Beyond the Black Rainbow is the only movie that I have found listed on IMDB as being directed by Panos Cosmatos. As the film has been released in 2010 one may wonder what did the director do since then. He did not yet get a second chance, and part of the reasons may reside actually in this film.
source http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1534085/
The film is an interesting aesthetic exercise based on a sci-fi story that turns into horror. The focus of the director was not however on
telling the story, not on describing the psychology or motivation of his characters (which would have been quite interesting actually), and certainly not on entertaining. The pace is painfully slow, and what happens on screen or what the story is about are of little importance, the movie is about how the story is told. The idea is interesting – as the story is set in 1983, the cinematographic tools of that period were used: no digital film, no computerized graphics, a soundtrack that combines atmosphere music with distortions, even the quotes (and there are many quotes to science-fiction classics) are of films made before 1983.
(video source Movieclips Trailers)
The result is not easy to digest. About one third of the (not to many) viewers left the theater early. Those who stayed were rewarded with an ending that breaks the routine in the last 10-15 minutes, but with it also the strange spell this film creates, sliding into more conventional horror. I liked the fact that no ‘smart’ explanations were provided. I liked less the fact that I was served with a long video art work instead the feature film I paid for.