Blackout

A self-loathing, alcoholic artist realises that social justice is one thing – and widespread town carnage is quite another.

In blue-collar Talbot Falls, abstract painter Charley is close to rock bottom after his father’s death. He gets blackout drunk, pushes away his fiancée Sharon and obsesses about taking down her father: a corrupt property developer who blames a Mexican migrant construction worker for a string of recent local murders. Trouble is, Charley slowly suspects the real monster is himself. As the moon gets full and the cops close in, Charley knows someone’s got to put him down before he can kill again … but not before he sets things right.

Fans of cult-horror auteur Larry Fessenden (The Last Winter, MIFF 2007) and mumblecore aficionados alike will appreciate his very old-school take on the werewolf mythos – from the town’s name to Charley’s B-movie monster face and claw prosthetics. But this shaggy tale isn’t a straight-up slash-fest: its elegiac dread is as slow-burning as Charley’s social conscience, and it holds space for even the minor characters. Alex Hurt – son of William Hurt, who cameos from beyond the grave as Charley’s dead dad – delivers an anguished, physically abandoned lead performance. Meanwhile, mumblecore king Joe Swanberg and scream queen Barbara Crampton join an ensemble cast of familiar indie faces including Kevin Corrigan, James Le Gros and Marshall Bell.

“The idiosyncratic earnestness of an experienced horrormeister playing with the classics makes for a substantial midnight snack.” – Los Angeles Times