If actors often make for compelling directors, then why not character actors? Larry Fessenden (\u201cDepraved\u201d) is a great That Guy character actor, and his work stands out in a range of genre movies, mostly horror. Fessenden\u2019s also the producer and sometimes writer\/director behind Glass Eye Pix\u2019s rich catalog of American indie horror movies. Fessenden\u2019s \u201cBlackout,\u201d a werewolf psychodrama, showcases his usual attention to performance and character-driven details. That compliment may seem surprising given that we\u2019re talking about a low-budget monster movie where the lead and a few supporting cast members deliver amateurish performances.<\/p>\n
Everybody\u2019s a character in a Larry Fessenden movie, with their own quirks, limitations, and entanglements. We only get to see so much of that in \u201cBlackout,\u201d an imperfect, but often worthwhile adaptation of Fessenden\u2019s own audio drama, one of Glass Eye\u2019s \u201cTales from Beyond the Pale\u201d radio drama-style horror stories. <\/p>\n
The audio play version of \u201cBlackout\u201d was a B-movie-sized sketch about Charley (Fessenden), a desperate loner who tries to get his affairs in order before he reluctantly transforms into a werewolf again. This movie adaptation has more plot, some of which is too generic to be necessary. The new \u201cBlackout\u201d also features several standout moments and a Poe-like air of melancholy dread that Fessenden fans are probably already familiar with. \u201cBlackout\u201d is nothing new, or even essential, but it mostly works anyway thanks to Fessenden and his cast\u2019s impressive collaboration. <\/p>\n
\u201cBlackout\u201d trails after doomed Charley Barrett (Alex Hurt), a well-liked drunk who also happens to be a werewolf. Charley knows he\u2019s a lycanthrope and wants to kill himself before he can kill more innocent bystanders. Charley wanders around the exurban town of Talbot Falls in a cold sweat, touching base with a number of people that he wants to square up with. Mostly people he either wants to avoid or doesn\u2019t want to get into a deep conversation with. Like nosey, but well-meaning Pastor Francis (John Speredakos), from whom Charley bums a ride. Or the crotchety real estate developer Jack Hammond (Marshall Bell), with whom Charley keeps butting heads. There\u2019s also Sharon Hammond (Addison Timlin), Charley\u2019s worried ex and Jack\u2019s estranged daughter; she sees other people (an expertly cast Joe Swanberg). <\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the police search for whoever\u2019s responsible for a series of random murders. Civic-minded cop Alice (Ella Rae Peck) and her skeptical partner Luis (Joseph Castillo-Midyett) spot some animal fur at one of the crime scenes. Then they chat about the German concept of \u201cumwelt,\u201d or a \u201cself-centered world,\u201d where everybody is limited by their own individual perspectives. This standout conversation explains some things about the plot of \u201cBlackout\u201d as well as Fessenden\u2019s priorities as a filmmaker. I wish there was a lot more of this sort of dorm room philosophizing in \u201cBlackout.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If actors often make for compelling directors, then why not character actors? Larry Fessenden (\u201cDepraved\u201d) is a great That Guy character actor, and his work stands out in a range of genre movies, mostly horror. Fessenden\u2019s also the producer and sometimes writer\/director behind Glass Eye Pix\u2019s rich catalog of American indie horror movies. Fessenden\u2019s \u201cBlackout,\u201d …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[45,48],"class_list":["post-1138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-horror-movies","tag-drama","tag-horror"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/us.celebrity2000.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/us.celebrity2000.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/us.celebrity2000.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/us.celebrity2000.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/us.celebrity2000.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/us.celebrity2000.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1138\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/us.celebrity2000.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/us.celebrity2000.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/us.celebrity2000.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}