31 (or so) Days of Terror: Beyond the Black Rainbow

Science Fiction and Horror have always made good bedfellows. With Science Fiction's focus on speculation of possibilities, it pairs very nicely with Horror's need to prey on our fears. After all, fear is predicated on the unknown and what's more unknown then the future? Combined with humanity's natural aversion to change, science and technology provide fertile material to terrify audiences. Such is the idea behind the 2010 Canadian film Beyond the Black Rainbow.

Elena has lived all her life in the Arboria Institute, trapped as a test subject for her psychic powers. Kept nearly catatonic most of the time, the only human interaction she knows are the daily interrogations by her therapist Dr. Barry Nyle. But when a computer error provides an opportunity for escape, Elena seizes it and the chance at life outside the Institute. But to get there she'll have to make it through the byzantine labyrinth, full of hallucinatory visions and bizarre patients that threaten to stop her at every turn. Which is nothing compared to Dr. Nyle, who has been self-medicating and devolved into a psychotic madman. His drug-addled mind draws him inexorably toward Elena, and he'll stop at nothing to catch her.


Beyond the Black Rainbow wears its influences on its sleeve. The film attempts to ape the style of late 70s science fiction films and succeeds magnificently. Everything from the minimalist interior decoration  of the Institute to the droning, synthesizer soundtrack and the soft fades of the editing combine together to evoke that period of weird sci-fi called the Laser Age. Even the subject matter reflects this, focusing on the New Age healing centers and pseudo-religious medicine that was popular at the time. But being able to successfully recreate a bygone aesthetic can only get you so far. You actually have to make some larger point to rise above mere imitation. Unfortunately, this is where Black Rainbow falters.

Elena awaiting interrogation.

The major problem is that the filmmakers choose to tell their story largely through visuals. The film only has a handful of characters and very little dialogue. Elena has no dialogue in fact. Now this is a perfectly valid way to make a film, it is a visual medium after all, but it doesn't work here. And it doesn't work because they're trying to tell a science fiction story. Now Science Fiction is built on breaks from reality, things we have to accept in order to understand the world of the story. The problem with telling Sci-fi mostly visually like this is that those breaks become muddled. Visual storytelling relies on the audience being able to make certain assumptions about the things they are seeing on screen in order to understand that story. But without an understanding of the breaks from reality, like an opening narration or text crawl, the audience's assumptions are thrown into doubt and we can only guess at what's going on. We have no context for the things that are happening on screen.

The Sentionaut,
another prisoner of the Institute.

But even putting that aside, this story is very poorly told. The pacing is abysmal, what at first is hypnotic just becomes boring. Black Rainbow is so slow, dragging along at a snail's pace that combined with the obtuse visual storytelling makes what little events happening on screen just confusing. Every shot seems to linger but with the unclear context the shots have no meaning to the audience. No impact.  What few important plot events that you can make out are all shoved toward the back of the film. Elena's escape from the Institute and Dr. Nyle's devolution into her pursuer? Neither of those happen until the film is half over and their setup was so poorly handled that they don't have the narrative weight they should. The lack of context also affects the performances. With only the barest idea of what their motivations are, the characters' actions are so disconnected that I can't even judge if the actors are doing a good job.

But that's all right. Taking a more surreal, experimental approach instead of a strictly narrative one is a hallmark of cinema. And Black Rainbow is beautifully shot. The filmmakers have taken an almost Kubrickian approach; with a minimalist color palette, symmetrically framing, and lengthy depth of field shots. Combined with the bright, hard lighting and an editing style focused on soft fades, it makes for an entrancing experience. Add in the heavy continuous electronic drone, and it becomes hypnotic. Though in some ways that's another fault. The film is so good at drawing you in and focusing your attention but then giving you nothing interesting to focus it on. At any rate, it is a magnificent visual feast. Like living art almost.

Beyond the Black Rainbow is a mess. Its narrative is muddled and confusing, and even its uncanny beauty becomes infuriating before too long. I think it would have served the film better to have dropped the narrative elements entirely and focused on creating a visual experience. Or perhaps to make their story more abstract, working more on symbolism and visual metaphor than concrete reality. The film as is seems to be trying to do both and succeeding at neither. And that's a shame because it's clear that the filmmakers have talent, nothing this deliberately shot and controlled doesn't. Hopefully their next film will be less obtuse because Black Rainbow is a beautiful failure.

Final Score: 1/5