Blackout

I LOVE werewolf movies. But with this movie, I had a hard time keeping my attention on it. Honestly, I've seen short films about werewolves on YouTube that were far more interesting and better made. The plot was boring and didn't seem to have a real direction plus it dragged on. The werewolf effects/makeup were not impressive at all. You'd be better off watching some of the classic werewolf horrors such as The Howling or An American Werewolf in London. Even Silver Bullet was more entertaining and scarier than this attempt. Give Bad Moon a watch too. I wanted to like it, but it just didn't do it for me.

Dear sir: You have put out in the unwelcoming harshness of commercialization a movie that combines psychosocial realism with fantasy. Your main support has been a lore of werewolf movies that goes back to Henry Hull in London and the by now easily recognizable frame of Sundance independence from Hollywood. The outcome? A stark drama about a young fellow who reassesses his life as a misfit. Here and there, werewolf attacks. A sort of chocolate chip cookie, BLACKOUT with the wandering structures of so many pictures in the same genre creates a drama with horrific elements that could have been a good horror movie; e.g. The wolfman causes a massacre . Next scene: a lengthy talk between his love interest and her boyfriend in her kitchen. Tension and suspense mysteriously vanished.

On the plus side: technically speaking, Fessenden directs better than in his previous works.

Cast: The absolute protagonist of BLACKOUT is Alex Hurt, son of the great William Hurt and his spitting image. The role is demanding and he lives up to it. The supporting team includes veterans like Barbara Crampton, Marshall Bell and James LeGros, whom fans of the eighities' fantasy/horror will enjoy spotting and naming.

Not a greatly original addition to the lycanthropic subgenre ("The Cursed" for one is better) but a pretty watchable movie.

To clarify... No, not really that great of a movie. Sorry Larry... I really like your early work, even back as far as your very first film, 'WENDIGO' I think.

I think what the deal here is, is that it's not a bad idea and some of the 'parts' are done well. But, overall, I'm afraid the story and the way it is presented (pacing, writing maybe...) is just simply not that compelling. Maybe the odd way the lead character comes across is a big part of it, at least for me it seemed that way. But, the story just didn't seem to 'flow' very well and the conflicts he was having with his Dad's partner and his girlfriend and even the still amazing Barbara Crampton, just didn't come across as realistic or natural at all.

So, if you don't find the characters very relatable, then many times no matter how good the story or idea may be, it just simply does not involve the audience to a significant degree.

I would say that MAYBE if you're expectations are very low, MAYBE this might be a passable time waster, but in my lowly and wretched opinion, even that is really stretching it. Feeling particularly generous, I have it a '5'

Not really recommended. Again, sorry Larry...

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.

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.