Original article published September 12, 2019
Director Richard Stanley returns to narrative filmmaking after more than 20 years with Color Out of Space, a hypnotic H.P. Lovecraft adaptation. Published in 1927, the story remains one of Lovecraft’s most popular works and is said to have been his favorite among his short stories. Stanley brings his love for Lovecraft to the film while adding his own personal flair to the tale, creating a unique and inventive experience.
Starring Nicolas Cage (Mandy), Joely Richardson (Event Horizon), Madeleine Arthur (The Magicians), Brendan Meyer (The Guest), Julian Hilliard (The Haunting of Hill House), Elliot Knight (Once Upon a Time), and Tommy Chong (of Cheech and Chong fame), Color Out of Space follows the Gardner family after a meteorite crashes onto their farm. The meteorite emits an indescribable color that affects all life nearby in mysterious and terrifying ways. Soon, the family is left fighting for their lives as the color spreads across their land, leaving chaos in its wake.
Cosmic Lovecraftian horror can be a challenge because the creature effects are key. Ask any horror fan and they’ll gladly tell you that practical effects are always preferable. Thankfully, Stanley relies on practical effects for the film’s most horrific moments, and the results are genuinely impressive.
Reminiscent of Rob Bottin’s creature designs for The Thing, the monsters of Color Out of Space are highly effective. CGI is layered over the practical effects to enhance them with the film’s titular color. However, in some instances, the amount of CGI overshadows the practical effects, making it difficult to tell what was physically created.
For the most part, Color Out of Space follows many of the narrative beats from the original short story, though certain changes have been made with varying degrees of success. Naturally, some shifts affect the progression of the plot, but there are also several ancillary adjustments that alter the film’s overall tone.
Rather than filling the family farm with generic livestock, Stanley populates it with a herd of alpacas. More often than not, these alpacas serve as a punchline, which can be distracting because they make nearly every scene they’re in feel a bit sillier than intended.
Multiple characters from the source material are combined into a single hydrologist who serves as the film’s scientific catch-all whenever an explanation is needed. It’s a bit odd that a hydrologist would be consulted to examine a meteorite or recognize radiation burns on sight, but it’s best not to dwell on it. The man clearly knows his science.
There are also a few narrative threads that never really develop into anything and could be removed entirely without affecting the story. They contribute to character development, but they ultimately feel unnecessary, as there are more effective ways to build the audience’s understanding of these characters without adding needless filler.
What’s more jarring is the fact that each actor seems to be performing in a different movie. The performances vary wildly in tone and intensity. Nicolas Cage takes center stage in one of his most Cage-esque performances to date, shifting effortlessly between a mild-mannered farmer, complete with an appreciation for good bourbon, and full-blown insanity at the drop of a hat. Opposite Cage’s increasingly unhinged performance, the rest of the cast delivers their dialogue with complete sincerity, creating moments that are often unintentionally hilarious. Rather than matching Cage’s eccentric energy, they play everything straight, leaving the film with a noticeably uneven tone.
As a Lovecraft adaptation, Color Out of Space is solid. It’s neither exceptional nor disappointing, though it may not be exactly what audiences expect when they hear the combination of H.P. Lovecraft, Nicolas Cage, and Richard Stanley. It’s hypnotically entertaining, particularly for Cage’s wonderfully over-the-top performance, but overall it could have benefited from a more cohesive vision.
Color Out of Space colors outside the lines to paint its own unique picture, and the end result is an ambitious but messy experience. The film has already been acquired by RJLE Films ahead of its Midnight Madness world premiere. The real question is whether audiences will embrace Stanley’s distinctive vision.
