User reviews

Black Rainbow is a low-budget mystery with supernatural overtones, a rare genre that I'm particularly fond of. The sound and the picture quality on the print I saw was not great but was certainly watchable. I really enjoyed the premise: a fake psychic starts actually prophesizing people's deaths -- both the why and how -- which makes her a target for a hit man. Arquette is pretty good in the role -- kind of a mystical and ethereal nymphomaniac and Robards is great as always. The plot meanders a bit and sometimes gets a little slow, but I still enjoyed it. The ending didn't really make a lot of sense to me -- maybe I missed something earlier in the movie -- but I was surprised by this ending and liked it even if though it didn't seem to be supported by the rest of the movie.

"Black Rainbow" is an uncategorizable film: an unusual and ambitious mix of such different genres as metaphysical horror, corruption/conspiracy thriller, family drama, even a backstage look at the way evangelist/medium "shows" are set up. The mix doesn't always work (the ending, for example, is not consistent with some of the previous events), but the movie is still definitely worth seeing. There are at least two or three brilliant scenes (the most notable of which is, arguably, the way Hodges "films" an explosion without actually showing it), and Rosanna Arquette gives an impressive performance. (***)

A traveling medium who "performs" in front of large audiences, Martha Travis relays messages from deceased loved ones to their relatives in attendance. Having pushed her into this way of life, her alcoholic father is more than happy to be making (and blowing) the money her shows bring about. One night, however, Martha receives a message from a man who's wife claims he isn't dead. He soon is though, killed just the way Martha had envisioned. Word spreads, and soon skeptical reporter Gary Wallace is on her trail, as is the hit-man responsible for the killing.

Black Rainbow is a grimy, slow-burning little southern Gothic. Directed by Mike Hodges, the film is equal parts horror yarn, crime thriller and chastising of fake mediums. Before she begins foretelling deaths, we never are clearly sure if Martha's gift is all an act. Whether it is or not, the image she uses to describe her connection to the afterlife, that of a rainbow, is about to become very blackened indeed. Low key and mysterious, the film is laced with atmosphere that, while often dreary, in reality is quite hypnotic.

In a film like this, the characters have to be well-drawn. These are believable, broken people. As Martha, Rosanna Arquette is intensely ethereal. I don't think she's ever looked more stunning, and likewise, I don't think she's ever given a better performance than the one delivered here. She vividly conveys the essence of the character, a woman who turns to sporadic bouts of nymphomania for her only form of gratification. Emotionally worn and hardened by the existence that's been forced on her, Martha lives an empty life giving hope to others while keeping none for herself. Jason Robards plays her father, a louse of a man using his daughter as a cash cow while deriding her every step of the way. Tom Hulce is the cocky reporter, and I recognized the mechanic from The Night Flier as Ted Silas.

At one point in the film, Martha is branded a witch due to one of her predictions. The same woman was more than happy to take part in her showings when they were reassuring, but the moment she foresees something bad, the woman does a 180 and puts her down. Ah, good ol' human nature! This leads to Arquette tearing into her final audience with a speech about the affirmation of their own lives through the afterlife. Terrific stuff.

Hodges peppers his film with many themes, a key one clearly being the human need for assurance. Under his direction, everything comes together beautifully. One scene is a real stunner, as we bear witness to the force of an unseen explosion. I didn't realize what I was seeing at first, but once it became clear, I had to go back and watch the scene again. A lovely example of creativity through subtlety. Really, despite the run down locations, despite the macabre nature of the proceedings, the entire film has an underlying beauty radiating throughout it. It's a delicate balance, but one that's fully achieved.

Wrapping up with an ambiguous ending, the film concludes on a fitting note. This was a great discovery. Never talked about, but utterly satisfying, anyone looking for a real sleeper need look no further. Wonderful film.

That is definitely a well hidden gem that needs more recognition. No idea why it has such a low rating. It surely is better than many much bigger names in the genre.

I found this movie purely on accident while i was looking for Black Rain. But it cought my eye, even as i had low expectations for it. Boy, i was i wrong. It's a B-movie that can challenge many of the "top horror classics".

