I'm absolutely obsessed with movies, especially horror, and I'm guessing that you are too, since you're currently reading an IMDb review of a relatively obscure, thirty-five-year-old horror flick. But as much as we love films, I doubt that either one of us is quite as crazy about them as Dennis Christopher's character, Eric Binford, in Fade to Black (at least I hope not).Eric, a shy, dysfunctional loner, immerses himself in the make-believe world of cinema 24/7, ultimately confusing reality with fantasy, taking on the identities of characters from his favourite films to mete out punishment to those who victimise him. Disguising himself as gangster Cody Jarrett from White Heat, cowboy Hopalong Cassidy, and Universal monsters Dracula and The Mummy, he settles the score with his overbearing Aunt Stella (Eve Brent), a workplace bully (Mickey Rourke), and his tyrant of a boss. Eric also poses as Lawrence Olivier from The Prince and the Showgirl to woo a Marilyn Monroe lookalike he meets in a diner (Linda Kerridge). Meanwhile, the police are trying to piece together the clues before the killer strikes again…Fade to Black is a technically competent effort with some stylish touches—the inter-cutting of old movie clips is a particularly effective trick—but the film suffers from some weak performances (Tim Thomerson, as a counsellor working with the police, is extremely wooden), a script that just gets more and more ludicrous (where the hell does Eric find a working tommy gun?), and a message that doesn't sit very well with this particular movie fan: that consistent exposure to violent movies will cause the viewer to act in a violent manner. We horror fans take enough crap as it is, without our own genre making us out to be loony tunes as well!

The plot = A young man named whose obsessed with classic movies, is driven to madness and decides to make his fantasies real, by murdering those who've wronged him."Fade To Black" is a reasonably entertaining movie, it's not brilliant but it's not terrible either, many movies from this era justified they're maniac's actions with a brief back story, here we get to see the main character slowly descending into madness, an angle which was interesting and I did like for part of the time, but there were times where it just seemed too far-fetched and unbelievable.This movie could have been one of those defining moments of the slasher genre, but sadly it doesn't quite build enough steam. The supporting cast aren't given enough screen time to be fleshed out or to be cared about, and none of the murders build any real tension or decent gore effects. Although there some interesting set pieces but all that falls flat, although the main character's obsession between fantasy and reality was fun and interesting showing clips from different movies but its abruptness and simplicity leaves you unfulfilled and doesn't deliver as much as it could have.Dennis Christopher gives a pretty good performance as the lead Eric his descend into madness was memorable, but he doesn't always comes across as very menacing, but he is the only cast member that's even fleshed out. Linda Kerridge (Marilyn) gives an OK performance as the centre of Eric's obsession but she kind of falls apart at the end, but she was beautiful. and it's also worth pointing out is that we get a young Mickey Rourke here in a minor role and does alright in his small amount of screen time, another big star making they're mark in a slasher before going on to bigger success.All in all "Fade To Black" is not as brilliant or memorable as it could of been and this could have been up there with some of the other 80's slasher greats (Friday The 13th, My Bloody Valentine, House On Sorority Row, Happy Birthday To Me) but sadly due to the many faults this just becomes average.

This one presents an interesting and original idea for a slasher: a disturbed film buff kills people who have wronged him while dressed up as his favorite movie characters! It even has a Hollywood backdrop: in fact, I visited some of the places where it's set – such as Hollywood Boulevard (the violent climax itself takes place atop Grauman's Chinese Theater) and Venice Beach – when I was there in late 2005/early 2006.Still, despite some undeniably good moments, I don't feel that the film extracts the full potential offered by this fascinating premise: to begin with, some of the references it makes are simply too obscure to be picked up by casual audiences (99 RIVER STREET [1953]) – while to others is attributed a significance beyond their worth (Hopalong Cassidy, THE PRINCE AND THE SHOWGIRL [1957]). The film is buoyed, however, by Dennis Christopher's striking leading performance – who gets to 'play' popular roles, interspersed with genuine excerpted footage, from the horror (Dracula and The Mummy), gangster (James Cagney from WHITE HEAT [1949]) and Western (William "Stage" Boyd as the afore-mentioned cowboy hero) genres during his various stalk-and-kill maraudings; he even replicates the famous wheelchair-down-the-stairs murder of an old woman perpetrated by a cackling Richard Widmark in KISS OF DEATH (1947).Also notable are Tim Thomerson (later of TRANCERS [1985]) and Linda Kerridge: the former appears as the Professor of criminal psychology who reveals himself sympathetic to Christopher's plight (he's assisted by a female rookie, but eventually gets overruled by the stuffy Precinct Captain); Kerridge's uncanny resemblance to Marilyn Monroe, then, makes her the perfect 'idol' to drive Christopher in his warped crime-spree (among whose victims is a young Mickey Rourke). Finally, the film is equally enjoyable as a time-capsule – for the singular opportunity it offers of seeing various current releases on the marquee (ALL THAT JAZZ [1979], KRAMER VS. KRAMER [1979], COAL MINER'S DAUGHTER [1980], HIDE IN PLAIN SIGHT [1980], SERIAL [1980]).

What seemed to be a promising horror movie with a good plot turned out to be a sour lemon. Fade To Black is a typical slow paced horror movie about a young man taking his love of classic movies too far and his infatuation with Marilyn Monroe way too far. I'll admit the characters the lead man transformed into were well brought out and make up wise very good. Acted out however is a completely different story. The only reason I saw this movie is I bought the double feature disc that also has the classic Hell Night which was much better than this sorry excuse of a movie. Sorry to be bashing a horror movie, which is a rare thing I since I love horror movies, but the make up effects alone were not enough to save this movie from taking the plunge to my Bad Movie list. If you get the double feature disc, watch Hell Night and avoid the Fade To Black on the other side.