A retired policeman is obsessed with an unsolved murder case in which a man brutally murdered his wife and kids, then disappeared. He thinks he has found the culprit but proving it is not straight forward.
I can remember seeing Blackout on the shelf in my VHS rental shop back in the 1980's, the image of a man wearing a black leather mask and brandishing a sharp blade on the cover gave me the impression that it was a nasty looking, sleazy horror flick. Blackout certainly is part horror movie - the carnage of the opening scene could easily be from any number of slasher movie, and there are some good, tense scenes later on. But it is also very much a police/mystery thriller, and it combines these genres very well. Richard Widmark as the detective is the driving force but credit to the whole cast, it is very well acting. My VHS cover proclaims "Taut...Tense...Terrifying..." and although this is no psycho thriller classic it is a good, solid movie, made for TV but you wouldn't really know it.
Recommended.
Review of Blackout: L'obsession d'un flic
