A man murders his wife and children during a birthday part in Ohio, sets up their battered bodies like dolls, and disappears. The detective in charge of the case, Widmark, is so revolted by the scene that he becomes obsessed and determines to track down the vanished husband.Meanwhile, we see a car crash on a highway in Washington state. There are two men in the car. One is burned beyond recognition; the other is Keith Carradine, so bashed up that he must undergo extensive cosmetic surgery and winds up spending so much time in the hospital that he and his nurse, Quinlan, fall in love and are married. Carradine, though he is able to become a successful businessman, can remember nothing of his past.Years go by. Widmark has been forced into retirement. Then he receives an anonymous newspaper clipping that leads him to Carradine in Washington. Widmark meets Carradine, pokes around, and convinces himself that Carradine is the disgusting murderer from Ohio, only he can't prove it. Widmark believes that somewhere inside the successful businessman is a family murderer trying to get out. On his part, Carradine is disturbed by the accusation and does what he can to prove his innocence. Only occasionally does he drop a hint or two of instability.The local police captain, Michael Beck, is a former lover of Quinlan's and it develops that he still has a fierce yen for her. He's built a kind of shrine to her in his bedroom. Would he like to get Carradine out of the way and get it on with Quinlan again? You bet he would.Evidence accumulates until there are now three suspects of crimes and other acts that all point towards Carradine. Perhaps Widmark is right and Carradine can't entirely control his inner rage. Or the police captain, still in love with his ex paramour, may be trying to frame Carradine. Even Widmark, so convinced of Carradine's guilt, may be trying to frame him in order to put him away.It's a nice set up with a lot of promise. I hate to say it but, what with all that inner and outer guilt, it's the kind of story that Hitchcock could have handled with aplomb. (All that's missing is the domineering mother.) As it stands, and I hate to say this too, it's a little flat because it's all done rather carelessly. The tinny musical score, with its electronic organ, sounds like it's ripped off from a cheap Italian sex movie. The direction is flat. During the last half, the writers lose the thread of the mystery and have thrown in some junk about hidden masks, serial rapists, and so forth. There are also chintz scenes of women in danger entering dark rooms, hooded figures appearing from the shadows.The first half of the film is quite nicely done. And then, like the killer himself, it descends into the vulgate.

I saw this is one of those movies that is only going to be really good the first time it is watched. It has a bit of mystery to it, that while not to hard to figure out is kind of one of those plot devices that makes the movie less watchable when you know it. Still, this made for television movie is rather good for a television movie though I think that is more because it was in fact HBO that made it so it could be a bit more risqué than one made on one of the major networks. The story has a person killing their families at the beginning of the movie, he then proceeds to hitchhike and ends up in a car wreck where both bodies are horribly disfigured. One of them survives though and you are left wondering who did in fact survive, the killer or the guy just giving him a lift. Easy enough question if you ask me as what kind of movie would it be if the killer got killed. If that is not reason enough to easily figure it out, the rape that occurs midway through the movie should remove all doubts. Still it plays out pretty good and is enjoyable to watch as everything comes together.

Well here's another fine example to state why you shouldn't always judge movies on their appearance and production values. I almost deliberately missed out on this "gem" of the 1980's because it's a made-for-TV movie, and those usually stand for no blood, politically correct story lines, derivative plots and an annoying overload of sentimentality. "Blackout" immediately bursts through this clichéd image of the TV-movie with an exceptionally tense and atmospheric opening sequence. The story opens with the disturbing discovery of 3 dead bodies, a mother and her two children, nightmarishly exhibited as if they were celebrating the youngest one's birthday. The elderly cop Steiner promptly becomes obsessed with finding the killer, which undoubtedly is the husband and father. Almost at the same time of the discovery and a couple of States further, a man survives a horrible car accident, albeit with a total loss of memory and in desperate need for plastic surgery. His memory doesn't return, but he starts a new life under the name Allen Devlin and marries the nurse who treated him. Six years later, the meanwhile retired Steiner is still looking for the killer and receives an anonymous letter with a picture of Devlin and his new family. Is he the vanished killer who doesn't remember his past? Or is someone trying to sabotage his newly found happiness? "Blackout" is a truly effective and suspenseful thriller. There are very few possibilities of whom the killer may be, yet the intelligently written script keeps you guessing and doubting till the very last twist. Even with the quite large number familiar themes, like amnesia and love-triangles, the plot feels original and the suspense feels genuine. As expected, there aren't any vile murders shown on screen and the use of blood and make-up effects is kept to a minimum. Hey, it's a TV-movie, remember, and the emphasis lies on tension. Naturally a lot of credit must go to director Douglas Hickox, who's clearly one class above the average TV-movie director. Hickox previously directed the Vincent Price horror classic "Theater of Blood" and the historical drama "Zulu Down", so he definitely knows how build up an ambiance and how to guide his cast in the required direction. Speaking of which, the cast is excellent with Richard Widmark, Keith Carradine and Michael Beck. "Blackout" comes with my highest possible recommendation and, for once, one the IMDb's recommendations is spot-on as well. The site encourages you to watch "The Pledge" (starring Jack Nicholson), which also revolves on a retired copper continuing to obsessively hunt down the culprit of a long-forgotten crime.

"Blackout" is a decent, fairly well-done thriller, made for TV. Although the idea of an amnesiac hero is as old as the movies themselves, the film offers a few insights into the situation and wonders how responsible an amnesiac is for crimes that he may (or may not) have commited in his past life. The film plays like a murder mystery and mostly succeeds in keeping you interested. However, it doesn't rise above mediocrity, because many plot elements are overly familiar.