Die Farbe

The black and white German movie "Die Farbe (The Color)" from 2010 is made after the short story "The Color Out of Space" from 1927 by Howard Phillips Lovecraft and it is one of the best adaptations of this author. The story itself has an interesting premise, but it doesn't leave a particularly strong impression as almost nothing is happening. However, in terms of the story, I did not even have high expectations, because I read Lovecraft's original and there is also an emphasis almost solely on the atmosphere. Excellent black and white cinematography, directing, and peculiarly striking sound quite well convey Lovecraft's dark atmosphere from the very beginning. The idea to adapt this story in black and white is a very effective solution, because in the color film it is impossible to show nonexistent color, and virtually any color inserted in the movie after an hour of building colorless environment can be perceived as "the color out of space." I recommend that you watch the movie in complete silence, preferably with the headphones, because the sound is convincingly the most powerful element of this movie. Sounds that logically should be in the background, like ticking of the clock, the wind, the drumming of the rain on the window, creaking floorboards underfoot and the like, here are clearly highlighted and cause discomfort to the viewer, who may not even realize what disturbs him. I only realized it when I put the headphones, after twenty minutes of the movie. In my case, the strongest effect has been achieved by the omnipresent buzzing of insects, which varies from the background noise to the feeling that some pterodactyl just passed through my brain, and without which the film would be significantly less eerie. This film contains elements of science fiction, horror, drama, and mystery, but none of these genres describe it properly. I think it would be best to describe it only as a quality adaptation of Lovecraft, because in the literature he is also a genre for itself.

8/10

This is a well-done adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft's "The Colour out of Space". The biggest disappointments come from some poor production choices, but if you set these aside there isn't much to complain about. The story is set in Germany and effectively recreates the layered narration typical to so many HPL stories. The minor liberties taken with the story are thoughtful and even enhance the tale a bit. I'd put this on par with the 2005 silent-film "The Call of Cthulhu" as one of the best HPL adaptations ever made. Definitely check it out if you are a fan of Lovecraft or of understated horror.

If you're looking for a more in-depth review, there are plenty on the web, and I've found most to be on-point and accurate.

HP Lovecraft stories are notoriously difficult to transcribe onto film. Most film versions of his stories have been disappointing. However, in this case, the filmmakers have managed very well. It is true that the locale of the story has been transposed to Germany and that a few plot points have been altered. Nevertheless, this film is very faithful to the original and, more importantly, maintains the eerie and paranoiac atmosphere for which Lovecraft was famous.

Although widely acknowledged as one of Lovecraft's best stories, "The Color Out of Space" was not really typical of his work. It contained more elements of science-fiction than most of the author's stories did. Some have speculated that he was attempting to describe the effects of radiation. However, that seems unlikely in light of the fact that the story was written in 1927, when such phenomena were not yet understood.

Some may criticize the fact that the film was shot in black-and-white. however, given the fact that the subject described as nothing more than merely a color, a color that no one has ever seen before, and which no one can describe, there really is not any other way in which the film could have been made.

Those expecting a normal sci-fi horror film may be disappointed with the slow pace and relative lack of "action" and spectacular special effects. However, it should be understood that this is entirely faithful to the manner in which Lovecraft wrote the story. Don't look for any vampires, werewolves or other monsters here. This is an eerily atmospheric story in which the horror creeps up gradually and silently, and is never really fully understood. However, it is well worthwhile staying with this movie because the story will grab you.

Although the script is not entirely original but taken from a Lovecraft script, the work of directing and photography make this product excellent. The film on which hovers a veil of mystery along its entire length attracts the viewer hypnotically through the inclined and caledoscopic eye of the camera. Interesting the chemical and geological elements present as well as the psychological cues analyzed by the director, depression, madness and catalepsy are optimally interpreted by the protagonists. Perhaps the only slightly out of tune is the slow pace and the absence of twists that subdue slightly. Beautiful use of black and white and excellent stereophony as well as good music. A strongly recommended film.

H. P. Lovecraft's tales and novels have been adapted into pedestrian motion pictures. I have liked very few of them, especially «Re-Animator», for its exacerbated irreverence in 1985 and the iconoclastic direction by Stuart Gordon, who was taking his first step in cinema; and two fine low-budget but stylish productions by the H. P. Lovecraft Historic Society, «The Call of Cthulhu» and «The Whisperer in Darkness»

Lovecraft's adaptations often fail, not only because the writers and directors are mediocre, but because, to find a narrative line in stories like, say, "The Shadow over Innsmouth," you have to overlook pages and pages of descriptions of buildings, bell towers, sidewalks and docks, of ugly mutants, of tiaras, lineages and tenures, and, in the end, in the inventory of significant incidents you make for your adaptation, much of the author's best is lost. However, I recently found a little gem that is by far the best film that I have ever seen based on a Lovecraftian text: «Die Farbe», based on «The Color Out of Space».

Lovecraft fans have rejected it, maybe because it is not American, possibly because it was made in Germany with German actors and the action relocated to the Swabian-Franconian Forest, or maybe because it was directed by a Vietnamese man raised in Brecht's land and financed through crowd funding. You can even think that they are annoyed because Huan Vu did it so well.

Lovecraft's tale is a story about a color. It can be a symbol, a metaphor, but in any case, this color is unknown on planet Earth. It arrives with a meteorite that falls in a splendid valley near Stuttgart. The meteorite is subject to investigation, but the object - which is getting smaller and smaller - gradually gains in strangeness, manifested in trees that bear enormous and rotten fruits, on the farm of a family whose members are losing their sanity, announcing the impending tragedy. Director Huan Vu decided to make the film in black and white, so that when the color finally manifests itself, it seems new but also strange, terrifying, and devastating.

The tragedy in «Die Farbe» directly affects few persons... First, the family made up of the parents and three boys; then the American young man who comes to the forest looking for his father, a soldier who served in the area during World War II; and finally, a witness to the events, a neighbor of the infected farm, who narrates the film. The resolution suggests that eight people were affected by a color that in the end flew away from Earth... But in the final shots, during the end credits, something larger is hinted at, something that will spread like a pandemic, just like in «Invasion of the Body Snatchers» by Siegel, Kaufman, or Ferrara; or Polanski's «Dance of the Vampires»... "It's all over", repeats one of the characters, but no, that is not so... The devastation will continue.