Color Out Of Space (2019) ***
Much like Richard Stanley's debut feature film, Hardware (1990) (my review here), his latest, Color Out Of Space (2019) has so much potential on the surface—the source material, the concept, and, of course, Nicolas Cage—and like Hardware, it unfortunately just never fully delivers.
Stanley hadn't completed a narrative feature film in twenty-seven years (he's made a number of documentaries), since his best one, Dust Devil (1992). He was famously fired from The Island Of Dr. Moreau (1996), which is covered in depth in the excellent documentary Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey Of Richard Stanley's Island Of Dr. Moreau (2014).
Having finished H.P. Lovecraft's excellent 1927 short story which serves as the basis for this film right before I commenced to watch it, I had the tale fresh in my mind. It involves a meteorite that crashes on the farmhouse of the Gardner family, "poisoning every living being nearby; vegetation grows large but foul tasting, animals are driven mad and deformed into grotesque shapes, and the people go insane or die one by one." (per Wikipedia) Stanley's film embellishes quite a bit, but that's to be expected, given that he made a full feature from a short story. I just don't necessarily feel that what was added strengthens it—a lot of it is typical horror movie trope stuff.
Nicholas Cage does his Nicholas Cage thing (and occasionally Cage Rages), but—and I hate to say this—I'm not sure he was the right choice for his part in this film. The character in the short story isn't really delved into too deeply, and Cage has such a specific energy that it steers the narrative a certain way that isn't what I pictured, after just finishing the short story. Then again, the setting is transposed to current day, so Lovecraft's story really only serves as a basis. There is in fact dialogue pulled directly from the story, but the film is a whole different beast. The rest of the cast is very good overall, particularly Madeleine Arthur as the daughter of the family.
COOS blends practical f/x with CGI in a way that channels films like The Thing (1982) (my review here) and Annihilation (2018) (my review here). At times the VFX are really cool, but sometimes not so much (to the point that there are cringe-inducing moments). The score by Colin Stetson is quite good—eerie, unsettling and memorable. The cinematography is also strong. Sadly, TCOOS doesn't leave much of an impression. As goofy as they can be at times, Stuart Gordon's Lovecraft adaptations, Re-Animator (1985) and From Beyond (1986), much more successfully blended gonzo greatness with gooey gore to create cult classics.
Stanley hadn't completed a narrative feature film in twenty-seven years (he's made a number of documentaries), since his best one, Dust Devil (1992). He was famously fired from The Island Of Dr. Moreau (1996), which is covered in depth in the excellent documentary Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey Of Richard Stanley's Island Of Dr. Moreau (2014).
Having finished H.P. Lovecraft's excellent 1927 short story which serves as the basis for this film right before I commenced to watch it, I had the tale fresh in my mind. It involves a meteorite that crashes on the farmhouse of the Gardner family, "poisoning every living being nearby; vegetation grows large but foul tasting, animals are driven mad and deformed into grotesque shapes, and the people go insane or die one by one." (per Wikipedia) Stanley's film embellishes quite a bit, but that's to be expected, given that he made a full feature from a short story. I just don't necessarily feel that what was added strengthens it—a lot of it is typical horror movie trope stuff.
Nicholas Cage does his Nicholas Cage thing (and occasionally Cage Rages), but—and I hate to say this—I'm not sure he was the right choice for his part in this film. The character in the short story isn't really delved into too deeply, and Cage has such a specific energy that it steers the narrative a certain way that isn't what I pictured, after just finishing the short story. Then again, the setting is transposed to current day, so Lovecraft's story really only serves as a basis. There is in fact dialogue pulled directly from the story, but the film is a whole different beast. The rest of the cast is very good overall, particularly Madeleine Arthur as the daughter of the family.
COOS blends practical f/x with CGI in a way that channels films like The Thing (1982) (my review here) and Annihilation (2018) (my review here). At times the VFX are really cool, but sometimes not so much (to the point that there are cringe-inducing moments). The score by Colin Stetson is quite good—eerie, unsettling and memorable. The cinematography is also strong. Sadly, TCOOS doesn't leave much of an impression. As goofy as they can be at times, Stuart Gordon's Lovecraft adaptations, Re-Animator (1985) and From Beyond (1986), much more successfully blended gonzo greatness with gooey gore to create cult classics.
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