Fondu au Noir

The concept for Fade To Black could go many different directions, but the film wavers between serious character drama a la Joker, made for TV melodrama, and a cursory attempt at a slasher film. They never really mesh and the film feels too confused to make much of an impact in spite of a wonderful central performance by Dennis Christopher. Linda Kerrige also makes for a smashing Marilyn Monroe impersonator.

A movie-obsessed nerd has enough of people not taking his cinematic ambitions seriously, so he kills them in disguises inspired by his favorite movie characters.

As many good things as Fade To Black has going for it, the finished product is unsatisfying in a variety of ways. It's torn between tortured character study and also trying to keep up with the culture's current obsession with slasher movies and doesn't commit to either fully enough to satisfy and it's neither as thrilling or psychologically complex as it could be. Dennis Christopher's performance holds it together even when it comes close to crumbling down.

There are three types of horror films 1.the scary horror film (designed as you would think to scare you. 2.The black comedy (Its meant to be funny, but not everyone will find this true. Third and last are the dramatic horror films, they play like a drama film except they are much darker and usually have something to do with mental illnesses. This movie is of the third kind, It is a sad character study of a young man called Eric who spends all his time watching movies and finding out trivia about them. He has no apparent friends and he lives with his wheelchair bound aunt, who really is at odds with him. The film is very original and has a incredible lead performance from the actor playing Eric. They cops on the other hand are all really badly done, I just couldnt wait till they left the screen and every time they appeared again I grimly waited for there departure. Most of the other actors do quite a good job in this film and it also sports a young Mickey Rouke in what I think was his first film role. I would recommend this film only to horror fans, The film references, the characters and the direction are all tuned to giving any horror fan a good time for their money. Its not for everyone. But thats what I liked about it.

There is something about the look and feel of this film I love. It reminds me in some ways of "Martin" - my favorite urban vampire flick.

Not that Fade To Black has anything to do with vampires, its about a lost and lonely nobody whose film life takes over from his mundane, put-upon reality to the point where he takes revenge on the world dressed as his fave film figures. Its a cute conceit for a film so obsessed with film references. Dennis Christopher is such a distinctive figure and his sexual scene in this film is just... quaint + oddly saucy. I think this is a cult film ready to be resurrected. Its camp, violent and Mickey Rourke is in it in a bit part. Think "Taxi Driver" cross-bred with "Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer" and "Polyester"

This is a favorite movie of mine. I rushed out and got it on video when I heard it had been released. A lot of people here have given impressions of the story, I won't add to their great comments. What I would like to say is this this movie is a tremendous tribute to Hollywood Classic Movies. You will see snippets of many films here, all will be readily recognized. You will see Dennis Christopher's character slip deep into psychosis and take on the personas (and look..) of many of these characters in order to wreak his revenge. The more you know about old movies, the more you will get out of this film. Yes, it's essentially a slasher movie but this goes beyond the genre to get deep into the head of a killer. I like to think of this movie as a movie-fans version of "Sunset Boulevard", showing a broken mind on the other side of the fence. Worth seeing.