Color Out of Space (2019) Review

 

Color Out of Space (2019)

An adaption of the story by H.P. Lovecraft, Color Out of Space centers around a family, who’s lives are flipped upside down after a meteorite lands in their yard, terraforming the environment around them and causing strange happenings in their lives.

So, Lovecraft is historically pretty impossible to adapt, but I feel like director Richard Stanley nails it here. I had to really sit on this because at first, it feels messy, with events happening consecutively, one after another, with nobody ever really mentioning or talking about them. Son gets sucked into a well? No big deal. Sink overflows with bloody water? Nothing. But upon further inspection, it feels like artistic messiness, which is meant to show the scale of what is happening to our main characters, in a cosmic horror sort of way, where our feeble minds cannot begin to comprehend the gravity of something that is multi-dimensional. It then causes insanity and chaos, fracturing the minds of all who come in direct contact with it. There’s tension, anxiety, and an overall uneasiness that is present, that is only furthered by the horrific, nightmarish creatures that this entity creates, with the Jack and Theresa merged monster being one of the creepiest things I’ve seen grace a screen.

The pacing was a bit wonky, trying to do the slow build into madness, but just piling everything on at the end, in what was a terrific final act that could have been spaced out a little bit better. I also didn’t quite understand the point of including the ritualistic aspects, as they felt very out of left field, along with the token crazy, old, stoner guy in the woods, played by Tommy Chong.

The rest of the cast though brought a chilling energy, that was complemented excellently with the fragmented internal view we get as viewers. The ridiculously maniacal Nicholas Cage steals the show, with Cage’s fragmented mind jumping back and forth from caring father, to crazed psychopath on a mission.

I’d also be remiss if I didn’t mention the highlight of the film, the amazing visual effects, splashing bright colors, with sadistic monsters, and intense fusions of energy in a way that just works.

7.9/10