Black Moon Rising

• Fun Facts

Also Known As

• Black Moon (Finland, Germany)
• Black Moon Rising (Denmark, USA)
• Black Rider (Japan) (English title)
• Fantasztikus prototípus (Hungary)
• Grande Assalto (Portugal)
• Il giorno della luna nera (Italy)
• Izlazak crnog meseca (Serbia)
• Luna neagra (Romania)
• Luna negra (Spain)
• O Erro Fatal (Brazil)
• O kinoumenos keravnos (Greece)
• Sans issue (France)
• Sasfészek (Hungary)
• Væk på 10 sekunder (Denmark)
• Wschód czarnego ksiezyca (Poland)

Main Details

• Released in 1986
• Color
• Running Time: 100 Min.
• Production Co: New World Pictures | Sequoia Productions
• Distribution Co: New World Pictures (1986) (USA) (theatrical) | Herald Film Company (1986) (Japan) (theatrical)

Cast and Crew

• Directed by Harley Cokeliss
• Written by John Carpenter, William Gray, Desmond Nakano
• Starring Tommy Lee Jones, Linda Hamilton, Robert Vaughn, Richard Jaeckel, Lee Ving, Bubba Smith, Dan Shor, William Sanderson, Keenan Wynn, Nick Cassavetes
• Produced by John Carpenter, Douglas Curtis, Joel B. Michaels
• Original Music by Lalo Schifrin
• Cinematography by Misha Suslov
• Film Editing by Todd C. Ramsay

Film Review

Usually, the common method in most Exploitation Films is to exploit something in the film. In this film's case, it's not the car chases, it's not the actors and it's not the action scenes, it's John Carpenter's name! If you've seen the trailer for this film, you'll hear that Black Moon Rising is "from the mind of John Carpenter". The problem is I've heard that he wasn't involved in making this film. He gave them the title and sent in the script, but it was rejected so the only contribution to this film is the title.

Quint (Tommy Lee Jones) a former CIA agent is hired by the US government to steal a cassette tape and give it to them in the next few days. Unfortunately, Ringer, his opponent, tries to steal this tape too so Quint decides to hide the cassette in the back of the "Black Moon", a prototype car that runs on hydrogen. Later, Nina (Linda Hamilton) steals this car to deliver to a billionaire named Ryland so Quint must find it and the tape as soon as possible.

The plot is good but there are a few logical problems here. The one that I love is the fact that Quint becomes friends with Nina by the 007 method (talking and having sex). Then they trust each other just because of those two activities. Anyway, Tommy Lee Jones and Linda Hamilton's acting is pretty good and quite memorable.

Other details that stand out in this film are the soundtrack and the car. The music is by Lalo Schifrin who created the scores for Mission: Impossible, Dirty Harry and Enter The Dragon. It's not as classic as those but it's still catchy and captures the feelings of the 80's. And what about the car? Well, just look at it. I'm sure that no other era could make a car like this. It's the most 80's car that you could imagine.

Overall, this film has no (or a little) John Carpenter signature at all but it's very entertaining and people who grew up in the 80's are gonna love the atmosphere for sure. Recommended.

Reviewed by Nuttawaut Permpithak - 6/7/13