After a meteorite lands on a farm, a family find themselves infected by a mutant extraterrestrial organism.
From Richard Stanley the visionary atmospheric director of the sci-fi Hardware and occult thriller Dust Devil comes Color Out of Space, colour U.K. spelling?
After a long hiatus Stanley returns with a film more appealing to a wider audience, that said, the H.P. Lovecraft foundation source material with the director's own touch it's far from mainstream. Interestingly actor Elijah Wood is one of the producers. With practical effect visuals reminiscent of John Carpenter's The Thing (1982) and Brian Yuzna's Society (1989) it excels Huan Vu's 2012 impressive low budget film adaptation. The colour and digital effects rival 2018's Annihilation.
It's a film about every family's worst nightmare. Nicolas Cage's Nathan and children deal with rural life, in a bid to help their mother's Theresa (played brilliantly by Joely Richardson daughter of Vanessa Redgrave) recovery from cancer. Shotgun touting Cage is on arbitrarily oddball form when things start to fall apart and people get mutated. Elliot Knight plays hydrologist Ward Phillips, who knows there's something wrong on the property, Tommy Chong as Ezra, aptly the pothead hermit and Josh C. Waller as Sheriff Pierce are notable even if their appearances are brief.
Madeleine Arthur is impressive as troubled Wicca practising teen Lavinia Gardner. Brendan Meyer plays Benny but it's young Julian Hilliard that steals the show as Jack who can hear the alien.
Some of most creepy scenes include the siblings especially the well staged black hole cosmic meteorite crash. Lavinia has a terrifying memorable attic scene where she comes face to face with her mutated mother and younger brother. Stanley offers strange coloured vegetation, a smelly glowing pinky purple meteor. Fingers are chopped off, bug creatures fly around, a squid-like creature appears, there mutated alpacas, bolts of purple lightning which fuses people, he successfully captures the madness of Lovecraft's work.
It may not be as rounded as Jeremy Gillespie and Steven Kostanski Void (2016) that drew from Lovecraft but it's is a Stanley film after all with all the cosmic infection galore trimmings. Stanley and Scarlett Amaris script possibly could do with some more meat on the bones as the dialogue is sparse. That said, Stanley naturally goes for the subtle, intelligent filmmaking route, at times ambiguous rather than a spoon feeding.
It's a fine looking film with Steve Annis's cinematography, there's vibrant special effects and a complementing eerie soundtrack from Colin Stetson, it's also dark, terrifying, emotional and gut wrenching at times. In true Stanley style it's expectedly arty but there's plenty there for diehard horror fans too.
Colour Out of Space may not be Stanley's The Island of Dr. Moreau remake we've been waiting for since 1996 but it's a solid H.P. Lovecraft adaptation and a welcomed return to the directing chair.
From Richard Stanley the visionary atmospheric director of the sci-fi Hardware and occult thriller Dust Devil comes Color Out of Space, colour U.K. spelling?
After a long hiatus Stanley returns with a film more appealing to a wider audience, that said, the H.P. Lovecraft foundation source material with the director's own touch it's far from mainstream. Interestingly actor Elijah Wood is one of the producers. With practical effect visuals reminiscent of John Carpenter's The Thing (1982) and Brian Yuzna's Society (1989) it excels Huan Vu's 2012 impressive low budget film adaptation. The colour and digital effects rival 2018's Annihilation.
It's a film about every family's worst nightmare. Nicolas Cage's Nathan and children deal with rural life, in a bid to help their mother's Theresa (played brilliantly by Joely Richardson daughter of Vanessa Redgrave) recovery from cancer. Shotgun touting Cage is on arbitrarily oddball form when things start to fall apart and people get mutated. Elliot Knight plays hydrologist Ward Phillips, who knows there's something wrong on the property, Tommy Chong as Ezra, aptly the pothead hermit and Josh C. Waller as Sheriff Pierce are notable even if their appearances are brief.
Madeleine Arthur is impressive as troubled Wicca practising teen Lavinia Gardner. Brendan Meyer plays Benny but it's young Julian Hilliard that steals the show as Jack who can hear the alien.
Some of most creepy scenes include the siblings especially the well staged black hole cosmic meteorite crash. Lavinia has a terrifying memorable attic scene where she comes face to face with her mutated mother and younger brother. Stanley offers strange coloured vegetation, a smelly glowing pinky purple meteor. Fingers are chopped off, bug creatures fly around, a squid-like creature appears, there mutated alpacas, bolts of purple lightning which fuses people, he successfully captures the madness of Lovecraft's work.
It may not be as rounded as Jeremy Gillespie and Steven Kostanski Void (2016) that drew from Lovecraft but it's is a Stanley film after all with all the cosmic infection galore trimmings. Stanley and Scarlett Amaris script possibly could do with some more meat on the bones as the dialogue is sparse. That said, Stanley naturally goes for the subtle, intelligent filmmaking route, at times ambiguous rather than a spoon feeding.
It's a fine looking film with Steve Annis's cinematography, there's vibrant special effects and a complementing eerie soundtrack from Colin Stetson, it's also dark, terrifying, emotional and gut wrenching at times. In true Stanley style it's expectedly arty but there's plenty there for diehard horror fans too.
Colour Out of Space may not be Stanley's The Island of Dr. Moreau remake we've been waiting for since 1996 but it's a solid H.P. Lovecraft adaptation and a welcomed return to the directing chair.