Blackout

As far as werewolf movies are concerned this is a bit of a disappointment. While I appreciate the focus on the human element, and the suffering of the protagonist, there was really no heart-pounding thrills or werewolf horror that the viewer is expecting to see. I understand that there was little budget for the film, but the horror was minimal compared to what the poster and trailer leads you to believe. I enjoyed the use of art throughout the film, and Alex Hurt's performance was very good. The rest of the cast was a bit subdued in their performances, and many of the sociopolitical themes seemed unnecessary for the general story. Larry Fessenden is a very talented actor and filmmaker, and will always keep an eye on his projects. I know he's been focusing on the humanity of the "monsters" in his films lately (Deranged being another), but I hope he remembers to keep them horrific in a classical sense as well.

After a series of strange animal attacks, the life of a small town gets turned upside down when they believe the culprit of the attacks to be an immigrant that fits the mold of their ideal target not realizing the real target is a struggling painter trying to rescue his family's reputation.

Overall, this was a pretty enjoyable effort with a lot to like about it. One of the better features here is a strong and immersive storyline that brings about the lives of the people within the small town. The central setup of this one revolving around the work of the artist trying to not blow up at everything the residents say about him while they go about their own lives working on illicit property deals or personal squabbles that keep them at each others' throats. That this all feels remarkably well done for the kind of small-town atmosphere that's being attempted here that comes out in full force after the attacks start occurring which signals the film's shift into a full-on political commentary on the nature of mob mentality and small-town-justice taking over their lives. That provides this one with a strong slew of creature attacks that come off rather nicely. The initial attack with the figure's point-of-view approaching an amorous couple and attacking them which is told from that vantage point the entire time is a standout sequence making for a highly effective opening. A later attack where the victim transforms in their car and runs rampant on a few eyewitnesses to the crash that transformation caused ends up leaving a nice trail of carnage once it's all over while another solid sequence of his recounting the backstory of his transformation offers a bit more to like. The frantic finale, featuring the full-on attacks in the neighbors' house or the final assault in the police station where everything gets put into the open for everyone, manages to give this a lot to like. There are some rather big flaws here that hold this one down. One of the biggest issues with the film is a decidedly overlong focus on the lives and nature of the townspeople here leaving this one with only a few pieces of creature action. Going on and on about the lives of the residents to build up an incredibly detailed part of their apathy and prejudice towards others leaves the film without much in the action here as the dragged-out pacing leads to a decidedly overlong running time filled with talky exposition sequences. The ideas are perfectly sound and really don't have much wrong here with the sociopolitical messaging apparent within them but that doesn't help the muted amount of creature action even if all of this wasn't inherently tiresome and cliched being utilized frequently over the years. The other problem with this one is a decidedly unfocused and unclear tone that leaves this one quite scattered and chaotic. The film's introduction to the town occurs in such rapid succession info-dumping nearly an entire plot on its own regarding who he is and why he's in town, the residents and their connection to him and his father, the relationships he has with the ostracized locals who are trying to get by without being the subject of racial oppression for their supposed involvement in the attacks and much more in the span of minutes. That this is all serious before handling a lot of the interactions here with a type of low-key humor that misses the mark completely with the scattered focus here. These issues really end up bringing this one down the most.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language, Graphic Violence, Brief Nudity, and an obscured sex scene.

Given the fact that I am a big fan of all things horror, ofcourse I opted to sit down and watch the 2023 movie "Blackout" from writer and director Larry Fessenden, as I happened to have the chance here in 2024. Sure, I had never heard about the movie, so I didn't know what I was in for. But I read that it was a werewolf-themed movie, so of course that had my attention.

The storyline in "Blackout" was fairly good. It was an interesting approach to the werewolf genre, as writer and director Larry Fessenden focuses on the trauma and guilt that Charley (played by Alex Hurt) went through as he lost control and turned into a werewolf every month on the full moon. So this movie was more than just a movie about a person transforming into a beast and going on a killing spree.

I wasnt' familiar with the actors and actresses on the cast list, aside from Kevin Corrigan and Barbara Crampton. Oh yes, when I saw Barbara Crampton popping up on the screen, things really started to look good. Unfortunately she was only in the movie for a minute or two.

Visually then writer and director Larry Fessenden kept it simplistic and somewhat in the spirit of the old black and white werewolf-themed movies. I liked that part of the movie, because it was minimalistic but straight to the point, and it worked.

If you enjoy werewolf-themed movies, then by all means give "Blackout" a chance.

It doesn't feel like a movie that has the contents to support more than just a single viewing, however.

My rating of "Blackout" lands on a five out of ten stars.

First of all, I am not putting the blame on the editor but whoever made them edit the movie the way they did. This could have been a sold werewolf movie with atleast 7/10 or even 8/10 score. But for whatever reason, they shot & edited the movie to make it as boring as they possibly could. There were many scary & exciting scenes that could have been the foundation of this film but those scenes were edited so badly that some of them became confusing and others became too short to have any effect or impact on the viewer. For example, scenes of werewolf stalking its prey, the tension, the terror on the victims faces, were all cut down to sometimes mere seconds and sometimes such a scene would just cut away almost abruptly to something boring. Where as the scenes showing random stuff like character washing his face, character reading a newspaper while walking to the trash can and properly stuffing trash bags in the trash can, were given all the runtime with extended single shots. This was the biggest problem with the movie. In addition to that, the look of the werewolves was also very lacking & cheap looking at times.

Despite all of this, it is not the worst werewolf movie out there. Its still watchable and to some extent, even enjoyable. At least this movie can be used as an example of how not to shot & cut a werewolf/monster movie if you want to make it interesting. Acting was okay. Story was all over the place but not too bad. Characters often did very stupid things, but that has become a staple of horror genre. There is some blood & gore but for a movie of this genre it was quite tame. Scare factor of the movie was completely ruined due to the above mentioned reasons, so despite being a horror movie its not scary, except maybe the opening scene, which again, was ruined due to bad decisions of the film maker.

Lots and lots of hate on here for this movie. I'm assuming it's from people that either aren't familiar with Larry Fessenden's work or don't appreciate it for what it is. As a fan of Fessendon's earlier works, I loves this. It is indie horror at its basic best. No new subgenres - so no, it's not "meta" - just indie slow burn horror with a solid dose of black comedy. Larry's last feature explored the Frankenstien mythos and was far less successful than he is with this - an exploration of werewolf mythology. The main reason is that this film is edited much more frugally, Fessenden had always struggled with that, and this film is his first in years that reigns him in.