14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A movie maniac recreates his favourite screen slayings, April 16, 2003
This review is from: Fade to Black [VHS] (VHS Tape)
Eric Binford (Dennis Christopher) is an obsessed film buff who lives with his domineering Aunt Stella. A sad, strange young man, Eric hates the real world and has good reason to: he works as a delivery boy for a film supply company where his boss hates him and his colleagues think he's a wierdo. Even hookers hate him, and yes; not surprisingly he drives a moped. Yup, poor old Eric lives smack dab in the middle of Gimpsville and only exists for his love of movies. But one day he meets a gorgeous Aussie Marilyn Monroe lookalike (creatively named Marilyn) in a diner and he asks her out to a movie (of course). Unfortunately she quite innocently forgets their date so is two hours late... but Eric thinks she has stood him up. This drives Eric over the edge and he starts dressing up as various movie characters and killing off the people he feels have wronged him In his defense, the movie playing is Robbie Benson's DIE LAUGHING so you can't really blame the guy for snapping. (Why doesn't he just subject his victims to repeated screenings of it? That'd work).
Eric's delusional mania continues to worsen to the point where he thinks he's James Cagney in PUBLIC ENEMY, not to mention Christopher Lee's Dracula and William Boyd's Hopalong Cassidy amongst other characters. Christopher's poor acting doesn't help the viewer gain sympathy for the character of Eric but it's still an interesting movie. What I like best is how the film makers are thumbing their noses at people who think movies influence people into committing crimes. If that were true most of the population of western world would be on death row!
But best of all are the film clips from PUBLIC ENEMY, HORROR OF DRACULA and NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD among others. FADE TO BLACK isn't brilliant, but it's an entertaining movie for genre fans, with a few now familiar faces popping up. This is good viewing for your next Halloween party. Check it out.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
memories.......and it was just as good after all these years, July 29, 2001
I had forgotten how good this movie was, what a classic. Its a treat to see it so clear and without commercials. Im easy to please when it comes to DVDs I admit, Im sure that it will be release a few times, cleaned up and remastered etc. But I recomend it to old timey horror fans and to old timey classic movie buffs alike. I just love Cagney.
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6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
All the World's a Stage, November 4, 2003
BREAKING AWAY's (1979) Dennis Christopher stars in FADE TO BLACK, a wry comment on how Hollywood is gaining influence over the worldview of the average citizen in contemporary Western society. Christopher plays Eric Binford, a young man so obsessed with the cinema that he soon begins to blur the line between reality and the plots of his favorite motion pictures. As his life begins to unravel, Eric looks to the movies for the solutions to his problems, and of course, it's only a matter of time before Eric starts eliminating those "problems" following the example of his favorite movie characters--with murder!
Christopher's over-the-top performance is exuberant and flamboyant, but since his Eric Binford is a person whose behavior is governed by the cinema, such a performance makes the character seem both plausible and sympathetic. Another strong performance is offered by Linda Kerridge as Marilyn O'Connor, the object of Eric's unrequited love. (Of course, it helps that Kerridge, a former Australian model, is a very convincing Marilyn Monroe look-alike, a fact that is intricately weaved into the plotline.)
Admittedly, the supporting cast is not nearly as strong as Christopher and Kerridge, and a great deal of the dialogue for minor characters is pure caricature. Indeed, if taken too seriously, FADE TO BLACK will come across as cartoonish and the plot will seem outlandish. But if viewed as the Juvenalian satire it is meant to be, the film definitely works. Cinema buffs will enjoy the clips from old classics, and horror fans will get a real kick out of watching Eric commit acts of mayhem and murder while costumed as Dracula and The Mummy.
Viewers who do not appreciate dark satire--and especially those who do not enjoy thriller films--will probably regard FADE TO BLACK as made-for-TV fodder. True, it is not destined to be a classic. But it is definitely an entertaining film, and it's a genuinely fun ride for cinema buffs and devotees of the horror and thriller genres.
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