The article revisits *Color of Night*, a 1994 erotic thriller that Roger Ebert famously condemned after its release, saying he was “stupefied” by how implausible and melodramatic it was. It argues that the film became a notable example of the era’s overheated, sexually charged Hollywood thrillers, and that Ebert’s response helped cement its reputation as a notorious critical failure. The piece matters mainly as a look back at how one badly received film still survives in popular memory because of its excesses and the strength of the backlash against it.

The film starred Bruce Willis and Jane March and mixed murder mystery, psychotherapy and explicit erotic material in a story many critics found ridiculous. It performed poorly in the US relative to its reported $40 million budget, grossing about $46.7 million worldwide, and it received nine Razzie nominations, winning Worst Picture. Despite that reception, it later developed a degree of cult interest, with some viewers remembering it less as a quality thriller than as an extravagant, so-bad-it’s-fascinating relic of 1990s studio cinema.