The movie has decent script. Not overly complex, but not flat and dumb. Leaning more towards typical thriller script. While it's kinda predictable, the movie manages to actually deliver very good suspense that escalates and intensifies towards the end. Which is something i actually see very rarely in the genre (and i've seen almost 1400 horror/thriller movies so far).

Cinematography was good at times even more than that. Acting was to my pure delight - spectacular for such movie. The main actress in particular delivers great sene near the end, with one of the best scream/screeches i've heard in the old horror movies. Easily stealing the scream title from much more popular actresses' performance. Her character is well written, has good arch, and it even has interesting twist that kinda caught me off guard. Nothing mindblowing, but nice touch.

Overall , highly recommended. It exceeded my low expectations , so it's between 6 and 7 in my books.

Mike Hodgers is a reputable British director made great pictures as Get Carter (my favorite ever), Terminal Man, Flash Gordon, A Prayer for the Dying just named a few, according his own words he starts devise a sketch over North Caroline state starting a point concerning a poorest place in America, the large majority people left the fields to works in majors cities letting the smallest cities empty, he focuses in black people heavily exploited by richest white man, they are devoted to Christian faith as foregoing on movie, later Hodgers watching a documentary about a British medium Doris Strokes he brought together on early sketch this metaphysical figure to complete his story, then came up Black Rainbow.

A medium Martha Travis (Rosanna Arquette) managed by his alkie father Walter Travis (Jason Robards) touring every single year on America southeast thru smallest towns where Martha performs at stage upon a crowed place her visions concerning someone on audience, she predicts things that matches with the person pick up from the crowd, it somehow baffled the audience in each accuracy, however one day Martha predicts for a woman that his husband is dead, which the woman denies such thing saying that his husband is at home, puzzling the public, in same night such man is killed by a hitman.

Then enters an agnostic newspaper Gary Wallace (Tom Hulce) delving into the strange happening, he got in touch with Martha to find out the name of the killer dealing with so famous medium that allegedly foresaw the killing scene, although the mastermind sent one more time the same gunman squelch Martha for good, weary and mentally deranged Martha squeeze his father about the saved money in the bank, sadly she discovers that Walter a compulsive gambler lost the money, shuddering the already worn out teaming.

I saw this picture on TV in 1984, a bit disturbing offer about a harsh partnership, actually Walter never believe that Martha has no gift, as her mother as well, in other hand Martha has a lewd behavior, in this poisoned environment unfolding the bleak storyline, the final is too disappointing, utterly running from the metaphysical standard still paved by many years of study and understanding over so stinging subject.

Thanks for reading

Resume:

First watch: 1994 / How many: 3 / Source: TV-DVD / Rating: 7.

The movie begins as a rip-off of Richard Brooks' "Elmer Gantry" (1961)(R. Arquette recalling Jean Simmons),then continues as a " the eyes of Laura Mars" (1978)imitation.Then finally David Cronenberg's "dead zone" serves as an inspiration to the director for the finale.The epilogue,whIch tries to "surprise" the audience has already been used one hundred times or more.

Arquette's character's behavior does not make much sense:now a chaste and sweet saint,now a formidable nymphomaniac who rapes poor Tom Hulce .It's a cock and bull story,and as I've already said,the magpie syndrome is rampant.Best avoid.

Rosanna Arquette is Jason Robards daughter who possesses special powers to for tell future events. This leads to difficulties as she identifies the hit-man who carried out one of her predictions. There is a certain quality to this film that relates to the genuineness of Arquettes performance. Her followers come across as true believers, and what starts as a scam spirals into a very intriguing story. Tom Hulce's performance is no more than adequate, with zero sparks flying between him and the super sexy Arquette. Another negative would have to be Hulce's sometimes on, sometimes off Southern dialect, which detracts. Overall though this is a creative and entertaining film. - MERK

Rosanna Arquette stars as the medium, Martha Travis, who connects with deceased people, and give comfort to their loved ones. Her problems start during a clairvoyant show when she connects with factory worker Tom Kuron on the 'other side' while he is still alive (only to be assassinated shortly thereafter).

