‘Color Out of Space’ Movie Review

Director Richard Stanley’s Color Out of Space, based on H.P. Lovecraft’s short story of the same name, is the story of the Gardner family: Nathan (Nicolas Cage), his wife, Theresa (Joely Richardson), daughter Lavinia (Madeleine Arthur), older son Benny (Brendan Meyer), and younger son Jack (Julian Hilliard). Nathan moves his family out to the backwoods of Massachusetts, where they grow vegetables and raise alpacas. One night, a strange meteorite lands in their yard, exuding a strange neon aura. Over time, the energy from the meteorite begins to “infect” everything; the crops taste bitter, the alpacas get sick, strange blotches start appearing on their skin, time becomes indeterminable, and things only get worse from there.

The original Lovecraft short story was one of the most influential pieces of horror literature ever published, inspiring plots and themes for numerous books and movies, including The Thing, Creepshow, and most recently, 2018’s Annihilation. And I love those movies. The biggest hurdle that the filmmakers faced when adapting Lovecraft's story was that it is, quite literally, impossible to put on film (in its original state, that is) because it deals with "imagery" that is unfathomable. The titular color in the classic story is supposed to be a color that is unlike any other, like nothing on the conceivable RGB color spectrum. Well, you definitely can't interpret something like that using a visual medium, so the film took, what I feel, was the best approach. The color in the movie was a bright, neon purple that looked like something that wouldn't appear in nature. It looked very synthetic, so it still felt unnatural and harsh.

I had an absolute ball watching Color Out of Space. In a way, it's the perfect recipe for a movie for me. It's a gory, psychedelic horror movie, directly inspired by H.P. Lovecraft, and starring Nicolas Cage. It's practically tailormade for me. I had been pretty excited for this one ever since it was announced, and I got pretty much everything I wanted from it. Richard Stanley had been on an indefinite hiatus from directing, and after seeing Color Out of Space, I am so glad he’s back behind the camera.

This is such a cool-looking movie. As stated before, the visuals are very colorful and surreal. The bright, florescent purples and pinks leap off the screen, and it’s very appropriate, as the titular color in the film proper is warping the world around it. I've always really liked super-saturated color washout onscreen, which only adds to my love of films like Suspiria, John Wick, Creepshow, Sin City, and coincidentally, 2018's Cage vehicle Mandy. It adds such a cool blast of intensity and atmosphere to the movie. This was one of the major selling points for me. Well, that and Nicolas Cage.

Cage is one of my favorite actors, and he gets such a bad rap. He’s incredibly talented, but his acting style can easily backfire with a bad script. In Color Out of Space, Cage’s strengths are on full display. One of the key recurring themes among Lovecraft’s work is insanity; otherworldly entities that earthly minds cannot comprehend, fully breaking the minds of the witnesses. Whatever the “color” is, it is corrupting everything, including the minds of the Gardner family. Nicolas Cage, whose more operatic acting style is largely inspired by German expressionism, is put to perfect use. He can either be warm and charming or totally off-the-wall, and this film requires him to fluctuate between the two. It truly is a perfect vehicle for him. The rest of the cast is also quite capable, as they are given the near-impossible task of keeping up with Cage, and they do. Madeleine Arthur, who plays Lavinia, is also given a decent workload, as a large part of her story is the contentious relationship between her and her father. There is also a rather surprising supporting turn by Tommy Chong, who plays an old mystic who lives on the Gardners’ property. While the character doesn’t really require Chong to branch out too far from his usual style, his inclusion never feels goofy or out of place. It was an interesting touch that I really enjoyed.

Practical special effects, while less common than they used to be, are usually still preferred by horror fans, and it seems to be one of the only genres in which they still pop up regularly. This film features a decent mixture of practical and CG effects, all of which are fairly solid. There are maybe one or two times where the CGI looks a little fake, but those are only fleeting glimpses, and the danger always feels real. The practical monster effects are so good. Lovecraft truly pioneered “body horror”, which is featured a lot in this film, and the hellish creations presented in Color Out of Space are brought to glorious, horrifying life. There are two creatures in particular that are awesomely gruesome, and I really enjoyed them.

Richard Stanley’s triumphant return to horror is a blast from start to finish. H.P. Lovecraft’s beloved short story is masterfully realized in all its twisted glory. Nicolas Cage is utterly irresistible in his unbridled depiction of pure madness, and thanks to some wonderfully nasty effects, Color Out of Space is one of the best Lovecraft adaptations to date.

SCORE: 5/5