Black Rainbow (1989) coming from Arrow

[DR Herbert West]

mike hodges (flash gordon, get carter) wrote and directed this supernatural chiller as a meditation on the human race’s ability to destroy the world, a gothic tale of suspense and the occult, guaranteed to send shivers down your spine.

Martha travis (rosanna arquette, pulp fiction, crash) is a travelling clairvoyant on the road with her skeptic father (jason robards, once upon a time in the west, magnolia). During a séance martha communicates a message from a dead man to his wife in the audience. Shocked the wife insists her husband is still alive. Later that evening the husband is killed by a ruthless assassin. As martha foresees more and more tragic events journalist gary wallace (tom hulce, amadeus, animal house) follows the pair in pursuit of a hot story… with catastrophically eerie results.

Sent direct-to-video by its struggling distributor on initial release, black rainbow unfairly never got the exposure it deserved, newly restored from the original negative audiences can now discover the darkness at the end of the rainbow, as never before.

Director-approved special edition contents:

Brand new restoration from the original negative approved by writer-director mike hodges
original stereo 2.0 pcm uncompressed audio and 5.1 dts-hd master audio surround sound options
optional english subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
new audio commentary by film historians kat ellinger and samm deighan
archival audio commentary by mike hodges
message in a bottle: Archival ‘making of’ documentary
archival interviews with jason robards, tom hulce, rosanna arquette
archival featurettes ‘8 minutes’; ‘disasters’; ‘seeing the future’; ‘behind the rainbow’ featuring interviews with hodges, arquette, robards, producer john quested including behind-the-scenes imagery
trailer
reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by nathanael marsh
first pressing only: Booklet featuring new writing on the film by author alexandra heller-nicholas, mike hodges and more illustrated with stills

[DR Herbert West]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3x3QGzrnMG8

[Latheofheaven]

[Latheofheaven]

Did I just post that...?

[DR Herbert West]

Originally Posted by Latheofheaven

[Show spoiler]

[Aclea]

Black Rainbow is a good little sleeper that suffered from the Curse of Mike Hodges (the only filmmaker who rivals Terry Gilliam for bad luck) with a horribly botched release:



"We steal when we touch tomorrow."

Saying that Black Rainbow is one of its director's best films doesn't sound much of a compliment when you're talking about a man whose résumé includes Morons From Outer Space even if it is true. Mike Hodges' reputation these days rests solely on a gangster movie he made 49 years ago, and the fact that his subsequent efforts have either been too clinical to work (The Terminal Man), too flawed to completely satisfy (Pulp), outright awful (A Prayer for the Dying) or saw him fired early in production (Damien: Omen II) has done little to deter labelling him as a one-hit wonder. True to his run of luck, this neat little supernatural thriller was barely released, going straight to cable in the US and getting caught up in a distribution scandal in the UK, where Palace tried to get copies into video stores (selling it as virtual soft porn, believe it or not!) before the film even opened theatrically.

It's that old chestnut, the medium who sees too much - in this case getting messages from dead people who haven't died yet - and puts her life in danger, but it's rarely been done this well. Starting off as a sort of Emily Gantry as written by Eugene O'Neill (with Jason Robards playing another of his drunken pater familiases), it offers Rosanna Arquette her best role, and she certainly rises to the challenge. The premonition scenes carry a real frisson, there are neat humanising touches (the hitman for once has a family life and can't get a decent seat on an airplane) and Hodges' dialogue is surprisingly good. But what really carries it is the characterization: these are all believably damaged people clinging onto any tenuous hope they can find, be it religion or the bottle, to prevent taking a good look at themselves - as one bereaved character puts it, "Maybe if we weren't so bothered about the hereafter we'd pay more attention to the here and now."

The Curse of Hodges struck again with Anchor Bay's R2 DVD, which has a good collection of extras but a poor transfer with lots of ghosting and poor detail in long shots (the previous UK video and laserdisc issues from Tartan and Encore were much better). Arrow's talk of a proper transfer is encouraging, but with Hodges luck...

Oh, and...

[Show spoiler]

Originally Posted by Latheofheaven

.

[MassiveMovieBuff]

I'll be blind buying this for the ultra sexy, criminally underrated Rosanna Arquette.

[Latheofheaven]

Originally Posted by DR Herbert West

[Latheofheaven]

Originally Posted by MassiveMovieBuff

I'll be blind buying this for the ultra sexy, criminally underrated Rosanna Arquette.

You don't hafta tell me twice...

[DukeTogo84]

Watched this yesterday and overall, I liked it, but really didn't understand the ending.

Was

[Show spoiler]she a ghost the whole time? Why did she look like an old woman at the start, but then her house turned out to be a place that hadn't been lived in for over a decade. What's going on?

[Member-222782]

I can't tell if this is something I'll enjoy but it seems to be the kind of film that has good replay value.

[DR Herbert West]

Remastered trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDTZzT7ptEA

[Latheofheaven]

Wow, what an odd movie...

I honestly kind of think our dear Mr. Hodges was perhaps doing just a tad too much



...while filming.

Really odd vibe. And, the pacing struck me as very strange. And, to me anyway a lot of the dialog and interaction between characters was just plain weird, and not really in a cool David Lynch kinda way. It's like he was just pushing right up to the edge of campy and maybe touched the line a few times.

I think the overall idea was good. The actors clearly are good. I particularly liked the killer, I thought showing a tiny bit of his family life and just the way he came across was most believable.

It had me pretty well until about half way through... I honestly felt that the dialog and the crowd interactions during the 'Medium' sequences were truly cringe-worthy. I don't know... I seem to remember Mike Hodges doing some pretty damn good films, but with this one, I really just got the impression that he was either kind of out of it, or lost interest about halfway through, or I don't know...