She now becomes the target of the killer, a man hired by a a factory owner to kill Tom who was about to expose the factory's malpractice. A reporter, Gary Wallace (Tom Hulce) investigates and becomes close with Martha and her father, Walter (Jason Robards).

Martha then connects with more people 'on the other side', while they are still alive, setting in motion a series of events. 'Black Rainbow' is an interesting story with good performances, and there's also a twist ending. I just don't know if I'm going to remember this movie by its title...

This movie has to be the worst movie I have ever suffered through! The storyline was hopeless, the accent of Hulce's was nothing but a joke and I would not watch this movie again for a million dollars. If this is the only kind of a moive Hulce can make I can see why he has given up acting!

Black Rainbow is like most of Mike Hodges films: Get Carter, Croupier and Terminal Man, very intelligent. It is great performance by

Rosanna Arquette best ever. Also Jason Robards and Tom Hulce are also good.

I doesn't rely on special effects to tell a story. It is more or less dealing with whether or not (Martha Travis) Rosanna Arquette is telling the truth. What I found interesting is how Hodges creates a psychological atmosphere on what would happen if someone with that psychic power tells you somebody close to you is dead. That is more disturbing than any special effect.

It is a shame Black Rainbow didn't get a proper cinema release. According to Mike Hodges on the DVD commentary of Black Rainbow, both the distributors Palace Pictures (UK) & Miramax (USA) were both suffering financially. Palace Pictures only released the in minimum cinemas, because they were on the verge of getting bankrupt. Miramax decided to release it straight to television.

My opinion is this is great film and should get a chance, any interested in this film, its out on DVD on Anchor Bay on Region 2

Starts off well, but never seems to be able to make up its mind about its genre and direction. Is it a drama? A thriller? A supernatural mystery? It has its moments, but it's a bit too sporadic overall, much like Arquette's character's wildly fluctuating personality.

P.S. To Mr. Too Preachy Review down there: she never says that people should stop believing in God and the afterlife to focus on the real world, she simply says that they should stop spending so much of their physical lives worrying about the afterlife. Not the same thing at all. You seem to be the only one pushing a religious agenda here. Cut that out.

I know that I have seen this years ago on VHS and I watched it again as I am writing this and my only conclusion is that it is a typical flick for the end of the eighties.

We all know that the end of the eighties didn't brought us much in the horror genre except a few and this one is a so-called horror that isn't frightening at all. For todays standards it is even a bit lame. There are no effects to spot or any blood at all and that for a horror. Naturally if you don't add blood (like the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)) you must add suspense or eerie situations but we don't have it here.

The horror lays in the fact that a medium do contact dead people who are in fact still alive. Nobody believes her but once the living are dying like she said things go wrong.

There are a lot of famous names here to see but for me it didn't deliver enough suspense like it did back then. For the Kleenex lovers, Rosanne Arquette do show a few things...

Gore 0/5 Nudity 0,5/5 Effects 0/5 Story 3/5 Comedy 0/5

This had the potential to be a good movie -- the basic premise, about a phoney medium who starts to experience real premonitions, was interesting, the actors were excellent, and the gloomy atmosphere of an economically-depressed rural South came through loud and clear -- but it just didn't go anywhere.

The movie came off like more of a soapbox for the writer's leftist, secular humanist views than anything. For example, there's a scene in which the psychic starts telling an auditorium of blue-collar workers that if only they were to stop believing in God and the afterlife, they could start to build a better world here on earth.

The problem with such propositions is that they don't square with reality. The further we've moved from religion, the baser we've become. Unlike the churchgoing villain of this film, real-life Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling was a fan of Richard Dawkins, not of the Bible. Becoming more honest with ourselves and each other by dispensing with our ideals (or, as the writer would probably see it, our hypocrisy) doesn't mean that the world will become a better place. Better a Henry Ford than a Gordon Gekko.

Black Rainbow didn't spend enough time developing its characters to justify the frequently grandiose, overwrought, overly-intellectual dialogue. The story, which with a little more work would've resulted in a first-class supernatural thriller, was given a backseat to the incessant moralizing.

