The Color out of Space (8/10)

 

    "The Color out of Space" is a cosmic horror film released in 2019 that tells the same tale as the H. P. Lovecraft story of the same name. It stars Nic Cage, which is one of the best parts, and overall is a fantastic film for being a smaller indie film that was shown at the Toronto International Film Festival. 

    The acting and casting is great and Nic Cage especially shines in weird niche films like he always has. 

    I -LOVE- that the titular "Color" out of Space is a vibrant magenta. I -LOVE- the thought of Lovecraft's eldritch impossibilities being represented in a garish pink. That's just so wonderful to me. I know eerie green and ominous red are used much more often so this pink is particularly genius in my opinion and stands out among all the surreal imagery. 

    The soundtrack is also fantastic and it's obvious that a lot of love and care went into this film, which really warms my heart. I'm a fan of Lovecraft's work so it really pleases me to see it respected and celebrated. 

I'm going to dive into things that are a bit more specific now so I'll include a break just in case anyone reading this wants to go in blind.

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SPOILER WARNING

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    I love the presence of the llamas. I loved the setting in the middle of the woods. I loved the whole setup as far as the elements and details that were chosen. 

    In particular the body horror was very good with the horrible hybrid of the Mother and Son. The fused llamas were also very well done. I'm always a big fan of practical effects and these felt like an homage to John Carpenter's "The Thing," and it's iconic lack of CGI. 

    "Color out of Space" does include a bit of CGI, however, and it certainly isn't the film's strong suit. The warped cat looked very fake and a bit cartoonish in its absurdity. Also many of the flowers and mutated insects looked fake as well. (I know they are literally not of this world, of course, so I want to give them grace in that regard - they WOULD obviously look fake to our perception in regular everyday life. But still.)

    There was a bit of acting and dialogue that felt artificial, perhaps forced. It didn't feel like a natural conversation between the characters, more of actors obviously repeating their lines from the script. 

    Also the character played by Tommy Chong in the woods felt a little unnecessary to me. He didn't really do a whole lot for the plot and felt like it sort of detracted from the parts of the film that I was actually interested in. (Maybe his character exists in the original story and I'm gonna sound like a fake fan for saying he felt out of place. I admit it's been some time since I read the story myself.)

    In spite of this criticism, the film was very solid from start to finish. There were a few computer generated elements that looked a bit artificial but the practical effects were fantastic and kind of balanced it out. The good parts of the film certainly outweighed the bad for me as a viewer. 

    "The Color out of Space" certainly has my glowing recommendation as being worth the watch, especially if you're a fan of cosmic horror. 

Final score is a 8/10 for me. 

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More reviews on the way.