Blackout (1978)

Director:

Eddy Matalon

Writers:

John Dunning (story)
Eddy Matalon (story)
(more)

Release Date:

13 September 1978 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Thriller

Tagline:

One City-Wide Blackout ... Deranged Killers on the Loose .. Twelve Hours of Sheer Terror!

Plot:

A black comedy of violent criminals who terrorize apartment dwellers during New York's 1977 power blackout. |

Plot Keywords:

Blackout | Criminal | Terror | Gang | Murder

Cast

James Mitchum	...	Dan Evans
Robert Carradine	...	Christie
Belinda Montgomery	...	Annie Gallo
June Allyson	...	Mrs. Grant
Jean-Pierre Aumont	...	Henri
Ray Milland	...	Richard Stafford
Don Granberry	...	Chico
Terry Haig	...	Eddy
Victor B. Tyler	...	Marcus
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Camille Ange
Maurice Attias
David Bairstow
Thor Bishopric
David Bloom
Fred Doederlein	...	Mr. Grant
Norris Domingue
Anna Dorland
Claudie Duckworth
George Fonseca
Sonny Forbes		(as Sony Forbes)
Henry Gamer
Alexander Godfrey
Dick Grant
Arthur Grosser
Marek Lehman
Jimmy Loftus
Judy London
Peter MacNeill
Doris Malcolm
Louis Negin
Malcolm Nelthorpe
Allan Neumann
Candace O'Connor
Jarvis Oree
Arleigh Peterson
Mary Pinatel
Marguerite Sidhom
Norman Taviss
Gwen Tolbart
Vlasta Vrana
Jim Walton
Len Watt
John Wildman
Bill Zaget

Directed by
Eddy Matalon

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
John Dunning		story
Eddy Matalon		story
John C.W. Saxton		writer

Produced by
Nicole M. Boisvert	....	producer
Don Carmody	....	executive producer
John Dunning	....	producer
André Link	....	executive producer
Eddy Matalon	....	producer
Ivan Reitman	....	executive producer
John Vidette	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Didier Vasseur

Cinematography by
Jean-Jacques Tarbès

Film Editing by
Debra Karen

Production Design by
Jocelyn Joly

Costume Design by
Blanche-Danielle Boileau

Makeup Department
Suzanne Rioux	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Stewart Harding	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Pedro Gandol	....	third assistant director
Al Simmons	....	assistant director

Art Department
Andre Brochu	....	construction supervisor

Sound Department
Henri Blondeau	....	sound
Gary C. Bourgeois	....	sound re-recording mixer

Special Effects by
Joe Elsener	....	special effects

Other crew
Thérèse Bérubé	....	script supervisor

Distributors

• Jupiter Communications (1978) (Non-USA) (all media) (Europe)
• Jupiter Communications (1978) (France) (theatrical)
• Cinépix Film Properties (CFP) (1978) (Canada) (theatrical)
• New World Pictures (1978) (USA) (theatrical)
• Filmtrust (1979) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Beate Uhse (1978) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Astral Video (19??) (Canada) (VHS)
• King of Video (1985) (Australia) (VHS) (as "New York Escapees")
• Merlin Video (19??) (UK) (VHS)
• Somerville House (2005) (Canada) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

92 min

Country:

Canada | France

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Norway:18 (1982) | USA:R | Iceland:16 | Netherlands:16 | West Germany:16 (nf) | Australia:M (1985)

Filming Locations:

Montréal, Québec, Canada

Movie Connections:

Featured in 42nd Street Forever, Volume 4: Cooled by Refrigeration (2009) (V)

Surprisingly Undramatic And Even A Bit Silly At Times

The basics seemed right. New York City gets hit with a huge power outage, and in the midst of it four very violent criminals escape from custody, get into a high rise apartment building and terrorize the tenants, all the while being pursued by a lone cop. It sounds like it should be a pretty decent actioner, but from the very beginning it just didn't seem to work very well. It began with a far too long introduction to what was happening, and when the "action" did start it just came in dribs and drabs, but there was nothing sustained to it. Then to an overall dull-ish feel, you have to add a few rather silly elements in the plot. Let's see. There's the woman who gets raped and is obviously traumatized by the experience but ends up within a few minutes as the cop's partner searching the building. Then, the cop is telling everyone he meets (including a couple of unaccompanied kids) to go to the lobby (but what if they meet up with the gang on the way?) but then tells an elderly couple to stay in their half burned and smoke-filled apartment after one of the bad guys turned pyromaniac. Does any of that make any sense? We were never told what happened to the man whose ventilator was turned off (presumably he died while his wife who was tied up watched, but that was never tied up) and then one of the bad guys turns on another because the latter one hits a kid - after everything else (murder, rape, arson) we suddenly get "you don't hit a kid" and two crooks end up killing each other over it? I also wasn't taken with the performances, which seemed pretty dry to me most of the way through. The movie also had a very low-budget feel most of the way through. Some good scenes of looting appeared throughout the movie as a reminder of the ugliness of human nature, because we know that really does happen in such circumstances, and the closing car chase through the underground parking lot was pretty decent. Aside from those points though there's not much to recommend this. 2/10