It is one of two well-known works by director Richard Rush, the other being The Stunt Man 14 years before. As a measure of the difference between the two, The Stunt Man had three Academy Award nominations, whereas this film received a 1994 Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Picture.

To its credit, Color of Night did win a Golden Globe nomination in the category Best Original Song — Motion Picture for its theme song "The Color of the Night," performed by Lauren Christy.

It flopped at the box office but did well in the home video market, becoming a top-five renter.

Maxim magazine singled it out as having the Best Sex Scenes in film history.

Bill Capa is a New York City psychoanalyst who becomes disturbed himself when a patient holds him at gunpoint before committing suicide by jumping from his high-rise building's office window. The sight of the bloody body of his patient clad in a bright green dress causes Capa to suffer from psychosomatic color blindness.

To restart his life, Capa travels to Los Angeles to stay with a friend, fellow therapist and best-selling author Dr. Bob Moore, who invites him to sit in on a group patient session. But one night Moore is violently murdered in the office and Capa is plunged into the mystery of his friend's death.

Moore would gather his patients every Monday for a discussion of their problems and police detective Lt. Hector Martinez considers them, and Capa, suspects in the murder.

Capa continues to live in Moore's house and begins a torrid affair with Rose, a mysterious girl who comes and goes without warning into his life. As relationships develop, Capa takes over Moore's patients and learns of their pasts and obsessions:

Soon, one of these patients is violently murdered and Capa himself becomes the target of several attempts on his life. He also discovers that all but one of his patients has been romantically involved with the exotic Rose.

This leads to a twist ending: "Richie" is really Rose, and the murders have been committed by her deranged brother Dale. They actually had a brother called Richie who was sexually molested by a child psychiatrist named Niedelmeyer. Richie committed suicide and, unable to come to terms with the fact that he failed to protect him, Dale forced Rose to play the part of their brother. Over time, she actually became "Richie" but when she was forced into therapy as a result of being arrested for drug possession, Rose started to re-emerge and, under other identities, started relationships with other members of the group. Dale proceeded to kill them, fearing that they would soon link Rose to "Richie".