Too bad Lee Ving wasn't cast as the hit man. That role would've fit him like a black glove!

6 out of 10 stars.

Writer/Director Mike Hodges got some Notice with "Get Carter" (1971) and the Cult Movie "Flash Gordon" (1980),

Two Very Different Styles, This One Falls in the Middle with its Outlandish Paranormal Claims and Corporate-Crime Elements.

The Tone of the Movie Struggles with the Combination with the Two Elements Never quite Coalescing into a Coherent Whole.

The Exposition is Weak and Fails to Solidify the Story-Line in any Assemblance of Tracking and Presenting the Picture for Easy Audience Acceptance.

It is an Odd Film with Good Acting from Arquette and Robards but the Montage has Trouble Flowing Coherently and the Film Suffers.

What does Connect is the Credibility of the Major Tropes and its Sincere Display of a Serious and Demonstrably Displayed Benevolent Medium.

She is Now Reluctantly Receiving Messages from the Other Side that are Morphing into Precognitive Prophecies.

She is Not Comfortable Handling the Type and it Disrupts Her Calling as a Calming Messenger for the Bereaved,

It's Best to just let the Movie Play-Out in its Own Universe and just Kick-Back and Enjoy a Decidedly Different "Twilight Zone" Atmosphere.

Definitely Worth a Watch for those that Crave the Unusual.

This is not a film everyone would enjoy. It takes a poke at an old and established con game -- for want of a more precise term, fake mediumship -- and then stands it on its head.

Spoilers follow.

Before an audience in a mining town, Arquette's character tells various audience members of their losses, while the victims are still alive! She's proved to be wrong, and then, later, the persons die in the manner she describes. This happens more than once. Had she been a local lady, she might have been a murder suspect, or possibly hanged as a witch.

The story builds slowly, and each incident just throws another log on the fire, making the atmosphere murkier and more mysterious. The film opens ambiguously and ends the same way.

As noted before, not for every taste. But for those with the appropriate taste buds, the taste of this is rich and flavorful.

I won't waste time repeating all the positive points other reviewers have made about this film.

Rosanna Arquette is absolutely stunning in the lead role. You can see why Martin Scorsese advised her to play the part, she's perfect.

The fact that Arrow have restored this little gem on Blu-Ray is a rare piece of good news in this terrible year of 2020.

Are you? Kidding aside and I have to say the summary line another reviewer used made me chuckle - "too preachy" - which is a nice joke even if not entirely to the point of the movie. Or missing the points of the movie. That doesn't matter though if you can engage in this otherworldly feel the movie gives you and dives into.

Patricia Arquette is quite mesmerizing ... Robard is an amazing actor anyway. But they have certain scene, where some may feel confused. And they are there for a reason. I don't think one time viewing is enough to actually get everything the movie dishes out and serves us. I am sincerely surprised I never had heard about this until a really well restorated Blu Ray was released in the UK. I'm glad they did that, even if the movie may never reach a wide audience. But if you are into movies that are hard to predict (yes the overall outcome is clear from the start, since we then delve into flashback), but there is way more than meets the eye ... or camera lense for that matter! Watch and enjoy ... and maybe even understand! You better believe that ;)

The script is filled with a series of chilling twists which Hodges plays with an absolute and certain confidence - the eeriness as Arquette's first vision starts to come, and her agitation and attempts to cover as what she is performing turns to real; the second vision where she reels off a list of names of the dead trying to contact the living and said people still alive in the audience start standing up puzzled. Hodges' depiction of a seedy con-job slowly becoming darker is beautifully written. The imagery as Arquette's vistas of heavenly meadows and tranquil afterlife cliches start to change into impressions of cancers, empty lives and of people suffering is a stunning and powerful one. The final soliloquy Arquette gives, coming out to taunt the audience - how they want there to be an afterlife so they can confirm their own lives, how if there wasn't an afterlife and what they had was all that they were given, then wouldn't that make her a fake ? - is superbly written and utterly rivetting in delivery. Arquette's performance in the film is exceptional.

Little bit boring, not much of a horror show, but worth watching for Rosanna Arquette. She is wonderful in this picture.