(1985)
2
Brian J. Dillard
Macabre visuals, tight direction, and even-handed performances elevate this HBO thriller above its relatively predictable script, which throws out its red herrings too late in the proceedings to fool any but the most inexperienced suspense audiences. Keith Carradine turns in a typically strong performance as Ed Vinson, a man with no past and a new face trying desperately to forge a life for himself; the underrated Kathleen Quinlan is similarly solid in a role that unfortunately loses some of its strong-woman shadings as the plot progresses. Richard Widmark is game enough to play the sort of dogged gumshoe we've seen in dozens of suspense films, while the supporting cast goes through its paces without problems. In addition to the acting, it's director Douglas Hickox and future Silence of the Lambs cinematographer Tak Fujimoto who give Blackout its dark genre charm. From the eerie tableau of a family of corpses posed in a birthday-party scene to the sight of Carradine with one eye hanging out of his head in the hospital trauma unit, Blackout uses exactly enough gore to make its life-or-death stakes hit home. Say what you will about the standard-issue fetish gear used to denote sexual violence, but the black leather get-up worn by the film's shadowy rapist is pretty darn creepy -- especially in the scene where the protagonist's young son plays with the mask like it's a Halloween costume. The ability of extreme violence to penetrate the sanctity of the family unit is the universal fear of which Blackout takes advantage, and images such as this one drive that point home.
cast-crew for Blackout on AllMovie
Blackout (1985)
