Day 1 – A Horror Movie No One Would Expect You To Like
Before “Scream” and its many sequels, there was a flick with a protagonist who was just as creepy – if not a little more so, because this guy went above and beyond genre imitations. The film is the 1980 cult classic Fade To Black, which lacks the gory gravitas of a traditional horror movie but provides a great character study into what happens when you push a delicate personality too far.
Eric Binford, creepily played by Golden Globe-nominee and journeyman character actor Dennis Christopher, plays a film-obsessed loner who finally breaks down into full-blown psychopath after a snub by a model who bears a striking resemblance to Marilyn Monroe. This is the last straw for Eric after bullying and apathy from hookers, bosses, and his own family and begins taking on personae from his favorite films and exacting revenge on his tormentors. One would expect the obvious in this cinematic vengeance ride, and the film does not disappoint – his turns as Dracula and Norman Bates show the surface of his psychosis; but Eric’s turns as Hopalong Cassidy and The Mummy show the true depth of his dementia. He even goes so far as to re-enact scenes from films that were scary before “scary movies” were there own genre, mimicking a scene Henry Hathaway’s 1947 classic Kiss Of Death in the offing of his own mean Aunt Stella.
Fade To Black isn’t terribly bloody or shocking compared to the slasher-movie standards set later in its decade, but as an essay on the psyche of a madman sent over the brink you’d be hard pressed to find a better film.
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