films have done a bang up job bringing it back in 4K.

Steve Kirkham

EXTRAS

Three Commentaries: with lead actor Dennis Christopher; with The Hysteria Continues!; Historical with film historians Amanda Reyes and Bill Ackerman

Fade In, Fade Out –  A video essay by Heather Wixson

Interviews with composer Craig Safan (you get a new one and an archive with him); actor Dennis Christopher; executive producer Irwin Yablans; special effects artist Wayne Beauchamp; with actress Marcie Barkin; editor Barbara Pokras; stylist Patricia Bunch and an audio one actress Linda Kerridge

Original theatrical trailer