Color Out of Space
COLOR OUT OF SPACE - RLJE FILMS
Richard Stanley's Color Out of Space — adapted from H. P. Lovecraft’s short story of the same name — is as bonkers and out of worldly as it promises to be. Not only is it director Richard Stanley's first feature film since his infamous and notorious firing on the set of The Island of Dr Moreau in 1996 — a gap of almost twenty-four years — but also acts as one of the few H. P. Lovecraft adaptions that have successfully made it to cinema screens.
If audiences have solely lined up for the outrageous visceral enigma that is Nicolas Cage, they are going to be gravely disappointed. Cage brings his usual iconic presence to this feature. However, that very ridiculousness of outlandish visual and verbal bravado is unmistakably matched by the plot of Stanley's film. Not only giving a natural home to Cage's schtick but managing to match his intensity throughout, going as so far to unbelievably dethrone it on multiple occasions.
More impressive is the fact that Stanley never caters to Cage as his primary focus of entertainment. The notorious actor is only one small (but integral) aspect of this feature, with a multitude of assortments taking the primary focus. Specifically, the body horror, which is not only spectacularly brought to life via live-action methods but is disturbingly haunting in its execution. The intensity throughout Color Out of Space is tremendously dark and foreboding. It is gripping and atmospheric to a point in which it becomes a palpable energy that heightens the otherwise lesser aspects of the feature, namely the budget.
Going into this with the impression that it is something on the lines of new-wave horror — such as Hereditary or Doctor Sleep — is sadly going to be underwhelming for many. Color Out of Space is like John Carpenter’s classic The Thing meets 1970's horror The Amityville Horror with a dose of Friday the 13th. The film's influences are worn on its sleeve but never feels derivative of the house that built it, in fact, with its quite overwhelming visual aesthetic, it stands apart in maintaining the viewers' attention in its absurdly beautiful style.
Although the conventional tropes pop up here and there and the dialogue from the screenplay by Richard Stanley and Scarlett Amaris is a little clunky around the edges, visually speaking there is nothing here in the Color Out of Space that is remotely passive or ordinary. Even when it has to nowhere to go and the cards are dealt with a bad deal, it manages to conquer expectation and devour all with a sublime climatic thud.
COLOR OUT OF SPACE is released February 28th 2020
