Fade To Black (1980)
Directed by Vernon Zimmerman
One of the best things about doing these Horror Movie lists every year is discovering great little known films. This is one of those. It came out, flopped, and was just about forgotten. Released around the time that Slashers were the new big thing (especially after the success of Friday The 13th earlier that year), but before the formula became solid. Slashers from this period tend to be a little slower, with more emphasis on plot.
The plot in question revolves around socially awkward movie fanatic Eric Binford. Eric lives with his overbearing aunt (secretly his mother) and works for a film distributor. He suffers abuse everywhere he goes. At home his aunt bullies him, at work it's his boss, and co-workers. The only place he's happy and at ease is at the movies. While he's out delivering some film canisters, he meets a young woman who resembles Marilyn Monroe, and is immediately smitten. She asks if he can give her a ride back to work, and by the end of the trip, he's got a date.
Eric seems to think the woman really is Marilyn Monroe, (her name is Marilyn O'Connor), and is devastated when she doesn't show up at the theatre they had planned to meet at. In fact she did sow up, just late, but by that time Eric had already left, heartbroken. The incident throws Eric into a depression, and when his aunt comes barging into his room to tell him to snap out of it, she knocks over and breaks the projector he's watching a movie on. Eric snaps, and pushes his aunt, and her wheel chair down the back stairs, killing her. This is the point of the movie where Eric goes from being an awkward eccentric, to a dangerous psychopath. He begins dressing as characters from films (Dracula, Hopalong Cassidy), and taking murderous revenge on those who have caused him pain.
This is a fun little movie (as fun as a nihilistic horror film can be). Dennis Christopher does a good job portraying the mentally unstable young man. He makes the character sympathetic, even as he becomes more and more frightening. The director also uses an interesting technique to show Eric's inner thoughts. Inter-cut with some of Eric's scenes are clips from old movies. When his aunt is harassing his at the kitchen table we cut quickly to the famous scene in The Public Enemy (1931) where James Cagney pushes a half grapefruit into his girlfriend’s face. Later when Eric is dressed as Dracula and is chasing a woman in the street we cut to Christopher Lee a number of times. These cuts effectively give us a glimpse into Eric's mind, and work well thematically in a film about a film buff.
Fade To Black is available on DVD, and is well worth searching out.
Eric seems to think the woman really is Marilyn Monroe, (her name is Marilyn O'Connor), and is devastated when she doesn't show up at the theatre they had planned to meet at. In fact she did sow up, just late, but by that time Eric had already left, heartbroken. The incident throws Eric into a depression, and when his aunt comes barging into his room to tell him to snap out of it, she knocks over and breaks the projector he's watching a movie on. Eric snaps, and pushes his aunt, and her wheel chair down the back stairs, killing her. This is the point of the movie where Eric goes from being an awkward eccentric, to a dangerous psychopath. He begins dressing as characters from films (Dracula, Hopalong Cassidy), and taking murderous revenge on those who have caused him pain.
This is a fun little movie (as fun as a nihilistic horror film can be). Dennis Christopher does a good job portraying the mentally unstable young man. He makes the character sympathetic, even as he becomes more and more frightening. The director also uses an interesting technique to show Eric's inner thoughts. Inter-cut with some of Eric's scenes are clips from old movies. When his aunt is harassing his at the kitchen table we cut quickly to the famous scene in The Public Enemy (1931) where James Cagney pushes a half grapefruit into his girlfriend’s face. Later when Eric is dressed as Dracula and is chasing a woman in the street we cut to Christopher Lee a number of times. These cuts effectively give us a glimpse into Eric's mind, and work well thematically in a film about a film buff.
Fade To Black is available on DVD, and is well worth searching out.
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