Color Out of Space

Director - Richard Stanley (Dust Devil, The Island of Dr. Moreau)
Starring - Nicolas Cage (Mandy, Primal), Joely Richardson (Maggie, Event Horizon), and Madeleine Arthur (The X-Files, R.L. Stine's The Haunting Hour)
Release Date - 2019
Genre - Horror/Sci-Fi
Tagline - "It will consume you"
Format - 4K Ultra HD (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     There has been several individuals that has created works of fiction that has forever stained the horror genre red.  Bram Stoker, Stephen King, Edgar Allen Poe, Mary Shelly just to name a few.  Their works of fiction has inspired countless films, comics, television shows, and so on.  One name that gets acknowledged by horror fans but rarely given the proper film treatment is H.P. Lovecraft.  Sure, he has received several film adaptations over the years but only a handful or so are worth watching.  Most notably Re-Animator and From Beyond.  There is a few more but most of the film adaptations I've seen are almost unwatchable.  The madness from the stories did not move over well to film.  Sometime last year news broke that Richard Stanley, the same man behind The Island of Dr. Moreau, was helming a Lovecraft adaptation of Color Out of Space starring Nic Cage.  Cage has been slinging out some decent horror films in the last few years with Mandy being my favorite.  I couldn't pass this one up and the second I received the press release I jumped on it.  I want to thank RLJE for sending this one my way!
     the film follows the Gardner family who live on a farm raising llamas/alpacas.  They are your typical family with a bratty teen girl, a smaller young boy, and a teenage son that helps their father Nathan (Cage) out with chores around the home while their mother works from home. Their simple life is tossed upside down when a meteorite crashes on their property and everything they know and love is taken from them.

     Nic Cage has been in several amazing movies over the years but I don't think any of them are as fun and entertaining as Mandy.  In fact, Mandy may be one of my favorite films of the last 10 years.  I've waited for a follow up film where Cage once again brought the intensity like he did in Mandy but Color Out of Space is still a must watch for horror and sci-fi fans alike.  The acting in this one isn't bad but I just wasn't feeling any of the characters.  The cast worked with what they had but their performances is very underwhelming and the characters are lackluster.  Nic Cage was the biggest disappointment of the film.  He's a phenomenal actor that has made a career out of taking questionable roles but here he just doesn't deliver the insanity that the film needed to work.  The story for this one is extremely fun but does move painfully slow before the action picks up.  At almost 40 minutes in I was preparing myself for the backlash that my negative review was sure to bring but I stuck with it and found myself really enjoying the finish product.  The movie has amazing atmosphere and the tension in the final moments of the film really works.  Finally, this film is visually stunning.  The lighting and cinematography is top fucking notch.  Then we are given some amazing make-up and practical effects.  The film is nothing I would deem gory but there is plenty of blood and practical effects for the savage horror fans out there.  Overall, Color Out of Space may not be the movie I'll be talking about in 5 years from now but it is one I will recommend for the next year or so.  The film is visually stunning and the last half of the film is pure insanity.  I highly recommend checking this one out.