Blackout trailer: Larry Fessenden werewolf movie is heading to one theatre and VOD

Dark Sky Films will be giving Blackout, the latest genre film from writer/director Larry Fessenden, a one week theatrical release at the IFC Center in New York City beginning on March 13th, and that theatrical engagement will feature special cast appearances and a Q&A. The film will then be receiving a nationwide release on digital platforms and VOD as of April 12th. In anticipation of those release dates, a trailer for Blackout has been unveiled, and you can check it out in the embed above.

Blackout has the following synopsis: Painter Charley 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, and settling his affairs with a manic urgency that culminates with a call to a friend, Earl, 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.

Alex Hurt (Minyan) plays Charley and is joined in the cast by Addison Timlin (Like Me), Motell Gyn Foster (Marriage Story), Joseph Castillo-Midyett (Death Saved My Life), Ella Rae Peck (Crumb Catcher), Rigo Garay (Crumb Catcher), John Speredakos (I Sell The Dead), Michael Buscemi (Habit), Jeremy Holm (The Ranger), Joe Swanberg (You’re Next), Barbara Crampton (Jakob’s Wife), James Le Gros (The Last Winter), and Marshall Bell (Total Recall).

Fessenden produced Blackout through his company Glass Eye Pix, along with James Felix McKenney and Chris Ingvordsen. Gaby Leyner was co-producer.

A press release notes that “Blackout was shot at local shops and locations in New York’s Hudson Valley and serves as a portrait of the area including Woodstock, Olivebridge, Andes, and Kingston. Many local merchants generously supported the independent production. Fessenden explained, ‘My approach was to blend a naturalistic docu-style with the mythological tropes of the werewolf story, an ongoing interest to blend realism with stylization, and to fuse themes of contemporary society with classic monster movie clichés.‘”

Brian Spears and Peter Gerner, who previously created the version of Frankenstein’s monster that was featured in Fessenden’s Depraved, handled the special effects. Since he made a Frankenstein movie and a vampire movie (Habit) before digging into the werewolf myth, Fessenden jokingly said, “Yes, I’m competing with Marvel and Blumhouse to create my own Monsterverse, but at a very different price-point.“

Are you a fan of Larry Fessenden’s work? What did you think of the Blackout trailer? Let us know by leaving a comment below.