Fade In: To Murder

In filmmaker Declan Smith’s Fade In: To Murder, film festival organiser Martin Hughes (Dobson) is found murdered in the middle of his own festival. Luckily, method actor Grace Goodman (Banton) is on hand to step in and help solve the crime.

It might not have all the twists, turns and turbulence of an Agatha Christie classic, but with a company of colourful characters, a unique setting and of course, a murder, Fade In: To Murder is a fun poke at the murder mystery genre that still has quite a bit going for it.

Fade In: To Murder is much less a whodunnit, but more a whydunnit. The who, the when and the how are all revealed very early on, and in some ways flipping the whole thing on its head still carves an interesting path for the film to follow, letting us know its secrets beforehand and inviting us to stick around and see how it will all play out. Choosing to set such a high-stakes scenario within something as mundane as a low-key film festival also grants the film a kind of hilarious absurdity which allows one to warm to this film rather easily.

But even so, seeing the crime play out in full within the opening few minutes somewhat hobbles the film in realising its full potential for suspense and shocks, not to mention slightly wasting the film's interesting and varied cast of characters that could have made up quite an entertaining gallery of potential suspects for Grace to interrogate.

So instead, the majority of the film is set in the aftermath, mostly playing out Grace’s very own “just one more thing” dénouement, which oddly despite its limited revelations, actually comes together fairly well. Banton laps up their Columbo moment with relish, leaning into the dramatic and ridiculous that culminates any good murder mystery. Others such as main suspect William (Crudginton) wear the guilt-soaked desperation well and as motives become clearer, that is where the film, and Banton in particular, hit their stride.

As well as including the aforementioned staples of any good whodunnit, the film also boasts a snappy pace and score that puts you right into that lovely whodunnit mindset, ready for a mystery to be unravelled. And while it might not be the most suspenseful crime fiction, Fade In: To Murder has indubitable quality in technical filmmaking feeling slick and zippy throughout, making it just a really fun watch.