Now before you go thinking this could be a movie about werewolves, let me start by saying that even though it’s derived from a story by horror master John Carpenter (Halloween, The Thing), Black Moon Rising takes place more in the real world…or I should say, tries to.  The title of the film refers to a high-tech prototype car that is faster than anything else on the planet.  One night the car is stolen from it’s creators by a seasoned thief (The Terminator’s Linda Hamilton) who works for a powerful corporation headed by a shrewd mogul (Superman III’s Robert Vaughan).  Unbeknownst to them, some secret files have been stashed in the vehicle by another master thief (The Fugitive’s Tommy Lee Jones) who is now looking to get them back by any means necessary.

Sounds like a hammy set-up right?  Well it is.  As a film, Black Moon Rising feels like two separate stories that have reluctantly been glued together to try and make a fluent film.  Is the movie about the car?  Or the stolen plans?  Is the villain Robert Vaughan?  Or is it the thug enforcer tracking Tommy Lee Jones?  Hard to say on all accounts, the film is somewhat of a mess.  The movie is shot like Escape From New York, but comes off like a bad Knight Rider episode.  Although Jones gives an interesting performance, his chemistry with Linda Hamilton is fairly weak and it’s hard to buy them as love interests to each other.  Robert Vaughan essentially recycles his performance for Superman III, but his presence actually gives the movie some electricity.  Events also take place that require a fair-stretch of logic, including the car itself, and yet every fight scene is executed with gritty realism.  So you can see what a mixed bag Black Moon Rising is.

The DVD edition doesn’t do much to help make things any better.  The film is over twenty-years old, and it still appears that way on a digital disc.  The image is highly grainy, and there are several instances where the print color sporadically changes enough to make it noticeable.  The 5.1 mix is only effective in one particular sequence when the car is introduced racing through the desert, you can hear it going from one speaker to another.  Otherwise the track is no different than a regular 2.0 surround (which is also an option).  The only special features on the disc are two cheesy trailers for the film, and their quality feels like they could be presented in a grindhouse experience.

Easily a film that should be avoided, Black Moon Rising is viewable, but it has no worth that makes it a recommendation on DVD.  Unless John Carpenter was willing to do the directing duties himself (which obviously, he did not), the film should have never seen the light of day on any screen.  Clearly, there wasn’t enough discipline to know what a terrible result it would ultimately make.

Review By Ryan Young