Dennis Christopher turns in the performance of his career as a movie obsessed loner who disguises himself as his favorite film characters to get revenge on those he believes have wronged him.

Fade to Black is somewhere between a classy psychological thriller and a slasher movie, but it refuses to lean into either or and ends up not being much of anything other than a missed opportunity. It's hard to imagine a bloodthirsty slasher fan getting much out of this and it's not quite smart and insightful enough to get any mainstream attention.

A movie-obsessed nerd has enough of people not taking his cinematic ambitions seriously, so he kills them in disguises inspired by his favorite movie characters.

As many good things as Fade To Black has going for it, the finished product is unsatisfying in a variety of ways. It's torn between tortured character study and also trying to keep up with the culture's current obsession with slasher movies and doesn't commit to either fully enough to satisfy and it's neither as thrilling or psychologically complex as it could be. Dennis Christopher's performance holds it together even when it comes close to crumbling down.

Fade to Black is a not-so-good attempt to spoof the demanding society, the influence of the media and a few other nowadays stress factors. Dennis Christopher stars as Eric Binford, an introvert nerd who's addicted to movies (film noir and horror in particular). After a few things gone wrong in his pathetic little life, he snaps and starts to kill his opponents dressed up like his movie role models. More particularly, like James Cagney in 'White Heat', Christopher Lee in 'Dracula' or the rubber suit guy in 'Creature from the Black Lagoon'. Even though it's usually listed as one, I certainly wouldn't call this film horror. It's not bloody (unfortunately) and it doesn't feature any tension, atmosphere or shocking elements. Neither is it funny or even memorable. The acting is below every standard (keep your eyes open for the young Mickey Rourke in a small role) and I didn't like the 'blame it all on society' undertones. Luckily, there still is the trivia! I amused myself by spotting all the horror posters and the references to classic horror and gangster films.