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Movie
Poster for Blow Out

Blow Out

1981 · 108 min

A paranoid, slow-burning thriller that tightens like a wire, blending technical obsession with a fatalistic, melancholic romance.

Tagline
Murder has a sound all of its own.
Overview
While recording sound effects for a slasher flick, Jack Terry stumbles upon a real-life horror: a car careening off a bridge and into a river. Jack jumps into the water and fishes out Sally from the car, but the other passenger is already dead — a governor intending to run for president. As Jack does some investigating of his tapes, and starts a perilous romance with Sally, he enters a tangled web of conspiracy that might leave him dead.

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Stream in the UK
  • MUBI
  • MGM Plus Amazon Channel
More options Data from JustWatch
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How it feels

Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Tone
  • tensestrength 3 of 3
  • darkstrength 2 of 3
  • melancholicstrength 2 of 3
  • cynicalstrength 1 of 3
Pacing
slow-burn, 1 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention
engaged, 3 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes
  • conspiracy
  • obsession
  • guilt
  • isolation
  • corruption
Places
  • big city
Era
contemporary
Audience
adult
Form
  • twist ending
  • nonlinear
Content intensity
  • Gore mild
  • Language mild
  • Violence strong
  • Sex mild
All scales, 0 to 10
Scales, 0 to 10
ScaleValue0 to 10
Action6
Horror5
Humour2
Realism7
Romance4
Tension8
Darkness8
Complexity7
Emotional weight8

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Where to watch in the UK

Stream
  • MUBI
  • MGM Plus Amazon Channel
Free
  • Tubi TV
Rent or buy
  • Apple TV Store
  • Amazon Video
  • Sky Store
  • YouTube

Streaming data from JustWatch.All options on TMDB

Details

Genres
crime, mystery, thriller
Directed by
Brian De Palma
Written by
Brian De Palma, Bill Mesce Jr.
Starring
John Travolta, Nancy Allen, John Lithgow, Dennis Franz, Peter Boyden, John Aquino, John McMartin, Deborah Everton
Music
Pino Donaggio
Cinematography
Vilmos Zsigmond
Runtime
108 min
Country
United States of America
Languages
English

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