I think that if he had done it with more true dark atmosphere instead of just like a straight police/journalist Drama it would have fit the tone of the story better, playing up the Supernatural elements of the story more strongly. And, if the dialog and direction of such were more realistic with more depth and less 2 dimensional, something that really involved us more emotionally, then I feel it would have all worked a lot better.

I don't know... maybe I was just expecting too much of this film...

[DR Herbert West]

Still have to watch my copy. Hoping for the best.

[MassiveMovieBuff]

Originally Posted by Latheofheaven

Wow, what an odd movie...

I honestly kind of think our dear Mr. Hodges was perhaps doing just a tad too much



...while filming.

Really odd vibe. And, the pacing struck me as very strange. And, to me anyway a lot of the dialog and interaction between characters was just plain weird, and not really in a cool David Lynch kinda way. It's like he was just pushing right up to the edge of campy and maybe touched the line a few times.

I think the overall idea was good. The actors clearly are good. I particularly liked the killer, I thought showing a tiny bit of his family life and just the way he came across was most believable.

It had me pretty well until about half way through... I honestly felt that the dialog and the crowd interactions during the 'Medium' sequences were truly cringe-worthy. I don't know... I seem to remember Mike Hodges doing some pretty damn good films, but with this one, I really just got the impression that he was either kind of out of it, or lost interest about halfway through, or I don't know...

I think that if he had done it with more true dark atmosphere instead of just like a straight police/journalist Drama it would have fit the tone of the story better, playing up the Supernatural elements of the story more strongly. And, if the dialog and direction of such were more realistic with more depth and less 2 dimensional, something that really involved us more emotionally, then I feel it would have all worked a lot better.

I don't know... maybe I was just expecting too much of this film...

Yeah I watched my copy today and I didn't know what to make of it either. Definitely original. Not sure if I really liked it though unfortunately. Just really weird like you said but not in a good way. I would not categorize this as a horror film. No clue what I would categorize it as really. If it had more of a horror vibe and tone I might have liked it better. Maybe it was expectations but I'm not sure if a second viewing will help me like it more.

This is one of the most beautiful blu ray transfers I've seen though excluding a handful of shots that are oddly blurry. Not sure if that's source related.

[Latheofheaven]

Originally Posted by MassiveMovieBuff

Yeah I watched my copy today and I didn't know what to make of it either. Definitely original. Not sure if I really liked it though unfortunately. Just really weird like you said but not in a good way. I would not categorize this as a horror film. No clue what I would categorize it as really. If it had more of a horror vibe and tone I might have liked it better. Maybe it was expectations but I'm not sure if a second viewing will help me like it more.

This is one of the most beautiful blu ray transfers I've seen though excluding a handful of shots that are oddly blurry. Not sure if that's source related.

I think you kind of nailed it there. Basically, a lack of focus I would say. Good idea and a shame, too, because I think it COULD have been a really kickButt Supernatural and/or Horror thriller. And, in my lowly and wretched opinion, I really didn't think the dialog was done very well. But yeah, I think mainly simply a lack of focus and a lack of a more directed, specific tone, something that the audience can kind of grab on to (and I DON'T mean our dear Ms Arquette or any other subsequent 'grabbing'...) Which IS indeed the responsibility of the director and thus my comments about wondering where the heck he was coming from at that moment...

[Latheofheaven]

It would be interesting to hear from our dear Dr. West and his impressions of the film. That is, if he can find the time to pull his arms out of the bowels of whatever corpses he currently is engaged with...

...and, when I say 'engaged' I mean it. I think he actually bought a ring for the last one (I won't tell you where he put it...)

[MassiveMovieBuff]

Originally Posted by Latheofheaven

I think you kind of nailed it there. Basically, a lack of focus I would say. Good idea and a shame, too, because I think it COULD have been a really kickButt Supernatural and/or Horror thriller. And, in my lowly and wretched opinion, I really didn't think the dialog was done very well. But yeah, I think mainly simply a lack of focus and a lack of a more directed, specific tone, something that the audience can kind of grab on to (and I DON'T mean our dear Ms Arquette or any other subsequent 'grabbing'...) Which IS indeed the responsibility of the director and thus my comments about wondering where the heck he was coming from at that moment...

Yeah exactly. Quite a few headscratching moments in this film especially the ending. I'm lost. I hate to say it but I can see why this film couldn't get a proper release.

[DR Herbert West]

Originally Posted by MassiveMovieBuff

This is one of the most beautiful blu ray transfers I've seen though excluding a handful of shots that are oddly blurry.

^ This.

Originally Posted by Latheofheaven

It would be interesting to hear from our dear Dr. West and his impressions of the film. That is, if he can find the time to pull his arms out of the bowels of whatever corpses he currently is engaged with...

...and, when I say 'engaged' I mean it. I think he actually bought a ring for the last one (I won't tell you where he put it...)

You make me sound like some sort of weirdo. It was a very normal wedding.







As for the film, I thought it was... just okay. Definitely agree that it lacks focus, and the acting can be a little stiff. I did like the mood/atmosphere of it.

I don't know, it might grow on me. Still need to go through the extras.

[Latheofheaven]

Originally Posted by DR Herbert West

^ This.



You make me sound like some sort of weirdo. It was a very normal wedding.







As for the film, I thought it was... just okay. Definitely agree that it lacks focus, and the acting can be a little stiff. I did like the mood/atmosphere of it.

I don't know, it might grow on me. Still need to go through the extras.

... I'm almost afraid to ask...

... any pictures of the Honeymoon...?