The Color Out of Space (2019)

The Color Out of Space (2019) My anticipation for this film was strong, a big fan of Director Richard Stanley, Hardware (1990), Dust Devil (1992) (I wrote about that here) and after recently seeing Nicolas Cage in Mandy, I thought he might be great for this film. Stanley is, a unique individual  a spiritual semi shaman who connects the coincidences of life to a higher interconnections of all things. He is an acquired taste as a personality but is a very creative and competent film maker. A family on an isolated farm sees strange happenings after a meteor crashes in their yard. The consequences are apocalyptic for the family changing their lives for ever. What isn't there to like about that? This is part of the sequestered series of movies, as we are all hunkered down trying to not catch the coronavirus. My daughter and I are taking turns picking film we both watch and then talk about to keep our sanity in our isolation. She is alone up in Burlington VT while I and my wife are in Central Massachusetts. My wife does not participate  in horror movies so she is upstairs watching Call the Midwife. The first movie in this series is Mara, you can read on this blog about that. This was my first choice.
  This film was produced by Elijah Woods company SpectreVision which also made a Nicolas cage film Mandy as well as putting money into some wonderful alternative vision of horror like Cooties (2014), Daniel Isn't Real (2019) and A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014). You have got to hand it to this company really throwing money at project most production companies would not touch. In this case a new adaptation of a H.P. Lovecraft short story made by a director Richard Stanley who had not made a feature in twenty years. Then they get Nicolas Cage a mainstream actor to bring his envelope pushing experimentation to it, and throw in 83 year old Tommy Chong in a bit role but his first in a horror movie. He said and I paraphrase, that he always stayed away from doing horror movies because of the chance of the karma might be bad, he did not want to wake these spirits. Filmed in Portugal the lush beauty of the landscape may not be central Massachusetts but it certainly was interesting. It sets the location and gives a place to develop a horrifying story.
  The setup of the family and their world is the focus of the first act. Nathan Gardner (Nicholas Cage) has moved his family back to the family farm after his abusive father's death. He is seeking to do something with the place and is raising alpacas as the animal of the future. His wife Theresa (Joely Richardson) is the breadwinner of the family doing investment advising online from the farm. She has just recovered from a cancer and has yet to fully feel herself in her relationship with her husband. They have three kids, Lavinia (Madeleine Arthur) the oldest teen practices Alexandrian Wicca, is using her ceremonies first to seek good health for her Mother and then to get the fuck out of dodge when the shit hits the fan. She is the teen that really wants to get back to civilization and off the farm. You can imagine growing up in the city and then in your late teens your parents pack you up and move you to a farm 12 miles from the nearest town. Her teen brother Benny (Brenden Myer) just wants to stay high, smoking weed with the local squatter Ezra (Tommy Chong) he is just trying to cope. Through both teens we get the picture that alpaca breeding is not the first scheme his Father has gotten involved in and is just trying to get through the ordeal. The last member and youngest is little brother Jack (Julian Hilliard) is adequate for having a child at risk.  We also learn that the family is hanging onto the farm despite the local mayor wanting to get them out of there so a new dam and reservoir can be built flooding the land. Ward (Elliot Knight) a surveyor, is a sort of love interest for Lavinia and outsider who can later intervene for the family. When I noticed that it was his voice that was narrating the story in the opening voice over I suddenly felt like the story might not have a happy ending.
  In the night a meteorite lands in the front yard, coloring the sky and glowing with a pink/purple aura. The event makes the local news but the meteorite itself seems to sink down into the crater it made. The foreshadowing of close ups of people drinking water and looking down the well should give you an idea of what is going on. Then things start to change, as the plants and animals on the farm are slowly transformed and the family members themselves face changes, losing time and not totally thinking clearly. As the farm transforms and some things are made hideous we have to appreciate the people doing the special effects on this film. It's beautiful the way the colors paint the scenes like an expressionist painting. The affects are shown  in small and large ways the transformation of the environment is exceptional. The grotesqueness of the animal transformation contrast that nicely reminding me of scenes in "The Thing". Being a  H.P. Lovecraft story we have the growing dread of the situation and the idea of the monstrous. Lovecraft once said this is his favorite of his story and the Director Richard Stanley seems to handle the look and feel with loving care himself. A story of an old forest in fictional town of Arkham Massachusetts a fictional hill town I can only imagine it as my town in Hudson MA some hundred and fifty years ago. But it probably more likely that Lovecraft was hearing about the making of the Quabbin reservoir which is Boston's water supply about 25 miles to the west of me. It was built between 1930-33 so Lovecraft would have heard of the plans for it in 1927 when he wrote this short story. The original is very similar in plot to the film but dated as you would imagine, there is a great version of the story you can listen to at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JH7nEjwbEY

  The effects become more complex spreading, maybe a better word is infecting is more appropriate. The environment changes and the family is effected at the same time the alpacas are transformed. Reminiscent of The Thing  for some physical effects and The Shining for the family dynamics, the effects are limited, probably for budget reasons but very effective. The color scheme and digital work is exceptional and even though the story stays small and on the farm the special effects of the changing farm is just wonderful. You could argue that this is a Nick Cage film, and he certainly has the chops to play the failing father in crisis, losing his shit he plays crazy really well with the right amount of unpredictability and menace. You could also argue that the protagonist is Lavinia and the film is seen through her eyes. She is connected through rituals she performs to the events in a metaphysical way, its not cause and effect but is is part of the interconnections this film emanates. As things fall apart, or come together the crisis in the family climbs to a level not totally expected.
  If there is a criticism you could have it may be that the film is a bit too tight. It is a localized story on the farm and in the family but maybe could have used a bit more scope. Because of this the voice over in the beginning and end of the film seem contrived to add a larger scope when it should have been shown not told. Not that the voice over isn't beautifully written it is, writers Scarlett Amaris and Stanley have a good script and it is appreciated. The third act where everything really comes apart for the family and Cage and Arthur really carry the film, but the outcome is blunted a bit and the logic of how the threat is overcome is hard to accept. No spoilers here because this is definitely getting a recommendation for you to rent, buy or see it any way you can. Overall this is a wonderful science fiction, horror movie.  As always you can leave a comment or write to me at movies@edhovey.com