Black Rainbow

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 ;)

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.

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.

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.

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.