BLACKOUT (2023)
Label: Dark Sky Selects
Region Code: A
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 103 Minutes 35 Seconds
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1 Surround with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: Larry Fessenden
Cast: Alex Hurt, Addison Timlin, Motell Gyn Foster, Joseph Castillo-Midyett, Ella Rae Peck, Rigo Garay, John Speredakos, Michael Buscemi, Jeremy Holm, Joe Swanberg, James Le Gros, Kevin Corrigan, Marshall Bell Barbara Crampton
Blackout (2023) is written/directed by Larry Fessenden (Habit), set in the smalltown of Talbot Falls where a fine arts painter Charley Barrett (Alex Hurt, Foxhole) is a down-on-his-luck alcoholic, having recently ended his relationship with ex-girlfriend Sharon (Addison Timlin, The Town That Dreaded Sundown), the daughter of the town's influential big-wig real estate developer Jack Hammond (Marshall Bell, Innocent Blood), with whom Charley has been feuding over environmental concerns over the new Hilltop development.
Blackout (2023) is written/directed by Larry Fessenden (Habit), set in the smalltown of Talbot Falls where a fine arts painter Charley Barrett (Alex Hurt, Foxhole) is a down-on-his-luck alcoholic, having recently ended his relationship with ex-girlfriend Sharon (Addison Timlin, The Town That Dreaded Sundown), the daughter of the town's influential big-wig real estate developer Jack Hammond (Marshall Bell, Innocent Blood), with whom Charley has been feuding over environmental concerns over the new Hilltop development.
Recently there have been a couple of vicious murders in the area, victims torn apart by a wild animal or an unhinged killer perhaps, and Hammond has been unjustly putting the blame on an Mexican construction worker named Miguel Lopez (Rigo Garay, The Leech), who was a witness to the beast murdering a young couple. Hammon's accusations are stirring up anti-immigrant voices in the community, though local law enforcement, by way of Sherriff Luis (Joseph Castillo-Midyett, Fear the Walking Dead) and his deputy Alice (Ella Rae Peck, The Call), are more level headed and are not influenced by the spurious and unfounded allegations during their investigation.
Charley believes that he is the one responsible for the murders, though he has no memory of the attacks he believes that he transforms into a werewolf in and around the full moon, blacking out in the process, but waking up in odd places with torn and bloodied clothing, and having flashes of horrific images that he sketches and paints afterward. With no prospects on the horizon and wracked by the guilt over the possibly of being a werewolf, he plans to leave town, but as luck would have it he transforms into the werewolf while driving out of town under the full moon, causing an accident, and when would be good samaritans arrive to help out they end up his latest victims. With his car wrecked he turns to his pal Earl (Motell Gyn Foster, Foxhole) to video record his next transformation and to shoot him dead with a silver bullet during the next phase of the full moon.
As usual Fessenden's smalltown setting is ripe with interesting characters, we get cameos from Marc Senter (The Lost), Kevin Corrigan (Some Guy Who Kills People), Joe Swanberg (You're Next), James Le Gros (Phantasm 2) and John Speredakos (Wendigo) as locals of various inclinations, and we get a brief appearance from Barbara Crampton (From Beyond) as a flirty lawyer that Charley approaches to nail Hammond for his crooked real estate dealings, handing her a stack of legal documents his late father, Hammond's former ace attorney, had in his personal belongings.
It's not a super-gory werewolf flick, but more of a character study of Charley, dealing with alcoholism, deep-seated daddy issues, and of course the fact that he's a werewolf.
Getting to the werewolf of the story this is a very Larry Talbot from The Wolfman sort iteration of the monster, Charley is a tortured soul, and the look of it incorporates the features of the classic Universal Monsters wolfman, a bi-pedal creature also heavily influenced by the Marvel comic's 70's run of Werewolf By Night, and specifically the artwork of Mike Ploog, whom Fessenden credits in the making-of doc on the disc. The werewolf make-up looks terrific on the sinewy Alex Hurt as he rips people apart and runs through wooded areas under the silvery moon, plus he brings some nice depth to the tragic characters, which is really what makes for a great werewolf flick. The transformations are not going to give The Howling or An American Werewolf In London any competition for best werewolf transformation, but they look great just the same, never pulling me out of the story with any ropey cheap digital looking effects, always looking practical and based in the reality of the film and not overextended and stretched too thin for their own good. There are some digital VFX but they are used very tastefully, and one scene features a werewolf transformation that utilized ink and paint drawing and illustrations that not only looked amazing, but made sense c considering that the protaganist is an artist. It definitely has more of a classic Lon Chaney Jr./The Wolf Man look about it than something like The Howling or Dog Soldiers, which I quite liked.
Audio/Video: The film is presented in 1080p HD widescreen (1.85:1), the film looks terrific with deep blacks and accurate looking colors throughout. Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround audio with optional English subtitles; dialogue sounds great, the Will Bates (Immaculate) score, and sounds of the werewolf carnage were pleasing.
Extras include an Audio Commentary with Writer/Director/Editor/Producer Larry Fessenden; 77-minute Blackout Behind the Scenes with an introduction by Fessenden that digs into the genesis of the story and project, his love of Universal's The Wolfman and Marvel's Werewolf By Night comics, and his version of the Monsterverse. We also get the 6-min Larry Fessenden's Monsterverse which is a video collage of his monster films, a 4-min Monster Mash Photoshoot Timelapse by Beck Underwood; the 26-min Blackout Audio Drama from the Tales from Beyond The Pale Radio Play/Podcast, and Trailers.
The single-disc Blu-ray release arrives in a standard keepcase with a 2-sided non-reversible sleeve of artwork, inside there's a 12-Page Illustrated Booklet with Liner Notes by Fangoria's Phil Noble Jr.. We also get a Limited Edition O-Card (Slipcover) with exclusive artwork.
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary with Writer/Director/Editor/Producer Larry Fessenden
- Blackout Behind the Scenes (76:51)
- Larry Fessenden's Monsterverse (5:42)
- Monster Mash Photoshoot Timelapse by Beck Underwood (3:40)
- Blackout Audio Drama from the Tales from Beyond The Pale Radio Play/Podcast (25:41)
- Teaser Trailer (1:32)
- Audio Commentary with Writer/Director/Editor/Producer Larry Fessenden
- Blackout Behind the Scenes (76:51)
- Larry Fessenden's Monsterverse (5:42)
- Monster Mash Photoshoot Timelapse by Beck Underwood (3:40)
- Blackout Audio Drama from the Tales from Beyond The Pale Radio Play/Podcast (25:41)
- Teaser Trailer (1:32)
- Trailer (2:22)
- 12-Page Illustrated Booklet with Liner Notes by Fangoria's Phil Noble Jr.
- Limited Edition O-Card (Slipcover)
It's always a treat when Fessenden tackles a classic monster in one of his films, he did vampires in Habit, and Frankenstein's monster in Depraved, and now we are getting werewolves with Blackout, and I think that if you enjoyed more recent low-budget werewolf fare like Late Phases (2014) and The Wolf of Snow Hollow (2020) that will dig this cool indie werewolf flick that has a lot of heart to it, not looking cheap but feeling hiomspun inthe best possible way. Judging by the stinger at the end of the flick it looks like Fessenden is aiming for an old school monster rally flick in the near future, and I am super-excited for that!
Screenshots from the Dark Sky Selects Blu-ray:
Extras:
