Fade to Black (1980 film)

Plot

Eric Binford is a hollow, chain smoking, socially awkward and unlikeable young man who is also an obsessed film addict whose love of old films extends far beyond his job at a Los Angeles film distributor's warehouse and endless late-night film screenings in his bedroom. For his vast knowledge, he's been bullied by his friends and family. His singular obsession eventually turns into psychosis after he crosses paths with Marilyn O'Connor (Linda Kerridge), an Australian model and a Marilyn Monroe lookalike who becomes the physical embodiment of his cinematic desires.

When unintentionally stood up by Marilyn on their first date, Eric becomes homicidally unbalanced, transforming himself into a gallery of classic film characters—including Dracula, The Mummy, and Hopalong Cassidy—and sets out to destroy his oppressors, starting with his crotchety, wheelchair-using, ex-dancer Aunt Stella (who is actually his mother), pushing her wheelchair down a staircase to her death (reenacting a scene from Kiss of Death) and making it look like an accident. Eric attends her funeral dressed as Tommy Udo (Richard Widmark's role from the aforementioned film).

Eric then dresses up as Count Dracula to attend a midnight screening of Night of the Living Dead at a local cinema, then afterwords targets a hooker who had earlier snubbed him. She trips, falling to her death, and Eric drinks her blood.

A few more nights later, Eric dresses up as the cowboy Hopalong Cassidy, when he shoots and kills a boorish co-worker (Mickey Rourke) who taunted him on a regular basis.

Another few nights later, Eric dresses up as The Mummy, where he drives his mean and vindictive boss, Mr. Berger (Norman Burton), into suffering a fatal heart attack while he is working late night at the distribution warehouse.

Finally, Eric dresses up as gangster Cody Jarrett (from White Heat) and kills a sleazy filmmaker named Gary Bially (Morgan Paull), who stole his idea as his own for an upcoming feature film inspired by Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (to be called "Alabama and the Forty Thieves") at a barber shop in broad daylight which finally gives away his identity. Eric then eventually works his way toward Marilyn, hoping to lure her to his side.

Investigating the murders is a criminal psychologist named Dr. Jerry Moriarty (Tim Thomerson), who tries to find a pattern to the murders and find Eric, to help or stop him, with the assistance of a friendly policewoman. But Moriarty's investigation is hampered by his own mean-spirited and nasty boss Captain Gallagher, who tries to stop Moriarty's investigation because Gallagher wants to take all the credit of finding the killer for himself.

It all leads to Eric luring Marilyn to a photography studio where he drugs her to reenact a scene from The Prince and the Showgirl which is interrupted when Dr. Moriarty arrives, and Eric is forced to run with Marilyn at his side. It leads to the Mann's Chinese Theatre where the insane Eric is shot by the police on the roof of the building while reenacting Cody Jarrett's death scene (Made it, Ma! Top of the world!) in White Heat. Eric then falls off the roof to his apparent death.

Main cast

Merchandise

A novelization (ISBN 0-523-41409-9), written by Ron Renauld was released by Pinnacle Books in 1980.

Soundtrack

The film score by Craig Safan was released on a promotional CD through Perseverance Records September 3, 2009.