Fade to Black

I had been trying to get my hands on Fade to Black for years before it finally popped up free on Amazon Prime. I was so excited! But did it meet my expectations when I finally sat down and watched it? Actually, for the most part, yes.

Fade to Black is a lot more character driven than I expected. It's also fairly competently shot and well acted. Clearly, a lot more thought was put into it than I first expected.

I also couldn't help but love the main character, Eric (Dennis Christopher, adult Eddie Waspbrak from the original It), a geeky film buff, who in today's world would have a popular blog and possibly even a career in Hollywood (his makeup effects are phenomenal). However, in 1980, he's just a lonely, bullied nerd, who seems to provoke outrageously angry reactions from almost everyone he encounters. Yes, he does eventually turn serial killer, but it's still hard not to feel sorry for the poor guy, who's been kicked around by nearly everyone in his life since he was a child. Movies provide an escapism for him that I'm sure many people reading this blog can probably identify with.

While Fade to Black successfully creates its main character, it's less adept at threading all of its various minor plots together, as many side stories go forgotten for long periods. Characters disappear for lengths of time, only to reappear when I'd almost forgotten about them. Toward the end, it even began to feel like maybe some important bits have been cut from the finished film. The police evidently discover that Eric is the killer, but we're not really shown how they figured this out. Also, Eric's love interest reappears, and at first is seemingly not able to recognize him, mistaking him instead for a foreign prince (?!). Until, then, suddenly she does know who he is, with no real explanation as to the whys and hows. Also, Eric keeps giving the poor girl pills to take, but we have no real idea what they are or how they're affecting her. I feel like maybe we've missed some important plot points; perhaps they were originally in the script but trimmed to shorten the film's running time? I really don't know.

Whatever the explanation, the rushed ending and its lapses in logic are detrimental to the film as a whole, but can't completely ruin what's lead up to it. Not everyone is going to enjoy Fade to Black, but if you can forgive its flaws (I'm pretty forgiving), it's a surprisingly well-made film that many horror buffs, and film fans in general, should be able to appreciate, and maybe even identify with (although hopefully not the serial killing part - seriously, don't do that).