By MICHAEL GINGOLD
The indie horror maverick’s unique take on lycanthropy begins its big-screen play next month.
Dark Sky Films gave us the poster seen below with the word that BLACKOUT, written and directed by Larry Fessenden via his Glass Eye Pix, will open for an exclusive one-week run at New York City’s IFC Center March 13, with special cast appearances and a Q&A, followed by a nationwide VOD/digital debut April 12. The release marks a reunion of Dark Sky and Glass Eye, following their collaborations on Ti West’s THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL and THE INNKEEPERS, Jim Mickle’s STAKE LAND and Adrián Garcia Bogliano’s LATE PHASES.
BLACKOUT rounds out Fessenden’s triptych of modern updates of classic horror creatures, following 1997’s vampire drama HABIT and 2019’s FRANKENSTEIN variation DEPRAVED. It stars Alex Hurt, Addison Timlin, Motell Gyn Foster, Joseph Castillo-Midyett, Ella Rae Peck, Rigo Garay, John Speredakos, Michael Buscemi, Jeremy Holm (BROOKLYN 45), Joe Swanberg, Kevin Corrigan, Barbara Crampton (RE-ANIMATOR), James Le Gros and Marshall Bell (A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 2). The synopsis: “Painter Charley [Hurt] wakes up in an upstate motel where he appears to have been living for some time. After he packs and leaves, he encounters various people in the small town where everybody knows your name. Charley is saying goodbye to the estranged love of his life, Sharon [Timlin], and settling his affairs with a strange urgency that culminates with a call to a friend, Earl [Foster], saying: ‘You better be ready, I’m coming.’
“But Charley never makes it to his friend’s house: When the sun goes down he has convulsions while driving his car, goes off the road and ends up in a ditch. Charley, it seems, is a werewolf. He attacks his rescuers and moves through the outskirts of town at night wreaking havoc. But the next day, he can’t remember the things he’s done. Now the tight-knit town must rally to find out what is tearing it apart: mistrust, fear, or a vicious monster.”
