The Blackout

Set on Christmas Eve a series of power outages and minor earthquakes threaten to ruin everyone’s holidays (more than an alcoholic brother-in-law ever could). When the apartment building's lights go out entirely (ruining everyone’s “good” time) the tenants are forced to put aside their problems to get to the bottom of what is going on.

The Blackout
Meanwhile, deep in the basement of the high-rise, a hideous breed of monster hatches. Due to some questionable parenting decisions, they group have to try to rescue some children and survive the darkness before the monsters destroy the world. Luckily, in LA, people bring their own guns to Christmas parties, so at least they have the firepower to do it.

For an 80-minute film it seemed a lot longer. The bad acting was only made worse by a poor script that makes little sense. The monsters are not great and the science behind their ability to knock out nearly all sources of artificial light unbelievable. This is one of those films where you constantly find yourself yelling at the screen “but WHY!?!”

THE BLACKOUT has few redeeming features. I liked a couple of the characters, I thought the initial set up was all right (but went on a bit long), and some of the deaths made me LOL. However, the action was disappointing and by the end I felt cheated. I am not sure what Director Robert David Sanders will do next, but I am crossing my fingers it is not a sequel.

THE BLACKOUT is available on DVD from 30th August from www.play.com

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