Blow Out (1981)★★★★☆

So I originally watched this last week, because it shows up on a bunch of lists for “best scary movies set on the 4th of July,” but…this movie is NOT set on the 4th of July. Who wears winter coats and hats in July in Philadelphia? No no, this film takes place on and around “Liberty Day”…but given the climax with the big parade with fireworks and Uncle Sam and ALLLLLLL the red, white, and blue throughout the movie, I can definitely see why it’s on a lot of lists. Even if they’re wrong.

Anyway, that “problem” aside, I liked this movie. It’s a Brian De Palma movie, so maybe it’s unsurprising that I found it well made and engaging. The character building is well earned and believable, and I genuinely cared about Sally pretty early on. John Travolta was believable as Jack Terry, and the chemistry between him and Nancy Allen (Sally) was also believable.

There are times when the score is a bit over-the-top, like the music is INSISTING you feel a certain way, but it wasn’t SO over-the-top that it took me out of the film, so I’ll mention it but give it a pass here.

I didn’t feel like there were parts that dragged on, and the reveals kept coming and felt like they fit within the story as a whole. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the performances of both Dennis Franz and John Lithgow, even if I (spoiler alert??) didn’t like either of their characters.

This isn’t truly a “horror” movie by itself, but Jack Terry does sound effects for horror movies, so there’s some meta horror movie stuff throughout, and it’s definitely a thriller with some genuinely tense and scary moments. If you haven’t seen it, I don’t want to spoil the ending, but it was perfect. You could do worse for yourself than watch this one, whether for the 4th of July or just in general.