THE COLOR OUT OF SPACE

The elevator pitch is simple enough. A meteorite from the great beyond lands on a family farm. It absorbs into the land, sprouting strange flowers and vegetation across the fields. Soon, the animals start to mutate, followed by the family itself. Madness sets in. Body horror sets in. A cosmic intelligence envelops itself in everything and anyone within its reach.

The film is beautifully shot; the characters likable. It’s 2 hours long but doesn’t feel it. The mood, especially in its final thirty-minutes, is tense. It’s rare for me to be on the edge of the couch’s seat watching a horror movie but there I was.

To an old horror-hound like myself, The Color Out of Space is a miracle. First off, we have reclusive filmmaker Richard Stanley finding his seat again at the director’s table after a 23-year absence (he was unfortunately canned a couple of weeks into shooting The Island of Dr. Moreau). Second, we have Nicolas Cage taking a break from paying off his government debts and committing to the script.

But most importantly, we see the full force of an H.P. Lovecraft adaptation with little restraint or care for the general public’s reaction to it. Lovecraft is historically a tough sell in cinema. Really tough. His views on humanity and its role in the universe are bleak with a capital ‘B’. I always believed the horror genre gets an undue bad rap for being overly cynical. Most of the time, it’s quite hopeful. Horror as a narrative teaches us with enough inner-strength and force of will, we can survive the night. We can slay dragons and ward off evil.

But Lovecraft trades in the most brutal of truths: the cosmos is big and we are not. It will clinically wash over us, as unforgiving or unyielding as a tsunami hitting a small seaside town. And Color Out of Space shows that cosmic antipathy in all its glory.

One last thing: everyone in this film is on their A-game. Joely Richardson as the mother, Tommy Chong as a wise old hippie hermit, Brendan Meyer and Julian Hillard as Cage’s sons. But the two stand-outs are Madeleine Arthur (Cage’s daughter) and Elliot Knight (a hydrologist). I’d sit and watch anything they’re in.