FeistyUpper If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

ThrillMessage There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Sam Panico Douglas Hickox directed one of my favorite films, Vincent Price's Theater of Blood. And he also directed this - a TV movie turned video store favorite thanks to its striking box art.Joe Steiner (Richard Widmark, whose portrayal of Tommy Udo in Kiss of Death would inspire Eric Binford in 1980's Fade to Black) is a cop who can't let go. A brutal slayer of an entire family on a child's birthday has scarred him and he promises the dead family that he won't rest until he brings their killer to justice.Allen Devlin (Keith Carradine, Nashville) is a man without an identity. He was in a car crash that destroyed both his face and memory. He wakes up with a scarred visage that upsets nearly everyone that sees it except for his nurse, Chris Graham (Kathleen Quinlan, Airport '77).Mike Patterson (Michael Back, Swan from The Warriors) is another cop who was Chris' boyfriend and lost her to Allen. He can't let go.All three men are trapped by the past: Steiner believes that Allen is the family killer. Mike wants Chris back at nearly any cost. And Allen might be a new person, born on the day of his car crash, but he may also be that killer. Even he isn't so sure.So how is this a giallo? It doesn't have the expected psychosexual and fashionista elements, nor the camerawork showing the killer's POV. However, it does feature plenty of identity confusion and a main character who may or may not be the villain.Come to think of it, this film has a strange narrative in that there is no real hero of the piece, with all three men and Chris serving as characters within the story framework instead of a sole protagonist for us to root for.For a TV movie, this gets pretty dark, with some uncomfortable male on female violence at the end. There's also a great steadicam sequence where Chris opens door after door to try and find either her children or the killer, with the smooth movement of the camera slowly increasing her worry and making the scene quite claustrophobic.Originally airing on July 28, 1995 on HBO, Blackout gained even more notoriety as it inspired Ed Sherman's murder of his wife Ellen in August of that year. Sherman also used an air conditioner to slow the decomposition of his wife's dead body in an attempt to establish his alibi.

buckikris I first saw this movie back in 1986, with my friend. I was still in Jr. High, but this movie scared me. I just watched it again last night; and it still has that suspense fill to it. This movie takes place in the beginning in Cedarville, Oh. A father murders his whole family on the kids 5th birthday. The hunt starts to find the killer. It jumps from Ohio to Washington I believe, where this man hitches a ride with another. They get into a severe car accident, were one is completely thrown from the car. The other guy is not as lucky, one is killed and the other is severely wounded. He is taken to the hospital where he is in traction, and suffers from amnesia. He has no idea who he is, the doctor comes in and explains what had happened. The identity of the second man is reveled; but they have no idea who this guy is. The man just assumes he is Allen Devlin and begins a new chapter in his life. A year passes by; and he is now married to the nurse he met in the hospital, Chris. He is an instant father because she has 2 or 3 kids. He is a Realtor and seems to be in a happy marriage. This doesn't set well with Chris's previous boyfriend Mike Patterson. Mike is a cop who is still obsessed with Chris and wants her back. It is 6 years later, Chris has a child by Devlin, and Devlin has his own Real Estate business. Mike, Chris's ex-boyfriend has his suspensions that Allen Devlin could be the man wanted in Ohio. He contacts Steiner who was the cop on the case back then, and tells him the situation. Steiner is on his way to Washington to check it out. Chris is so happy, she thinks she has married the perfect man, regardless of what Mike thinks. As the movie goes along Chris starts to receive suspicious calls, twice from a man that refers to her as Lucy. Lucy was the mans wife back in Ohio. These are threatening calls, and she freaks. She tells Mike; and Mike tells Steiner, Steiner tells Mike the calls were made when Devlin was probably out of the house . As the movie goes on there are several rapes with a guy dressed in black wearing a leather mask. Chris suspects nothing until one day she finds the mask in the garden shed. She is now scared of Allen, but Allen tells her it was planted by Mike when they searched the house. Mike, Steiner, and this P.I.. are all working together, Steiner is 100% sure Devlin is his guy until he sees the shrine of Chris in Mike's room. In the end, one of the kids is turning 5; and a big birthday party is planned. This is where we find out who is responsible. It's late at night at the Devlin house and the Chris tells her son to go close the garage door. Chris, eventually has to go down and close it herself. She gets down to the basement looks around; and turns around suddenly in the garage . All of a sudden this guy is in her face, she gets into the car and locks all the doors. The man finds a sledgehammer; and tries to kill her, while in the car she finds her ex-boyfriend dead in the backseat. Chris gets out of the car, the guy is wearing all black, and has the leather black mask on. Chris gets away knocks him out someway; and wonders who he is. She removes the leather mask and freaks, it's her husband. Allen is the killer of the murder in Oh., the rapes in Washington, and responsible for the attempted murderer of Chris and family. In the end he is finally killed by Steiner, and his true identity is reveled. Allen Devlin is Ed Vincent, the husband that murdered his entire family in Cedarville, Oh.. I loved this movie and I am trying to find it on DVD. It does have some flaws, it's rush into a new year w/o telling the viewer. There is also some details the viewer has to put together on their own. All in all it's a good movie, I recommend it to anyone who loves suspense filled movies.THX, Kris L. CocKayne

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

nicholas123abc This movie starts off scary and never stops. Is he the killer? Or is he the killer ? Are they both maniacs? You don't know till the finale . Great acting by cast especially Quinlan .This should have been theatrically released .An absolute knockout.