‘Blackout,’ a new take on one of horror’s oldest myths, is claws for celebration
Robert Abele April 12, 2024
Hard-drinking artist and itinerant contractor Charley (Alex Hurt) hasnt been much of a morning person of late
, and r
. Recalling the previous nights events is a problem
for him
. But since Charley is
also
the protagonist of a Larry Fessenden horror film,
called
Blackout, hes also been waking up half-naked in the woods
,
and some of the
discolorations splotches
on his
paint-spattered,
torn clothes are clearly blood.
Charley, whos been absent a lot from friends and loved ones lately, has a lot on his mind, not to mention coursing through him.
Already a sensitive sort, bitterly consumed with the economic, environmental
,
and societal direction of his small town,
and
Charley is also processing the death of his father
, hes also
this in addition to grappling with the fact that he may be a hairy creature with an after-hours body count. Its the kind of dilemma that doesnt exactly help ones sense of helplessness.
Fessenden has long been a cult
–
horror mainstay as producer,
and
director
, writer and actor, not to mention one of New York indie cinemas most dedicated superintendents
. Hes no stranger to the alchemy of woolly terror and human anguish,
and
on budgets that favor ragged
y
immediacy over slick, empty shocks. The appealingly scrappy and thoughtful
,werewolf-themed
Blackout continues an ongoing project to put a modern spin on the legendary figures of
golden age cinemas
horror
cinema ‘s heyday
, from using vampires to explore urban love addiction (Habit), to reworking the Frankenstein myth as a PTSD saga (2019s Depraved).
With his new film, set in sleepy upstate New York, Fessenden is in
werewolf
territory first
h pr
owled
into hallowedness
by Lon Chaney
Jr.
in
1941’s
The Wolf Man, and expressed here as a beastly torment affecting both its lead character and a divided America. Charley may be the only character enduring a physical conversion every night when the moon is full, but in a town like the winkingly named Talbot Falls
(the old Chaney character’s surname)
, triggering a depressed communitys dangerously nasty id isnt difficult, especially when everyones freaked out about a sudden rash of mysterious killings (one of which opens the film as a monster-POV shot approaches a couple in a field having sex).
A
ll that a
rapacious
, corrupt
real estate developer named Hammond (Marshall Bell),
hisneed do to protect a
valuable resort project
suddenly in jeopardy,is direct channels localcitizens
suspicions toward a migrant contractor named Miguel (Rigo Garay), despite there being no evidence tying him to the murders. Charley, whose caring ex-girlfriend Sharon (Addison Timlin) is
his
Hammond
nemesis
s daughter, would love nothing more than to expose
himHammond
and save his beloved liberal hamlets imperiled soul. But theres the inconvenient hypocrisy of his own nocturnal havoc to deal with, which is where Fessendens update more talky than bloody, and still plenty bloody
searches
carves out its own moral seriousness about the monsters inside all of us.
Externally, Fessenden delivers some old-fashioned
, bargain
verve to Charleys handful of transformations: punchy editing, harsh sound, freaky practical effects
,
and Hurts physical, raging-drunk abandon under garish mask
work. In all his other scenes, the actor is a sympathetically doomed presence, as if on a goodbye tour of his normal self as he toggles between righteousness and guilt.
And i I
n an eerily sad close-to-home touch,
one imagines only Fessenden devising,
Charleys deceased lawyer dad
and Hammond crony,
spotted in photos among
st
his effects
,
is the
star
actors own late father, William Hurt. In Fessendens handling, it almost counts as a ghostly cameo.
Not everything about the DIY aura of Blackout is effective
,
and the pace can slow to a heavy lope as Fessendens
patchy
screenplay
juggles too many balls takes on too much meat
(Charleys anguished painting doesnt work) and too many characters, even if some of them are career colleagues of indie renown
(
: James Le Gros, Barbara Crampton, Kevin Corrigan, John Speredakos
,
and Joe Swanberg
) fostering a reunion vibe
. Yet the idiosyncratic earnestness of an experienced horrormeister playing with the classics
is
still
makes for a substantial midnight snackplenty of night light for this moviesclaws for celebrationand conflicts
.
