Emilio Estevez, Cuba Gooding Jr., Jeremy Piven and Stephen Dorff star as a group of friends on the run from a gang of drug dealers (led by Denis Leary) after they witness a murder.

With the freeway gridlocked, Ray exits the expressway and cuts through an extremely run-down and destitute residential neighborhood.

A long argument ensues regarding contacting the police, which Ray, who had been driving the RV when it hit Teddy, does not want to happen due to the fact the friends had been drinking during their journey.

Three dangerous men — Sykes, Rhodes and Travis — force their way into the window at the back of the RV and drag Teddy outside.

The resident demands the four friends to leave immediately as their presence in her home is putting her and her baby as well as her roommates lives in grave danger.

The trio then break into a swap meet, hoping to summon the police by setting off the building's alarm and are arrested by two security guards.

The project had been in the works for several years[4] when screenwriter Kevin Jarre had written the first spec script for the movie[5] (under its original title, "Escape") sometime around 1989 or earlier, which was based on a story idea by Richard DiLello[6] and producer Lawrence Gordon, who produced films like Predator (1987) and Die Hard (1988), bought it in January 1990, as one of a few film projects for his production company, Largo Entertainment.

[10] Hopkins further mentioned that when they were filming the scene where Ray (Jeremy Piven) is confronted by Fallon (Denis Leary), a shooting had occurred near the set, and as a result the Army came in and temporarily shut production down.

[24] Leonard Klady of Variety wrote, "The most chilling aspect of the urban thriller Judgment Night is how infinitely superior its craft is to its art.

"[25] Richard Harrington of The Washington Post felt the movie was "regrettably familiar fare" and said, "The filmmakers have made a big deal of a soundtrack that features 11 collaborations between rappers and rockers (...), but their casting consciousness is less adventurous.

"[26] A soundtrack for the film, titled Judgment Night: Music from the Motion Picture (featuring rock and rap collaborations), was released the same year.

In 2005, Intrada released a complete version of Silvestri's orchestral score, containing two rejected tracks that he composed with electronic synthesized elements.