So I watched this today someone explain as much of it as possible haha.

Sorry if this 'interpretation' has already been laid out, I didn't have time to read through all of them.

I seem to be a mutant, because I 'got' the plot the first time through. It's just told in a very strange way, and I think the mood becomes a distraction, but the story is clear as daylight imho.

One of the keys is in the 'mission statement' / 'advertisement' for Arboria at the beginning of the movie. Basically it says they have developed these science based therapies designed to assure the subject achieve enlightenment and inner peace. That is clearly not what happens in the film, and Arboria is most definitely not the psychic spa Dr. Arboria bills it as. 'Energy Sculpting' is the fictional part of the list of therapies. I'm guessing it is referencing a field created by the pyramid room.

Anyways, the plot itself is very simple. Chronologically it would be something like this. At some point in the 60s Dr. Arboria and Barry began developing the technologies that would be used at the institute using themselves as the trials. Arboria and his wife conceived a child within the Energy Sculpting field and the result was that the child was born with ESP. This part is conjecture, but it fits. Barry offers himself as the guinea pig for the full course of the Arboria protocols. He is indeed enlightened (looks into the eye of god as he says), and comes out and kills Arboria's wife in a fit of insanity.

Arboria is probably already down the path of drug addiction at this point, while Barry has been profoundly changed by his experience. So they decide to continue and hide the death of Mrs. Arboria. Arboria hides himself away in a dark room, oblivious to what is going on around him, entrusting Barry with the running of Arboria and the care of his daughter.

What is discovered when the Nurse, Margo, finds the journal is that Barry has been engaging in profane and twisted human experiments at Arboria. When Barry finds her cigarette ash in the drawer the journal was hidden in, he hatches a plot to silence her so she can't tell Arboria, or the outside world, what he has been up to.

Barry takes some acid while trying to figure out what to do. He tells Margo about the picture to set her up. He knows she will act like a bitch towards Elena, and at that very moment he dials down the field that inhibits Elena's powers and Elena kills Margo. Barry seems to kill when he's on drugs a lot.

Since Nyle and Margo both have lives outside of Arboria, presumably, Barry must realize at this point that he is screwed and eventually Margo's disappearance will bring the authorities to the institute. His mental erosion quickens and he begins to kill off everyone connected to him and Elena.

My question is... was he out to kill Elena, or did he feel that they... two children of the Arboria protocols... were meant to be together? Hopefully Cosmatos has a sequel planned! Not only a cool and twisted little story, but the performances were top notch.

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I've tackled both the questions "what's it about?" and "what's the storyline?". Initially I intended to post my analysis here. But it turned out to be way too big. So I've put it on a webpage instead; take a look at http://www.ckollars.org/beyond-the-black-rainbow.htm

I believe there are simple coherent answers to both questions. There are a couple key elements to the storyline that it seems most people have missed. And many things aren't nearly as esoteric as they at first appear. The actual storyline is quite straightforward.

The environment of this film positively encourages mysteriousness and mystical interpretations. But mysteriousness and mystical interpretations aren't required by anything inside the film itself. You don't have to accept the puzzle that this film's environment encourages.

Dr Nyle is now more sensitive to psychic phenomena than most people. He _receives_ a couple telepathic messages. But I see no evidence he can _send_ such messages. The most important power he gained from his experience may be nothing more than a greatly heightened sense of smell.

Much of what appears to be esoteric is really just a replaying of the psychedelic drug culture of the 60's. The "black goo" for example is nothing more than what an old hippie would call a "bad trip".

My, take, or guess... I guess... is that the Arboria "cult" was trying to open up the human mind through chemistry, tapping into some "otherworld" of consciousness. The "thing" Elena had to get by at the end was maybe a previous attempt at the experiment Barry went through, likely there are more behind held in the lab somewhere, Barry was the most successful try at this experiment up until that point, and even he was broken mentally. While he did instantly go crazy and kill the women (I guess Elena's mother) he didn't quite turn into the monster we saw at Elena's escape, and he kept his "urges" in check with drugs (lots of drugs).

With the "success" they had with Barry, they decided to do the experiment on a baby, and now they just have to wait for her to grow. In the time it took for her to grow up, Arboria pretty much falls apart, with the founder aged and addicted, and Barry taking over and giving in more and more to his cruel urges (as the drugs probably stopped working). Now Elena is grown and he finds they really did open up supernatural powers with her mind. With Arboria's death, Barry finally completely gives in and Elena escapes whether through negligence (crap I forgot to turn the pyramid on full power) or her powers blooming. They both make their way to civilization (the 2 metal heads were there to show us that there indeed still is a "normal" world out there) and Barry dies a pathetic death, leaving Elena free to.. who knows, live normally or go around crushing peoples head with her mind.

The phone call, and the post-credits sequence are harder to pin down. Either there is an extra-dimensional/terrestrial force at work, or Barry is just nuts (the phone wasn't plugged in). I think it more likely it was a piece of himself (like when he was driving at the end) reminding him of the responsibilities he had to Arboria and the experiment, but perhaps something was communicating with him from the "otherworld", maybe even whatever he left behind of himself.

Study Hermetics & Alchemy, then you'll understand the hidden meaning of this movie.

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