Eric Binford (Dennis Christopher) is a nerd. Eric works for Marty Berger (Norman Burton), the owner of a film distribution warehouse. Eric spends all of his off time watching old movies. Eric lives with his abusive elderly wheelchair bound aunt, Aunt Stella Binford (Eve Brent). At work he is criticized by Marty and is bullied by a fellow employee, Richie (Mickey Rourke). Eric leaves and goes to a local diner to eat.
At the diner he sees Marilyn O’Connor (Linda Kerridge). Marilyn is the spitting image of Eric’s on-screen crush, Marilyn Monroe. Marilyn is an Australian model and wanna be actress. Eric is immediately fascinated with the young woman and convinces her to meet him for a movie date at a local theater.
By accident Marilyn ends up standing Eric up. She finally arrives to find Eric long gone. After waiting hours Eric finally leaves the movie theater. He begins wandering around down. The incident crushes Eric’s spirit and pushes him over the edge. Drawing from the movies he loves Eric begins taking on the persona of characters from some of his favorite movies. When his aunt verbally abuses him, he pushes her wheelchair down the stairs reenacting a scene from “Kiss of Death” 1947. Dressed as Dracula he kills a hooker. When bully Richie defaults on a bet, Eric dresses as Hopalong Cassidy and shoots him. Dressed as The Mummy he scares his boss into having a heart attack.
Each time Eric feels that he has been wronged by someone, he assumes another persona and exacts his revenge. His most important character is a gangster named Cody Jarrett from “White Heat”, a character that he slips in and out of. Once he has disposed of his enemies he can concentrate on Marilyn and winning her back.
“Fade to Black” was released in 1980 and was written and directed by Vernon Zimmerman. It is an American psychological horror with some slasher and comedy aspects.
Although it is a slasher style movie most of the film concentrates on the psychosis of Eric, the main character. Props to Dennis Christopher for his transition from nerdy Eric to sophisticated criminal Cody Jarrett. He plays a lot of characters from film and does most of them well. The bits of insanity that he inserts into some of them adds a hint of creepiness that makes each character a little more frightening.
The cops portrayed in the film, however, are rather ridiculous in the overall tone of the film. The comedy aspects are a little silly and the scenes between the cops and the criminal psychologist, played by Tim Thomerson, does nothing more than pad the already too long film. The movie would have been even better without all of that cop vs coke snorting psychologist subplot.
Gwynne Gilford, who plays Officer Anne Oshenbull, was pregnant during filming. Her baby grew up to be actor Chris Pine. The filmmakers wanted to use clips from Dracula 1931 for the film but were unable to gain the rights. Instead, they used clips from the British film “Horror of Dracula” 1958.
Movies either referenced, depicted or have clips shown: “Kiss of Death” 1947, “Dracula” 1931, “The Mummy” 1932, White Heat” 1949, “Psycho” 1960, “99 River Street” 1953, “The Prince and the Showgirl” 1957, “Creature from the Black Lagoon” 1954, “White Heat” 1949, “Mark of the Vampire” 1935 “Horror of Dracula” 1958, “Halloween” 1978”, “Night of the Living Dead” 1968, “Casablanca” 1942 and “The Public Enemy” 1931.