Blackout (1985)

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

The acting in this movie is really good.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Douglas Hickox directed one of my favorite films, Vincent Price's Theater of Blood. And he also directed this - a TV movie turned video store favorite thanks to its striking box art.Joe Steiner (Richard Widmark, whose portrayal of Tommy Udo in Kiss of Death would inspire Eric Binford in 1980's Fade to Black) is a cop who can't let go. A brutal slayer of an entire family on a child's birthday has scarred him and he promises the dead family that he won't rest until he brings their killer to justice.Allen Devlin (Keith Carradine, Nashville) is a man without an identity. He was in a car crash that destroyed both his face and memory. He wakes up with a scarred visage that upsets nearly everyone that sees it except for his nurse, Chris Graham (Kathleen Quinlan, Airport '77).Mike Patterson (Michael Back, Swan from The Warriors) is another cop who was Chris' boyfriend and lost her to Allen. He can't let go.All three men are trapped by the past: Steiner believes that Allen is the family killer. Mike wants Chris back at nearly any cost. And Allen might be a new person, born on the day of his car crash, but he may also be that killer. Even he isn't so sure.So how is this a giallo? It doesn't have the expected psychosexual and fashionista elements, nor the camerawork showing the killer's POV. However, it does feature plenty of identity confusion and a main character who may or may not be the villain.Come to think of it, this film has a strange narrative in that there is no real hero of the piece, with all three men and Chris serving as characters within the story framework instead of a sole protagonist for us to root for.For a TV movie, this gets pretty dark, with some uncomfortable male on female violence at the end. There's also a great steadicam sequence where Chris opens door after door to try and find either her children or the killer, with the smooth movement of the camera slowly increasing her worry and making the scene quite claustrophobic.Originally airing on July 28, 1995 on HBO, Blackout gained even more notoriety as it inspired Ed Sherman's murder of his wife Ellen in August of that year. Sherman also used an air conditioner to slow the decomposition of his wife's dead body in an attempt to establish his alibi.

This movie truly is an excellent little piece of 80's television terror. Like the patchwork of medical skin graphs connecting together the protagonist of Blackout's face, this screen-play is on the surface seemingly convoluted yet at the the same time so precisely intricate and thoroughly thought through that I literally didn't wan't to stop watching until the credits rolled. Blackout is one of those films were the less you know going into it the better and more rewarding the experience will be. That's about all that's needed to say: Masterfully written. The gore on display in the hospital scene where we see the aftermath of a gruesome car crash is of the all-to-real type where you feel the filmmakers got away with quite a bit for a televised movie; the kind of gore that cuts severely close to home for people who have gone through such traumatic life experiences, yet at the same time adds a touch of humanity to the movie that is rarely seen in your garden- variety slasher movie. This movie gets in there and plays with your raw nerves--real horror. The time period in witch this movie was made and the date-ed look of the overall production just adds that extra creep factor. Blackout is one horror film that has managed to age like a fine wine or a good woman. Call up your creepiest friends and pop open the brew-skies at midnight because this is one old horror film you don't want to watch alone.

As far as psychological thrillers go, (not to mention this movie was before classics like "The Silence of the Lambs) I was thoroughly entertained by the plot and acting. Keith Carradine and Kathleen Quinlan were magnificent. Well, everyone ways good. If you don't have the right people together in a movie, it could be disastrous. It remains as one of the top ten thrillers in my book! You won't be disappointed if you spend a little over an hour watching this masterpiece. It covers a range of things...not just a psychopathic killer. There is a struggle between good and evil within one man. The one side of his personality is a loving, hard-working man. Then he completely reverts to an unrecognizable killer of women and children. I had to watch this movie several times as not to miss any of the hidden clues, etc. I give it an 8 on the rating scale because of its plot, characters, execution of acting and ability to entertain.

A woman and her three children are brutally murdered-and her husband mysteriously disappeared.The police chief who handled the case remains obsessed with tracking down the killer.An anonymous tip points him in the direction of a totally disfigured amnesiac."Blackout" is a pretty good thriller.The action is slow-paced,but there is plenty of suspense.The acting is pretty good and there are some horrifying moments.Check it out.7 out of 10.