Blackout
Blackout
Blackout
Blackout

Blackout

Unclassified 18+
Dir. Larry Fessenden / 2024 / 104 mins / USA / English / Horror / Australian Premiere
Program Strand/s: Night Shift

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

Tickets

15 Aug 9:45pm ACMI 1
Access: Assistive listening Wheelchair Accessible
Past Session
Blackout (104 m)
Past Session
21 Aug 9:00pm Kino 2
Access: Assistive listening Wheelchair Accessible
Past Session
Blackout (104 m)
Past Session

For information about the accessible services being offered at MIFF, please visit miff.com.au/access. If you require any access service, such as wheelchair/step-free access, for any MIFF session, please call 03 8660 4888 or email boxoffice@miff.com.au to book your ticket.

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