Comments on: Beyond the Black Rainbow

By: L. Sammondson

L. Sammondson — Fri, 17 Oct 2014 02:18:00 +0000

if I was Canadian, and interested in horror films, I might defend the film – its definitely creepy, but also you have a film here where the protagonist has zero character definition and much of the very deliberate color grading and lighting makes the film look like it has gaping continuity errors. I can’t help but feel that the film was a vanity project enabled only, really, because the director inherits DVD residuals from his director father. Its just not a substantive movie, but I guess, if you want a horror film, the mean spirited dialogue, creepiness and stabbings will make it worthwhile, but those aren’t really features of a great movie in general.

By: Dustin Jansick

Dustin Jansick — Thu, 25 Sep 2014 13:49:00 +0000

It’s definitely the case of style over substance. It’s more of an experience than a cohesive narrative, but clearly you didn’t enjoy the film as much as we did.

By: L. Sammondson

L. Sammondson — Thu, 25 Sep 2014 01:19:00 +0000

This film is actually terrible – I mean, yeah – it is scary in the sense that its creepy, but I think, really, the film is just the byproduct of global DVD residuals from the directors father – allowing Panatos to string together a series of overproduced, overgrained interior sequences, cheap synth score and a slasher movie ending, and trying to pass it off as a ‘cult movie’, when really we, the audience, need to know who, what or where the protagonist is coming from, what her dramatic need is, who she interacts with, and so on. The set designers are VERY indebted to classic films and the script is mostly weak, humourless and lacks anything called ‘character depth’ or ‘story development’.

I guess, as an amateur filmmaker, Panatos hoped that his empty, overproduced film would have enough atmosphere to work, but its really just testament to the fact that he can’t communicate with the medium. One festival reviewer suggested that the use of close ups, obtrusive editing and overamped lighting is just a way to paste over the sheer lack of content. I agree, pretty much. This film should be fifteen minutes long.