I first saw this movie back in 1986, with my friend. I was still in Jr. High, but this movie scared me. I just watched it again last night; and it still has that suspense fill to it. This movie takes place in the beginning in Cedarville, Oh. A father murders his whole family on the kids 5th birthday. The hunt starts to find the killer. It jumps from Ohio to Washington I believe, where this man hitches a ride with another. They get into a severe car accident, were one is completely thrown from the car. The other guy is not as lucky, one is killed and the other is severely wounded. He is taken to the hospital where he is in traction, and suffers from amnesia. He has no idea who he is, the doctor comes in and explains what had happened. The identity of the second man is reveled; but they have no idea who this guy is. The man just assumes he is Allen Devlin and begins a new chapter in his life. A year passes by; and he is now married to the nurse he met in the hospital, Chris. He is an instant father because she has 2 or 3 kids. He is a Realtor and seems to be in a happy marriage. This doesn't set well with Chris's previous boyfriend Mike Patterson. Mike is a cop who is still obsessed with Chris and wants her back. It is 6 years later, Chris has a child by Devlin, and Devlin has his own Real Estate business. Mike, Chris's ex-boyfriend has his suspensions that Allen Devlin could be the man wanted in Ohio. He contacts Steiner who was the cop on the case back then, and tells him the situation. Steiner is on his way to Washington to check it out. Chris is so happy, she thinks she has married the perfect man, regardless of what Mike thinks. As the movie goes along Chris starts to receive suspicious calls, twice from a man that refers to her as Lucy. Lucy was the mans wife back in Ohio. These are threatening calls, and she freaks. She tells Mike; and Mike tells Steiner, Steiner tells Mike the calls were made when Devlin was probably out of the house . As the movie goes on there are several rapes with a guy dressed in black wearing a leather mask. Chris suspects nothing until one day she finds the mask in the garden shed. She is now scared of Allen, but Allen tells her it was planted by Mike when they searched the house. Mike, Steiner, and this P.I.. are all working together, Steiner is 100% sure Devlin is his guy until he sees the shrine of Chris in Mike's room. In the end, one of the kids is turning 5; and a big birthday party is planned. This is where we find out who is responsible. It's late at night at the Devlin house and the Chris tells her son to go close the garage door. Chris, eventually has to go down and close it herself. She gets down to the basement looks around; and turns around suddenly in the garage . All of a sudden this guy is in her face, she gets into the car and locks all the doors. The man finds a sledgehammer; and tries to kill her, while in the car she finds her ex-boyfriend dead in the backseat. Chris gets out of the car, the guy is wearing all black, and has the leather black mask on. Chris gets away knocks him out someway; and wonders who he is. She removes the leather mask and freaks, it's her husband. Allen is the killer of the murder in Oh., the rapes in Washington, and responsible for the attempted murderer of Chris and family. In the end he is finally killed by Steiner, and his true identity is reveled. Allen Devlin is Ed Vincent, the husband that murdered his entire family in Cedarville, Oh.. I loved this movie and I am trying to find it on DVD. It does have some flaws, it's rush into a new year w/o telling the viewer. There is also some details the viewer has to put together on their own. All in all it's a good movie, I recommend it to anyone who loves suspense filled movies.THX, Kris L. CocKayne

Well, I'm not sure this is a "spoiler", but here goes... This film was the blueprint of a murder that took place in Niantic, Ct. The husband murdered the wife of 16 years (Ellen Sherman), who was pregnant at the time with his child, a son. Sherman had convinced Ellen that she would enjoy (putz) this/his "open-marriage" thingy. Being the dutiful (didn't the "Stepford Wives" ALSO take place in Connecticut?) wife, she went along with the "key parties" and the swapping. When Ellen discovered she was prego, she demanded that all the hanky-panky stop, or... ...he could have his g/f and the sailboat. Period. Money? Nada Property? Zip Alimoney AND child support? Yeah, baby!! So, he kills her, leaves her in the bedroom and turns the A/C to the "Delay Decomp" setting and heads off for a fishing trip. Long story short, he was seen by a friend at a video store in the day's leading up to "The Big Chill". Ed was returning a flick... "Blackout" finis

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.

I saw Blackout for the first time when I was a kid and it SCARED THE HELL OUT OF ME FOR A LONG TIME! I had trouble sleeping because of Blackout for a long time. I could not walk down a hall by myself at night because of Blackout. Blackout is the only movie that REALLY SCARED ME. Blackout is LOADED with suspense and has some frightening scenes. The killer wears a zipper-face black mask and that, to me, is scary looking. Watching Blackout now, of course, I don't get afraid like I did when I was a kid. This film, in my opinion, is wonderful! Blackout has GOT TO BE one of Richard Widmark's greatest performances as Detective Joe Steiner. Keith Carradine is excellent as always. Kathleen Quinlen is great as Keith's wife. Michael Beck from The Warriors gives a very good supporting role. The script is top-notch stuff. The music score could not fit the film any better. KUDOS to ALL of the cast and crew of Blackout. I'm not going to give the outstanding plot because you can find that out for yourself. I just wanted to get my thoughts out on this wonderful murder mystery. I believe Blackout is now out of print so it may be hard to find for some. I found a copy on E-bay. If you want to look for Blackout, you may come across a copy/copies on E-bay/Amazon. I really don't see how anyone could not enjoy, in my mind, A TRUE GEM!---Blackout from director Douglas Hickox. Thank you for reading my thoughts and have a nice day/night.