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Black Rain
- Narrated by: Ann Richardson
- Length: 3 hrs and 3 mins
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Black Rain
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Summary
Arlene is running from her old life. While driving a desert road in the middle of nowhere, her car breaks down, forcing her to seek refuge in a small diner. Diner owner Joe strikes a tentative deal with Arlene: in exchange for waitressing one night, he will cover the repairs to her car. On the surface things appear legitimate, but Arlene can't shake the feeling there's something off about Joe and his cliché diner.
What listeners say about Black Rain
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Alan Preece
- 11-08-20
Black Rain... No not THAT one!
Arlene is on the run, travelling across the arid desert landscape en route to... somewhere; anywhere. Anywhere far from the place she was fleeing, but it is miles away from nowhere when her car splutters and dies and puts her on a new course, this time for a small desert diner and a man called Joe.
Joe is as crusty as his surroundings and twice as harsh, but he makes a deal with Arlene; an evening serving in his diner for the money to fix her car and move on. Arlene accepts gratefully, not believing her luck but before the night is over she will see things she would not think possible and as the black rain begins to fall life as she knows it will be over.
Gene Penny writes a short tale narrated ably by Ann Richardson which includes the same Twilight Zone atmosphere present in the previous work I had encountered of his (The Larry Dilemma) but with less effect.
Black Rain builds decently as the evening wears on and strays find their way to the diner, Arlene becomes a silent critic and through her we begin to see the potential flaws in the visitors as well as those who might be searching for their own ways out of dark circumstances.
The story builds well over its first half, the atmosphere steadily drifting from dark comedy to something more sinister; but it was when the black rain of the title presents itself that I began to see issues with the story.
The transition between the eerie first half and the out-and-out blood-splattered second is not a smooth one, and some of the discussion between the group as they watch the black rain fall was strained and draw me out of the story as I saw the necessary plot elements be laid down.
There moments were noticeable for me and all the more jarring because it had been such a smooth ride up until this point.
Quickly the blood began to flow and all thoughts of structure went out of my head as I listened.
The second half ran like a freight train which, in spite of being very enjoyable, seemed oddly out of touch with what came before it as a certain deus ex machina comes into play to push the story to a not entirely unpredictable end. Well, that's not entirely true; it pushes the story to several ends.
Gene Penny is a fine writer with an excellent ability to build a palpable atmosphere with believable characters, and coupled with Ann Richardson's southern drawl and knowing rendition of Arlene's dialogue we have a tale that transcends its issues and becomes a tale still well worth three hours of any horror fans time anyway.
Black Rain isn't as enjoyable as The Larry Dilemma, but it is far more involved and sophisticated in its construction, and though I feel the construction is lacking in places I still enjoyed it and found it to be a good three hours of my time fairly well spent.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Ryan Pascall
- 29-08-20
A short but enjoyable gore-fest.
What begins as an apparent roadtrip to escape a life with a violent boyfriend leaves Arlene broke, broken down and miles from anywhere besides a roadside diner.
Accepting the offer of help to repair her car in exchange for a night's help in the diner, Arlene finds herself fighting for her life when the Black Rain starts to fall. As someone who loves gore in books I was more than satisfied by what I found here and the things that came in the rain and brilliantly realised & described.
My one complaint is that in such a limited environment as this is set, you have to ensure that each of the very limited characters has a real sense of being but they did seem a little generic and forgettable but, given the running-time of about 3 hours all in, this can be forgiven somewhat but if not for a wonderful narration by Ann Richardson (who gives one of my favourite female performances to date) it could be a bigger issue.
In the end though we find ourselves with, what appears initially to be, a short and very straightforward creature feature until the end when it provides a little extra twist at the end.
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