Fade to Black
(Anchor Bay Region 0 NTSC DVD)
(1980)
review by Bil Withonel

Nostalgia is one of those funny things. It can keep a band with a dozen albums buried in obscurity, because "nothing can beat their early stuff". Nostalgia is ruining the Star Wars prequels for some people, because the new movies don't make them feel like the original trilogy did, because, for starters, they are not 10 years old anymore. Nostalgia is also what keeps Stairway to Heaven in rotation on Classic Rock Stations. So forgive me if Nostalgia makes me think FADE TO BLACK is better than what it is.

I can recall being 11 years old and watching horror movies on HBO with my brother and my father. I started right in with Halloween and Friday the 13th, scared half out of my mind, and staring at the closet door while trying to fall asleep, wondering if Michael Myers was coming through that door or not. I watched a lot of horror movies, as my father was a big fan. As long as he was watching them, it was cool if I watched along, and he'd act as censor board for all the gratuitous nudity. FADE TO BLACK stood out in my mind, as I had an image of a man with his face painted in half; plain on one side, Dracula on the other. When browsing DVD's I saw this image and bought it instantly. When I got home, all the Nostalgia came rushing back…

And some of it Faded to Black...

FADE TO BLACK is about a man who is obsessed with movies. Eric Binford (Dennis Christopher) delivers film cans and posters in Los Angeles via moped. He's proud of the fact that he knows virtually everything about every movie ever made, and went to the cinema every day for over a year. No one can beat Eric at movie trivia, mostly because he's a big awkward dork that no one likes. He immerses himself in movies and lives vicariously through them.

Eric spots a Marilyn Monroe look-a-like (Linda Kerridge) and hits on her in a way that it is almost embarrassing to watch. Eric doesn't seem to grasp that she is NOT Marilyn Monroe, and speaks to her as if she was. "What movie did Tom Ewell take you to see in 7 Year Itch?".. Yup, Marilyn isn't very good at Movie Trivia either. The answer is Creature from the Black Lagoon, which she doesn't guess, even after Eric offers up his ultra creepy impersonation of said Creature. Only in Hollywood, she agrees to go on a date with him.

When she inevitably stands him up, he begins taking his obsession with movies one step further. He begins living AS the characters in the movies and taking his revenge on those who have wronged him; Whether it being taking care of mom in her convenient wheelchair ala James Cagney in White Heat, or sucking blood from a prostitute while dressed as Dracula. The best of all the revenge murders is when he induces a heart attack on his mean ol' boss by skulking after him dressed as The Mummy. You can't help but feel embarrassed for Eric, especially when he begins crying and apologizing to a picture of Marilyn after masturbating. The time frame in which this movie was made was an odd time for movies; the same era that gave us The Shining also gave us Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, lest we forget...

Yes, nostalgia lends a lot to this movie for me. As an adult I noticed that this movie is not, in fact, scary on any level whatsoever. Actually, by today's standards, it is downright hysterical. The movie has a definite late 1970's feel to it, with a lot of browns and yellows and everything having a dullish green/grey filter laid over it. Dennis Christopher, who was a rising star at the time for his work in Breaking Away and Chariots of Fire, probably shot himself if the foot while dressed as Hop-Along Cassidy in this film, as his biggest role came 10 years later, and 15 years ago, playing Eddie Kaspbrak in Stephen King's IT. He does, however, do an outstanding job in being downright creepy in this movie.This film was also supposed to be Linda Kerridge's stepping stone into stardom. With the exception of a Playboy spread, and a role in a Mystery Science Theater Favorite "Alien From LA" she was never heard from again. Apparently the title of this movie is apropos as the careers of all involved have in fact, FADEd TO BLACK. One man, who has survived this black hole of celluloid, is Mickey Rourke, for which this is one of his first films, and it is at least somewhat fun to watch him play a bully named Richie.