A young woman, Elena (Eva Bourne) drugged and held against her will, endures abuse and torture at the hands of her doctor, the weird and creepy Barry Nyle (Michael Rogers) in a bizarre institution guarded by mutants.
Mind-altering drugs and a cult looking for deep enlightenment through murder and dullness star in this slow moving acid trip of a movie. Set in the 1980s so director Panos Cosmatos could take advantage of the fashion sense and stellar décor of that era, BEYOND THE BLACK RAINBOW tells the story of…something. I’m not sure what exactly, but Cosmatos got a writing credit so I assume someone planned this. Anyway, Elena wants, wisely, to bolt from the sterile nuthatch she’s in so she uses her psychic ability (oh yeah, she’s psychic) to get away from Arboria Institute and all of its charms. That’s hard to do strung out on soma. Since we never hear the message of cult leader Dr. Mercurio Arboria (Scott Hylands), it’s hard to know why Elena or anyone is there. We do want Elena to escape the uber skeevy Dr. Nyle so that’s something.
To sum up, Dr. Nyle has scary fire opal eyes that even his wife finds intimidating, sentionauts are tall, and Panos Cosmatos watched way too many David Lynch films on acid. That’s all I got.