Guest contributor Blaster of Reality is back with another review:
Beyond the Black Rainbow is a 2010 sci-horror flick directed by Panos Cosmatos (son of George, who directed '80's Stallone action vehicles Rambo II: First Blood and Cobra among others). Beyond the Black Rainbow has been touted as a homage to '80's sci-fi drive-through/B-flicks, but it functions as so much more both stylistically and content-wise and spans many more decades of cinematic influence while still retaining that essential 1980's retro feel to it. Beyond the Black Rainbow contains the sterile cleanliness of THX 1138 and 2001: A Space Odyssey, the mutant powers of Scanners and Firestarter (
The film begins in (a little contrivedly perhaps?) 1983. Elena (Eva Allen), a telekinetic 17 year-old, is being kept prisoner by the sinister and deranged Dr. Barry Nyles (Michael Rogers) in a sterile, largely empty research facility called the Arboria Institute, where she is kept in a small, square cell with only a television as company. The Arboria Institiute was founded by Eva's father Dr. Mercurio Arboria, who though still alive, remains senile and medicated somewhere on the grounds of the facility. Dr. Nyles torments Eva with a daily series of interrogations and oppressive physical and mental manipulations, which seem designed to break her will and enslave her under the guise of studying her psychic abilities. In addition to this unpleasantness, Dr. Nyles also harbors a creepy sexual obsession with Eva. Eva's only responses are to lash out telekinetically at Dr. Nyles and to demand to see her father. Dr. Nyles has the ability to dampen Eva's psychic abilities with the use of a mysterious glowing triangle that is also located somewhere in the facility.
After being pushed too far one day (killing a staff member who has "cannon fodder" written all over her in the process), Eva escapes from the facility. But not before she receives a visit in the middle of the night by a mysterious, red leather-clad humanoid called the Sentionaut (whose exact origin and purpose is unclear), and encounters an albino mutant in heavy restraints, who is only a shadow of their former human self. Eva's escape naturally makes Dr. Nyle apoplectic with rage.
In a cool, washed-out black and white flashback sequence, it is revealed that Dr. Arboria, Dr. Nyles, and Dr. Arboria's wife were all colleagues in the '60's, researching and exploring consciousness and it's potential for expansion and ultimate fulfillment. Dr. Nyles agrees to volunteer to immerse himself in a pychotropic "dark matter" to try to unlock the secrets of human consciousness. The tableaux that the already-unstable Dr. Nyles witnesses while submerged in the "dark matter" pushes him in to full-blown psychosis and upon re-emerging from the "dark matter" he brutally murders Dr. Arboria's wife. Not long after that Eva (who is still a baby) is immersed in the selfsame "dark matter" by Dr. Arboria and Dr. Nyles, and it is hinted that this experience is what gives her her psychic abilities.
Back to 1983: Dr. Nyles is in full rampage mode, and has donned a leather battle suit of sorts and is searching for Eva in the area around the facility (or at least that's my impression), but not before he kills Dr. Arboria with a lethal injection. In the course of his rampage, he encounters 2 young dudes who are partying while listening to Venom on a boom box (hey at least it wasn't Motley Crue) and kills both of them. Not long after that, he finally comes face to face with Eva, where he either slips or is pushed telekinetically by Eva, hitting his head on a rock and killing him. And like that, the story is over. Eva wanders toward a lit building in the night, and nothing else is known of her fate.
Beyond the Black Rainbow, while being a piece influenced by decades of cinema, also reminds one of fairy tales of old, where the princess is being kept prisoner by an evil (insert the title of your choice here) in a (insert structure of your choice). It is minimalist in both sets and in dialogue (a further similarity with 2001:… there are long stretches of silence littered throughout the film). Its cinematography and imagery are interesting and visually arresting. It is full utilitarian whites, grays, and blacks, symmetrically contrasted by rich reds, purples, and magentas. Squares, triangles and other geometric shapes serve as symbolism for rigid control. It wants to be a film from 1983 that was never shot, and is almost like a dream of such a film. Some writers have said is a thinly-veiled commentary of the Baby Boomers and New Age ideas, but to be honest, it is best to simply suspend disbelief and enjoy the film at face value. Otherwise, you might be infuriated by the plot holes that riddle …Black Rainbow like so many holes in Swiss cheese: who was the Sentionaut? Was he someone known to the facility? How did Dr. Arboria not know of Dr. Nyles's murder of his wife (among other wrongdoings)? How long has Dr. Nyles had control over Eva? How did the glowing triangle affect Eva's powers? But whatever you do, remain open-minded about it's ostensible links to the '80's and view it as a standalone piece. That way, you can ignore the earnest attempts to model it after an '80's movie and enjoy it more for its own merits.…Black Rainbow is itself like a drug-induced trip, as self-contained and hard to grasp as a dream of a movie. Ultimately, it is entertaining and engaging, and like a Rorschach test can be as cerebral as you like it, or as popcorn-driven fluff as you like it. Either way, you, the viewer wins.
Readers may also be interested in another take on the film. Here is a link to Robert Beveridge's critique of Beyond the Black Rainbow: http://vareverta.wordpress.com/?s=Beyond+the+Black+rainbow. Readers may remember Robert Beveridge from my interview with him last July.
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