Toronto85
Blackout starts out with us seeing a family who have been murdered. Two kids and their mother slain by the man of the house Ed Vincent. We then see a car get into a wreck, flipping over and burning in flames. Two men were in that car, one being a random person and the other being the killer of the family. Only one survives, and he is horribly disfigured so there is no way of telling if he is the murderer. The disfigured man also has no memory of who he is. Anyways, the man (with the name Allen Devlin) falls for his nurse Chris, and the two get together. Fast forward six years and see that the police officer Joe Steiner who was in charge of the investigation is still hung up on the fact that the killer was never caught. Pretty someone starts tipping off Joe that Allen might really be Ed...A psychopath begins stalking women in town...Chris begins getting calls from a man saying he's Ed and that's he's coming to kill her...is Allen really the crazed Ed Vincent, or is this stalker someone completely different?I enjoyed Blackout a lot. It was a made for TV movie on HBO, and it plays out like a cop/crime drama. It has its slow parts, but for the most part keeps viewers on the edge. There's a very sad element to the movie as well as we see a six year marriage start to crumble because of the possibility that Allen is Ed. Kathleen Quinlan puts in a great job as the wife. The special effects for the disfigured face were amazing! We get some up close shots of an eyeball sticking out, as well as burnt skin. Some of the stalking scenes were down well too, especially because of the killer's mask. As you see on the cover of the VHS, it's a leather mask which works very well.Overall 'Blackout' is a top notch suspense/horror/crime movie that I recommend. It has a good story and kept me interested the whole way through. The ending is great too, both devastating yet satisfying. Pick it up if you can!7/10
Aaron1375
I saw this is one of those movies that is only going to be really good the first time it is watched. It has a bit of mystery to it, that while not to hard to figure out is kind of one of those plot devices that makes the movie less watchable when you know it. Still, this made for television movie is rather good for a television movie though I think that is more because it was in fact HBO that made it so it could be a bit more risqué than one made on one of the major networks. The story has a person killing their families at the beginning of the movie, he then proceeds to hitchhike and ends up in a car wreck where both bodies are horribly disfigured. One of them survives though and you are left wondering who did in fact survive, the killer or the guy just giving him a lift. Easy enough question if you ask me as what kind of movie would it be if the killer got killed. If that is not reason enough to easily figure it out, the rape that occurs midway through the movie should remove all doubts. Still it plays out pretty good and is enjoyable to watch as everything comes together.
kennedy64
Well, I'm not sure this is a "spoiler", but here goes... This film was the blueprint of a murder that took place in Niantic, Ct. The husband murdered the wife of 16 years (Ellen Sherman), who was pregnant at the time with his child, a son. Sherman had convinced Ellen that she would enjoy (putz) this/his "open-marriage" thingy. Being the dutiful (didn't the "Stepford Wives" ALSO take place in Connecticut?) wife, she went along with the "key parties" and the swapping. When Ellen discovered she was prego, she demanded that all the hanky-panky stop, or... ...he could have his g/f and the sailboat. Period. Money? Nada Property? Zip Alimoney AND child support? Yeah, baby!! So, he kills her, leaves her in the bedroom and turns the A/C to the "Delay Decomp" setting and heads off for a fishing trip. Long story short, he was seen by a friend at a video store in the day's leading up to "The Big Chill". Ed was returning a flick... "Blackout" finis
DAVID MOORE
I'm surprised anyone would fail to enjoy this movie. This movie keeps you in a constant state of bewilderment, is this guy a good family man or a brutal serial killer. The beginning has a man kill his entire family and then head out in the the family car, along the way he picks up a hitchhiker and soon thereafter are involved in a horrendous accident. Only one of the two survive and because of the fire involved in the crash they cannot be sure which of the 2 men survived. This surviving man seems to be a good person and seems to have little memory of his life. He goes on to marry and begin a family, but is he the killer or not? In the end the answer comes to light.
AD
