Black Rainbow is a 1989

1989 in film

-Events:* Batman is released on June 23, and goes on to gross over $410 million worldwide.* Actress Kim Basinger and her brother Mick purchase Braselton, Georgia, for $20 million...

 supernatural thriller film directed by Mike Hodges

Mike Hodges

Mike Hodges is an English screenwriter, film director, playwright and novelist. His films as writer/director include Get Carter, Pulp, The Terminal Man and Black Rainbow; as director his films include Flash Gordon, Croupier and I'll Sleep When I'm Dead...

 and filmed in Rock Hill, South Carolina

Rock Hill, South Carolina

Rock Hill is the largest city in York County, South Carolina and the fourth-largest city in the state. It is also the third-largest city of the Charlotte metropolitan area, behind Charlotte and Concord, North Carolina. The population was 71,459 as of . Rock Hill has undergone rapid growth between...

.

Plot

Rosanna Arquette

Rosanna Arquette

Rosanna Lauren Arquette is an American actress, film director, and producer.-Early life:Arquette was born in New York City, the daughter of Brenda Olivia "Mardi" , an actress, poet, theater operator, activist, acting teacher, and therapist, and Lewis Arquette, an actor and director. Her paternal...

 stars as Martha Travis, a medium

Mediumship

Mediumship is described as a form of communication with spirits. It is a practice in religious beliefs such as Spiritualism, Spiritism, Espiritismo, Candomblé, Voodoo and Umbanda.- Concept :...

 who helps members of her audience
make contact with deceased relatives. Things take a turn for the worse when she
foretells the violent death of Mary Kuron's (Linda Pierce) husband Tom (Olek Krupa

Olek Krupa

Aleksander Krupa , often credited as Olek Krupa, is a Polish actor best known for playing villains and/or criminals, such as in Blue Streak and Home Alone 3...

).
The situation grows increasingly volatile and soon Martha finds herself predicting
the death of her father, Walter (Jason Robards

Jason Robards

Jason Nelson Robards, Jr. was an American actor on stage, and in film and television, and a winner of the Tony Award , two Academy Awards and the Emmy Award...

).

Reception

Black Rainbow was critically acclaimed by the critic but did not get the release it deserved in both the UK and US release. At the time both production companies that distributed film Palace Films in the United Kingdom and Miramax for the USA were suffering financially so the film only had a token release.

Variety said Black Rainbow was Mike Hodges best film since Get Carter

Get Carter

Get Carter is a 1971 British crime film directed by Mike Hodges and starring Michael Caine as Jack Carter, a gangster who sets out to avenge the death of his brother in a series of unrelenting and brutal killings played out against the grim background of derelict urban housing in the city of...

.

Release

The film was originally picked up by Miramax for a theatrical release that never came to be. The film was shown at theaters overseas as well as shown at various film festivals. The film was finally released on videocassette on 9 January 1992 by Media Home Entertainment and 20th Century Fox. In 2005, Trinity Home Entertainment released the film on DVD, but in full screen and without any bonus material.

In the UK, Anchor Bay released the film in widescreen and also with a Mike Hodges commentary and snippets of the making of Black Rainbow with the cast and crew.