Color Out of Space

Color Out of Space is the latest film from co-writer and director Richard Stanley based on a short story by H.P. Lovecraft. Strange and catastrophic events befall a town after a meteorite strikes. Starring Nicolas Cage, Joely Richardson, Madeleine Arthur, Brendan Meyer, Jullian Hilliard, and Elliot Knight.

“Like no color I’ve seen before.” The Colour Out of Space is one of H.P. Lovecraft’s most popular works, even being a personal favorite of his. Following the events of a small family on their farm just the right distance away from town, confusing and horrific things begin to occur after a meteorite lands in their front yard. This adaptation modernizes the events of that short story while very cleverly keeping characters and locations as analogue and remote as necessary for the particular nightmares to unfold properly. For those who are big fans of Lovecraftian horror films, this offers everything you’ll expect and want from a decent adaptation.

“Stick to bottled water.” The film does its best to check off everything on the sci-fi horror list; bizarre colors and sounds, grotesque body horror, absurd behavior, questionable perceptions of reality, and so on. For fans of films such as The Thing, Annihilation, The Mist, and certainly The Endless; there’s likely something here to enjoy. The tone and flow of the film is on point most of the time, with any missteps in scenes being largely forgettable by the time that well-known substance starts to splatter the fan in pure strange. There’s plenty of blood and goop mixed in with the unique spray of ethereal shapes, colors, and sounds. The visual effects are at least serviceable with a few exceptional moments and a few others that are not so strong. A few moments of excellent practical effects elevate some of the more disturbing beats and throughout, Colin Stetson’s score is fantastically dreamy, eerie, and unnerving.

“Alpacas.” Fans of Cage will get plenty of weird and angry, and due to the events caused by the meteorite, it’s actually all fairly justified. Everyone does a solid job in their respective roles, especially as things begin to spiral out of control in the latter half. Joely Richardson and Madeleine Arthur as Lavinia probably do the heaviest lifting throughout, with Lavinia providing an ever-increasing range of emotions and experiences while working as a kind of center stone as the events that affect her family unfold.