Blackout review.
The full moon is rising. It’s time for another Full Moon Feature! Larry Fessenden revisits a classic werewolf concept in Blackout. The suicidal wolf-man is back.
New movie reviews will not contain spoilers.
Blackout
Directed by Larry Fassenden
Written by Larry Fassenden
Starring Alex Hurt, Addison Timlin, Marshall Bell, Joseph Castillo-Midyett, Montel Gyn Foster and Barbara Crampton
Blackout Review
There aren’t many names as important to independent horror as Larry Fessenden. He’s been grinding it out as an actor/writer/director/producer for over four decades. Fessenden has tackled everything in the genre from Vampires to Frankenstein to video games. His latest writing/directing effort involves our favorite subgenre of horror. The werewolf movie.
These Full Moon Features try to serve two masters. We look at the quality of the film itself…but we’re also interested in discussing how the movie works, specifically, as a werewolf story. In that regard, Blackout presents an interesting case. This is a great werewolf tale. As a result…it’s only a pretty good movie. Fessenden commits his story to a classic werewolf idea that we haven’t seen a lot of lately. The suicidal werewolf. It makes for an exciting examination of the curse…while the movie itself isn’t very exciting to watch.
Lon Chaney Jr’s Wolf Man would have felt at home in the story Fessenden created. Lawrence Talbot couldn’t live with the monster inside. Knowing that he was powerless to prevent the pain and death he would cause each time the full moon rose…his goal in the Wolf Man series often ended up being finding a way to end his own life. It’s dark stuff…especially for the 1940’s. But it laid a foundation for understanding why becoming a wolf is a curse. We’ve seen the suicidal werewolf in other places…notably in The Monster Squad (another strange plays to find that dark take when you think about it). Many more modern tales have moved towards people who accept their curse…exploring the power of it all. Talbot couldn’t accept it. Neither can Charley (Alex Hurt), the lead of Fessenden’s Blackout.
We get a taste of Charley’s handiwork (clawiwork?) right away. A couple strips down to have sex in an open field (as you do) and are mauled to death by a wolf man. Miguel (Rigo Garay) witnesses the attack. He finds himself in the town’s crosshairs as the lone suspect. The racial implications are not subtle. The fear mongering is led by Hammond (Marshall Ball). Hammond basically runs this town and happens to be the father of Sharon (Addison Timlin) …Charley’s ex-girlfriend. You can probably guess when Charley broke things off with her.
Blackout uses the basic werewolf lore. Charley can’t control his transformations…only a full moon can do that. A silver bullet is the only way to end the curse. He doesn’t remember how he ended up this way…a nod to the title of the piece. This is a full-on wolf man situation…not a man who turns into a wolf. What the production lacks in effects budget it makes up for in creativity. We get a transformation while driving scene…causing a car crash, of course. There is also an animated transformation while Charley narrates what happened to him. Late in the movie…we see a transformation while handcuffed to another person. Fessenden puts a lot of care into these.
The police have their hands full tracking down who is responsible for the recent carnage…all while trying to keep peace in a town that has decided Miguel is guilty. Luis (Joseph Castillo-Midyett) and Alice (Ella Rae Peck) lead the investigation. The town’s prejudice and Hammond’s nefarious practices paint the picture of a place that largely deserves some werewolf justice, to be honest.
Charley sees things differently, of course. He is the rare modern wolf man who sees his curse for what it is and needs to put a stop to it. He gets his friend Earl (Motell Gyn Foster) to craft a silver bullet…and asks him to end his life. Before they get to the deed…Charley ties himself to a chair and sets up a camera to record both his confession and his transformation. Of course, things don’t go as planned. Once he escapes…he makes beeline straight for Sharon. It reinforces why he needs the curse to end.
This is all quality werewolf stuff. Unfortunately, it doesn’t make for the most dynamic movie. Most of Blackout is spent watching Charley visit with friends to say goodbye. It’s a scene repeated over and over again. The first hour or so of the movie is mostly just this. Things pick up for the final act…when Charley’s rampage and the town’s hatred both reach their boiling point. You have to wade through a lot of slow parts to get there. Parts that work much better if you are heavily invested in how someone handles being a werewolf.
Scare Value
An easy recommendation for fans of werewolf stories. Less so for people looking for an exciting movie to watch. Fessenden gives us a solid look at what it means to be cursed…and doesn’t waver from it. A slow story that has a purpose for being so. If you aren’t on board with that purpose…it’s just going to be a slow story for you.
3/5
