“You’ll be sorry, Big Ed!”
1980’s Fade To Black, starring Dennis Christopher, Tim Thomerson, Linda Kerridge, and Gwynne Gilford, tells the story of Eric Binford (Christopher), a bullied, mistreated, and socially awkward young man who loves two things in this world: classic movies and Marilyn Monroe. When he meets Marilyn O’Connor (Kerridge), a skating rink worker who looks like Marilyn Monroe, he convinces her to go on a date with him. When she unintentionally doesn’t meet him for their date, Binford begins to snap. The years of verbal, emotional, and physical abuse finally push him to the edge. He starts dressing up like his favorite film characters and reenacts murderous scenes with the tormentors in his life. His killing spree leads him to the top of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre where he, along with his Marilyn, plans on acting out one last scene.
Written and directed by Vernon Zimmerman, the film is much more than a standard slasher flick. It also fits in well with the contemporary issue of bullying and the sometimes violent and fatal retaliation of the victims on their tormentors. Eric couldn’t take the pain of rejection and the constant abuse from his aunt and his co-workers and finally snapped. Yes, Eric was wrong for what he did, but it’s easy to see how quickly he would be driven to murder to get revenge.
As excellent as the plot is, however, it’s executed in an uneven way. Marilyn comes off as entirely too gullible and quickly falls under the spell of Eric. The psychologist that is trying to stop Eric, Dr. Moriarty (Thomerson), is a cocaine snorting hack who teams up with a beautiful police officer, Anne Oshenbull (Gilford), who enjoys a little coke herself. They also find time to bed one another while Eric is on his killing spree. The performances of most of the actors is a tad weak and uninspired. The movie drags at times as well.
Despite all of these shortcomings, the film is definitely worth a look if you’re a fan of classic horror or classic cinema in general. The story is good but poorly executed. Oh, and you also get to see a young Mickey Rourke and Peter Horton in small, early roles. Another little bit of trivia is the fact that Gilford was pregnant during the shooting of the film. Her child? None other than current film star Chris Pine.
Fade To Black could have been a lot better than it was, but in the end, it’s still a decent film. Check it out and let me know what you think of it.
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