Color Out of Space

I am not a big fan of scary movies but watched the Color out of Space yesterday because I like cosmic horror and Nicolas Cage - the movie had plenty of both yet I was a bit disappointed at the end.

The story is quickly told: Nick Cage and his family - including children Lavinia, Benny, and Jack - live on his late father's farm in the middle of nowhere. One night, a weirdly colored meteor crashes into their garden and things get weird to say the least.

And weirdness is one thing this movie does really well. Theres an eerie atmosphere during the first two thirds of the movie that worked well for me. People behaving weirdly, things starting to look strange and an ever growing tension kept me on the edge of my seat. I also feel like this is an aspect of Lovecraftian horror the film captured really well, i.e. The descent into madness while reality crumbles around the protagonists. Cage has a few great moments here and his acting style really fits.

Unfortunately things get worse towards the end. People stop acting weird and start acting movie-stupid i.e. They do what the plot wants them to do regardless of their characters or common sense. The entire movie crumbles in a way, loses its unique tone and feels poorly crafted. The weird over the top finale didn't help either and I feel like the movie would have been better if they had cut the last 30 minutes. Really sad because there was a lot of potential there.

Still I recommend watching the movie. It's a fun take on Lovecraftian horror and the crazy Nicolas Cage performance fits right in.

I put this off several times but glad I finally watched it. I generally like horror movies though I don't actually watch or enjoy watching them as often anymore. Horror grounded in reality gets arduous quick but as far as supernatural thriller-type movies this one's a winner. It does something different without coming off low budget or unrelatable.

Sure, there's some flaws but once the color arrives all the characters thought processes are suspect. So when a character pauses in mid-escape to attempt a near-hopeless rescue from about the most likely place to get killed on the property, you have to just go with it. If there's a purple hostile alien presence and you've got a way you escape you just go,

There's humor too. Some obvious, some not so much. Clearly funny: Dad: "I'll handle it." Daughter: "Like you 'handled' the alpacas!!" The whole alpaca angle makes for some good chuckles.

Other stuff might be obscure for some people. . Seeing a teenager bust out the Necronomicon you just know someone's taking themselves too seriously. Then trying to use it for "help" is just hilarious. It's been awhile but I'm pretty sure it's no self-help book. But that whole aspect of the story gets dropped. Maybe it was to indicate that the evil purple thing is so alien that even Kthulu and Shub Niggurath were at a loss? I don't know but the movie stays pretty busy so there's not a lot of time to dwell on it.

The gist of the story, as I understand it, is a meteorite crashes, bringing with it a most likely malevolent entity that's not really definable by our senses. A color not in our spectrum. A concept some may have pondered already. How can we know if we're seeing all the colors? There's really only like a half dozen? Well no but we stop naming them after awhile. It's a tricky concept to convey in writing much less visually. It's something different. You could even argue the alien color thing isn't even trying to intentionally ruin anyone's day. Maybe it's version of taking a nap just happens to also make Earth goats melt? Gives you things to think about. Answering everything would defy what they're trying to show you.

Nicholas Cage gets weird but less so than other movies and everyone is adversely effected anyway. In my opinion he could've hammed it up way more than he did. Tommy Chong was good but could've used a little more maybe.

It's creepy, suspenseful, gets gross. The soundtrack does a great job. The visuals seem to be a mix of CGI and practical effects. It's worth your time if you're at all interested. If you have doubts probably best to pass. Just because it's not for you doesnt mean it's bad. Not necessarily anyway.

It seems fairly obvious to me who has and who has not read this short story, or any Lovecraft for that matter. So many reviews rating this movie a 1 and claiming that there is no point to the movie. A lot of Lovecraft's work is centered around how terrifying the "unknown" is. You are supposed to feel unnerved and confused, you are meant to ask yourself "What the hell is going on?" No this movie may not be a 100% pure adaptation to the original story, but any Lovecraft story will need some tweaks to translate to film, that is just the nature of his stories. They are meant to tap into the limits of your imagination. That is harder to do with visual movies. Anyway, if you enjoy Lovecraft them give this movie a watch!

This is definitely overall one of the better Lovecraft films but it's certainly not the best. It has stunning cinematography and possibly the best music I've ever heard in a movie. The special effects are excellent but I couldn't help but think it would have been more lovecraftian if it had more practical effects. The characters and story are hard to engage with which leads me onto my biggest issue with this film, the first half is very slow. They could have easily taken 20 minutes out of the first half and ended up with a better film. Nicolas Cage very much carries the movie in terms of characters and really makes this entertaining, especially in the second half. The final 45 minutes really is excellent, I'm glad that I stuck with it like Hereditary (2018) as it's worth being bored for the overall experience.

What's starts out as a strong and interesting movie. Slowly turns into something where nobody knows what next to do - especially the director.