BLACKOUT (2024)

New On Demand/Digital download from Dark Sky Films and Glass Eye Pics!
Directed/Written by Larry Fessenden.
Starring Alex Hurt, Addison Timlin, Marshall Bell, Barbara Crampton, Joe Swanberg, Kevin Corrigan, James Le Gros, Jeremy Holm, Marc Senter, Joseph Castillo-Midyett, Stirling duBell, Ella Rae Peck, Michael Buscemi, Rigo Garay, Motell Gyn Foster, Steve Heller, Cody Kostro, Gaby Leyner, Braxton Sohns, John Speredakos, Clay von Carlowitz, Asta Paredes
Check out the trailer here!!

Alex Hurt plays Charlie, a down on his luck artist who is trying desperately to get out of town. Charlie was attacked by a strange creature a few months ago and since then, on the night before, during, and after the full moon, he blacks out and wakes up covered in blood. Reports from the night before indicate a savage murder has occurred close to where Charlie woke up and this leads Charlie to believe he has become a werewolf. So Charlie wants to get out of town before he changes again and hurts anyone again, especially his ex-girlfriend Sharon (Addison Timlin) who happens to be the daughter of local businessman Hammond (TOTAL RECALL’s Kuato himself, Marshall Bell).

Larry Fessenden is a legend in the indie film industry. Not only is his list of roles and cameos in various horror films as long as Sasquatch’s arm, but he also has been quite a prolific director himself. Much of Fessenden’s work has dealt with themes of alcoholism and addiction. One of Fessenden’s earliest films, HABIT, used vampirism as an allegory for addiction and now, the writer/director/actor uses those themes again against the template of the legend of the werewolf. This time, though, the theme is less prevalent than seen in HABIT, but the effects of alcohol on one’s life are front and center.

Fessenden’s take on the werewolf is wonderfully classic. He’s named the town all of this occurs in Talbot, after Larry Talbot, the name of the man cursed with lycanthropy in Universal’s classic THE WOLF MAN. The rules of this particular version of wolfman adheres to the rules established in that old film as well. And Hurt, in his werewolf form, looks a hell of a lot like the original wolf man design with mostly facial and hand applications, leaving the actor to use his own body to act out the rest. As a huge Universal Monsters fan, I not only appreciated Fessenden’s dedication to represent his wolf man in that way, but was pretty giddy with excitement while watching it. Now, if one doesn’t have my appreciation of old school horror and are used to seeing CGI werewolves pixelated on the screen, then I understand why one might snub there nose at Fessenden’s version of THE WOLF MAN. And that’s cool, I guess, but man, was BLACKOUT a breath of fresh air for me.

That doesn’t mean BLACKOUT is flawless. It squeezes a lot of exposition in the front half so that it can have a payoff in the latter. There is also a ton of people in the cast. Many of them, recognizable genre faces like Marshall Bell, Barbara Crampton, Joe Swanberg, Kevin Corrigan, James Le Gros, Jeremy Holm, Marc Senter, and many others. Most likely, with Fessenden agreeing to appear as a cameo in their films, they are returning the favor and all of them are given a line or two to have fun with. The problem is that very few of these scenes are together, so you get this recognizable face in one scene, and then we are introduced to another and another in small scenes. Put these all together and you have a movie, but still, the scenes felt disconnected, most likely because these actors couldn’t all appear at the same time. So there are only a few actors guiding us through the story and we meet all of these randos along the way. It’s somewhat disconcerting, but again, given the budget, it is impressive that Fessenden could pull it all off.

Actor Alex Hurt is undeniably the son of William Hurt. He looks so much like his father and delivers the same kind of under the radar, subdued, coolness to his performance in BLACKOUT. Hurt has no qualms with tearing his shirt off and baring his chest. Those who read the old WEREWOLF BY NIGHT Marvel comic book series, the fact that Jack Russell loses his shirt frequently is on ongoing joke, one that I feel works here as Hurt has no qualms disrobing and baring his chest. Though I do feel all of that bare-chestedness is a bit excessive. Addison Timlin does a great job of Charlie’s lost love whose beauty seems to be the only thing that tames this beast. Timlin gives her all here and makes the role work.

While the effects are rudimentary, Fessenden makes the transition work by adding some very cool animation to fill in the blanks that most likely would have cost too much for this film to support. I’ve had my fill of pumping face-squibs or reverse-filmed hair growth sequences seen in every other werewolf transformation. These animated scenes actually liven up what has become a tired werewolf movie trope.

As an ode to old school werewolf movies, BLACKOUT works big time. Fessenden obviously is a fan of those old creature features. I’m sure those who poo-poo lower budget films will not be impressed, but Larry Fessenden has been a hands on creative in front of and behind the camera worth supporting. BLACKOUT has all the right kinds of indie passion.