Plantiana Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

Twilightfa Watch something else. There are very few redeeming qualities to this film.

Ketrivie It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

Melanie Bouvet The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

mtckoch Fade to Black is a chilling, eerie look into the downward, deadly spiral of loner Eric Binford. At first glance, this seems like a standard slasher: abused loner finally snaps and gets lethal revenge. Looking beyond the surface, it turns out to be a haunting portrayal of abuse, alienation, and escaping from the ugliness of reality through the silver screen. Eric Binford is a lonely film geek who constantly watches, references, and quotes classic films. He lives with his sadistic, wheelchair-bound aunt Stella. Bitter due to Eric being indirectly responsible for her maiming car accident ago, Stella verbally abuses and harasses Eric constantly. The most ugly line she spews is "You're worthless, just like your father!" He then goes to his film company job, with a hard-nose boss. After being stood up and ridiculed by a hooker, Eric snaps. He calmly kills off all those who have treated him like dirt, using real-life movie reenactments. As the film progresses, we see Eric's sanity crack like a cheap mirror as reality gives way to his fatal fantasies. Although corny and low- budget, Dennis Christopher gives the performance of a lifetime and literally knocks them dead. A must-see for psychological horror fans and anyone who like thrillers.

johnstonjames 'Fade to Black' may not be one of cinema's greatest films, but it is a minor masterpiece of sorts. cinema great does'nt quite hit it, but it does have the feel of a masterwork. and it is definitely some kind of epiphany and homage to cinema that reaches a strange plateau that is hard for any film to surpass or emulate.while referencing so many cinema classics from the Golden Age, and many horror films, it creates an all new cinema monster. this time the monster is the cinema fan himself. the viewer and film buff. it's about a guy who thinks, lives and breathes cinema. and combined with a disillusionment with life, it turns him into a ghoulish horror.this whole thing is sort of a 'Walter Mitty' story gone terribly wrong. it's about how our fantasies both make us, control us, and can often break us. it's this guy's fantasies that make him inspired and unique. they are also his coping mechanism to deal with a hum drum frustrating world. but when his world begins to go terribly wrong, the coping mechanism goes into overdrive and drives him into delusion and murder. you could write a text on this stuff. it's brilliant.the acting is just great by Dennis Christopher as the obsessed cinema fan turned homicidal mutant. there is also a hilarious bit role played by a fledgling Mickey Rourke as one of Christopher's unfortunate victims. and an intense performance by Eve Brent Ashe as Christopher's wheelchair bound aunt/mother. but possibly the real stunner here could be Linda kerridge, an uncanny Marilyn Monroe look alike. her performance is both haunting and truly memorable. and she looks so much like the real Marilyn M. at times, that you have to take a double take. she is especially good in the final scenes where Christopher acts out 'The Prince and the Showgirl' while feeding her Quaaludes(hey boomers, remember ludes?)and pumping her with alcohol, ending in an exciting escape to the top of the Chinese theater in Hollywood with a strange 'King Kong' type ending. crazy.Vernon Zimmerman's outstanding direction also recalls the 'B' flicks of Roger Corman and Robert Aldrich.all in all, this is an amazing and memorable cinema experience guaranteed to haunt any true cinema buff for life. if you are a real fan of cinema, and classic Hollywood, and don't mind being "punked" a little, this film is for you.

rokcomx A cinema devotee murders via movie scene recreations - rarely has Hollywood portrayed its own audience as potential serial killers who emulate what they see on screen. The surprise here is that the killer's inspiration isn't always horror movies, but rather gangster flicks and even Hopalong Cassidy westerns, genres whose inherent violence is often overlooked, or at least under acknowledged.Dennis Christopher - lauded for his geeky role in Breaking Away - found perhaps his greatest role as movie buff Eric Binford, a shy pasty-faced loner and mama's boy who works on the outskirts of the movie biz and patterns every aspect of his life after the films he adores. When bullies drive him over the edge (one played by young Mickey Rourke!), he retreats into a dream world that allows him to act out his revenge fantasies, at first seeking only to frighten.However, when his first scare tactics result in homicide (his boss has a heart attack, a bully running away from him accidentally impales himself on a fence), Binford takes it to the next lethal step --- Film buffs will love all the winking references to classic cinema, and the Marilyn Monroe look-a-like lead actress does one of the most convincing impersonations ever. The finale on the roof of Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood echoes several specific movies, in particular James Cagney's White Heat (with snippets of Cagney actually edited into the action), but it manages to be unnervingly unique in its own right, mainly because we've come to sympathize and even care for Eric Binford.I eagerly await a proper DVD release of this 1980 cult classic!

Cristopher_Jeorge Christopher plays Eric Binford, a generally unlikable film geek who by day putts around on his scooter delivering posters. By night however he sits around in his undies and a blazer watching old movies and being tormented by his wheelchair bound Aunt. He's disliked at by co workers and can only find solace in his love of movies. It figures that when mean ole Auntie attacks his prized projector with no remorse that Erics fragile mind goes KABLAM! and he sends her Evil Keneiveling in her wheelchair down the staircase. It's from that point on that Eric starts dispatching any enemies he has dressed as various film icons. Dracula, the Mummy, Hop a Long Cassidy, Cody Jarret. After Eric has his dream idea for a big budget picture stolen by a greasy producer he really loses it and rents an old car with suicide doors and some how gets a tommy gun and exacts a humorous revenge. Dare you not to laugh at the "Happy Birthday Sucker!" line. I also dare you not to cringe during the Marilyn poster on the ceiling scene, Dave Stoller how could you?? Well after Eric has wiped out half of California it all climaxes, of sorts, in White Heat "top of the world ma!" finale. This movie is only barely tolerable and its really a standout in the high on concept low low low on execution department. I think Dennis should have stayed on his Masi and Tim Thomerson shouldn't be allowed to make any other films except for a sequel to The Wrong Guys. "Watch out for that pancake Duke!!" haha, almost as classic as Breaking Away. 4/10