Fade to Black (1980)

(In French, On Cable TV, April 2022) As a certified cinephile, Fade to Black has some appeal: it’s hard not to be impressed by its copious references to classic cinema built into the themes, scenes and even climax of this horror film featuring a psychotic cinephile as its lead character. Pushing movie geekery to its homicidal conclusion, the narrative tracks a lonely, bullied film nerd as he turns evil and starts murdering his tormentors in ways that owe much to past movies. The film begins in a film distribution warehouse and ends at the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard, to give you an idea of how profoundly enmeshed it is with the reality of Los Angeles film geekery. Having a Marilyn Monroe look-alike (Linda Kerridge) is also a stoke of good fortune for the film. Unfortunately, I’m not quite as taken by the end result as I wanted to be. Part of it is that Fade to Black takes on the structure of a slasher, with a succession of gruesome murders packaged in sequences flavoured in a specific old-school movie style. Having a psychotic film enthusiast as a protagonist is integral to the story, but there’s a sense that the target is obvious, and that writer-director Vernon Zimmerman takes advantage of maybe half the possibilities at his disposal. (But there may be budgetary reasons for that.)  Some of the film’s episodes are very contrived, in keeping with its premise, but a few moments clearly go overboard and make the result feel more artificial than expected. The cheap dark early-1980s cinematography isn’t to the film’s advantage either, but that’s to be expected as well. I did like the result more than I like most slashers, but it’s clearly working at a disadvantage most of the time. At least Fade to Black gives a few down-to-the-ground glimpses at the non-glamorous side of the LA film business. There’s an opportunity there for a contemporary reimagining.