Of course, in 2020, we drop the “The’ from the title, and the spelling is Americanised, and that’s not all that’s new; Lovecraft’s short story is really just a jumping off point in terms of narrative elements. A meteorite, a blasted heath (still named Arkham), mutated animals; Stanley remixes the ingredients and adds a strong family drama, with the aptly-named Gardners facing all kinds of weird distortions in nature. Nathan (Nicolas Cage) and his wife Theresa (Joely Richardson) want to protect their kids, but she slices off a couple of fingers while cutting vegetables, and when she gets back from hospital, things have changed for the worse. There a strange purple hue on everything, the family dog is missing, and there’s all sorts of arcane creatures flying from the hole where the meteorite landed.
Stanley puts the wit back into the horror genre with his deft handling of the ideas here; Nathan’s deep horror at his tv interviews being tarnished by the on-screen description ‘UFO witness’ catches the right vibe of vain indignation; there’s tension about what will happen next, but despite their protests, the Gardners recognise are going to hell in a hand-basket, and there’s not much more they can do than struggle. Effects are carefully eked out, the visuals are unique and imaginative, and the whole package just works; horror films change over the decades, but Color Out of Space feels like the first real horror film of the 2020’s.
In the UK, COLOR OUT OF SPACE comes to Blu-ray, DVD & Digital on 6th April 2020 and is available to pre-order here – http://bit.ly/COOSAmzDB. The Blu-ray edition features exclusive UK artwork by Dude Designs. A limited Special Edition Blu-ray will also be available exclusively from HMV, as part of their First Editions range, featuring a fold-out poster and booklet and slipcase. Available to pre-order here – http://bit.ly/COOSHMVAll.
I really enjoyed it!
Cool! Happy to hear this!
I’ve enjoyed most of Lovecraft’s writings, as cosmic horror really appeals to me. If this isn’t a “jump” movie I might be able to handle it…
It doesn’t rely on jump scares, and doesn’t overplay the horror elements; it’s a more finely crafted effort than most genre pics.
Excellent. Thanks for that.
Cage is always interesting. Always. Case in point: Arsenal and Deadfall with his Eddie King character. Are the movies good, eh. Is he? Yes.
Outstanding review! Always felt this was one of Lovecraft’s darker dives. Big fan of Cage, Leaving Las Vegas sobers me; Con Air never fails to make me grin suspiciously… fan of Joely’s also, plastic surgeon series was wicked fun…didn’t realize Stanley had directed so many other films. Colors, talk about technicolor nightmares, oh my…
I think you’ll like it…it’s a cut above the norm for sure!
Great review, this is such a fantastic adaptation! It reminded me some of Annihilation and Suicide Club, which I love.
And as much as I like my Nicolas Cage memes, I agree completely. He is killing it with his recent movies.
Agreed. One word: Mandy. Just wow.
I’m looking forward to this one. A few years ago I did a round-up of all the film versions I could find of this story. The list I had was:
Die, Monster, Die! (1965)
“The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill” from Creepshow (1982)
The Curse (1987)
Colour from the Dark (2008)
Die Farbe (2010)
Feed the Light (2014)
The last two are very low budget but I thought they were the most interesting. Die Farbe is considered by Lovecraft scholar S. T. Joshi to be the best Lovecraft film adaptation ever made and I’d agree it’s the pick of the crop.
Wow, you know your Lovecraft on film! It’s a name often mentioned, but it seems to have proved tricky to figure out how to update the mythology; will be really interested to hear what you make of this; I was willing it to be good, and wasn’t disappointed! Thanks for the comment!
Awesome list, trying to recall one other, think it’s French produced…
Was not aware of the last two. I’ve already bookmarked and will seek them out.