Fade to Black (1980)

A shy, lonely, film geek goes on a killing spree against those who bully and browbeat him, while at the same time, he stalks his idol; a Marilyn Monroe look-alike.

Director:

Vernon Zimmerman

Writer:

Vernon Zimmerman

Stars:

Dennis Christopher, Tim Thomerson, Gwynne Gilford

2 wins & 7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Dennis Christopher	...	Eric Binford
Tim Thomerson	...	Jerry Moriarty
Gwynne Gilford	...	Officer Anne Oshenbull
Norman Burton	...	Marty Berger (as Normann Burton)
Linda Kerridge	...	Marilyn O'Connor
Morgan Paull	...	Gary Bially
James Luisi	...	Capt. M.L. Gallagher
Eve Brent	...	Aunt Stella Binford (as Eve Brent Ashe)
John Steadman	...	Sam
Marcie Barkin	...	Stacy
Mickey Rourke	...	Richie
Peter Horton	...	Joey
Hennen Chambers	...	Bart
Melinda O. Fee	...	Talk Show Hostess (as Melinda Fee)
Anita Converse	...	Dee Dee

Storyline

Eric Binford watches a lot of movies. He is the truest definition of a film geek. One day, his sanity takes a turn for the worse and he begins acting out his favorite scenes from the movies. In doing so, he manages to involve his enemies and the scenes usually result in death.

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Plot Keywords:

film geek | death | delusion | disturbed individual | serial killer | 

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Taglines:

Eric Binford lives for the movies...Sometimes he kills for them too!

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Genres:

Comedy | Horror | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 October 1980 (USA)

Also Known As:

...kun valot sammuvat

Filming Locations:

Grauman's Chinese Theater - 6925 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Leisure Investment Company, Movie Ventures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

102 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This movie ended up being director Vernon Zimmerman's final film for fifteen years until he directed the short Chuck and Wally on the Road.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Aunt Stella Binford: [cynical tone] Eric! Get up! Well, lookie here. Mister Smart Mouth fell asleep with his nose buried in the screen again! Your one-eyed monster is gonna soften your eyes, much less rot your brain! You spend all your time day dreaming and watching those silly movies on the TV and on your projector.

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Connections

References Spider Baby or, The Maddest Story Ever Told (1968)

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Soundtracks

"Heroes"
Lyrics by Carol Connors
Music by Craig Safan
Performed by Marsha Hunt

User Reviews

Reasonably Okay

The plot = A young man named whose obsessed with classic movies, is driven to madness and decides to make his fantasies real, by murdering those who've wronged him.

"Fade To Black" is a reasonably entertaining movie, it's not brilliant but it's not terrible either, many movies from this era justified they're maniac's actions with a brief back story, here we get to see the main character slowly descending into madness, an angle which was interesting and I did like for part of the time, but there were times where it just seemed too far-fetched and unbelievable.

This movie could have been one of those defining moments of the slasher genre, but sadly it doesn't quite build enough steam. The supporting cast aren't given enough screen time to be fleshed out or to be cared about, and none of the murders build any real tension or decent gore effects. Although there some interesting set pieces but all that falls flat, although the main character's obsession between fantasy and reality was fun and interesting showing clips from different movies but its abruptness and simplicity leaves you unfulfilled and doesn't deliver as much as it could have.

Dennis Christopher gives a pretty good performance as the lead Eric his descend into madness was memorable, but he doesn't always comes across as very menacing, but he is the only cast member that's even fleshed out. Linda Kerridge (Marilyn) gives an OK performance as the centre of Eric's obsession but she kind of falls apart at the end, but she was beautiful. and it's also worth pointing out is that we get a young Mickey Rourke here in a minor role and does alright in his small amount of screen time, another big star making they're mark in a slasher before going on to bigger success.

All in all "Fade To Black" is not as brilliant or memorable as it could of been and this could have been up there with some of the other 80's slasher greats (Friday The 13th, My Bloody Valentine, House On Sorority Row, Happy Birthday To Me) but sadly due to the many faults this just becomes average.