Jaden Jordan
- Jul 15, 2020
- 3 min read

Color Out Of Space (2019)

The Breakdown: When a meteorite lands in their front yard, a family is forced to face the bizarre and disturbing changes that start to unravel the world around them.

Watch If: You're after a visually stunning masterpiece of Lovecraftian horror.

Not If: You need your horror with a nice little bow around it.

SECONDARY FACTS

Overall Rating: 4.4

Length: 1:51

Country: USA, Malaysia, Portugal

Language: English

Gore Factor: Lots of body horror

REVIEW

THE QUICK AND DIRTY

Color Out Of Space is a bizarre, gorgeous, brilliantly written film that manages to capture the purest essence of Cosmicism without sacrificing entertainment or viewer satisfaction.

PREMISE:4

I have to admit that I might be biased. This film is based on one of my favorite stories by Lovecraft. It's also one that I never expected to see a film adaptation of, as the entire premise is that its a color no one has ever seen. This is why I am more than happy to give this film originality points because even though it's based on an existing story, in this case, adapting this story to film in an engaging and modern way would likely have been more difficult than simply choosing to do something else. But there was love in the creation of this film, and it shows.

ACTING: 4

Nick Cage has taken this weird turn into the land of Bizzaro horror, and I am so incredibly here for it. His unique blend of controlled mania has an unfotunate tendency to be at a different level than his surroundings, some times to the adoration of fans, but many times not, falling off into the cult-classic b-movie abyss. But as was the case with the psychedelic brain shake that was Mandy, (which, it turns out, is not an adult adaptation of the book where an orphan girl runs away and finds an abandoned cottage in the wood which she fixes up so she can live out her cottage-core dreams) Cage's absolute chaos is perfect for the film, amplifying the weird fiction design and managing to capture the terrifying madness that cosmic horror is so well known for.

AUDIO AND VISUALS: 5

This film is beautiful. The lighting is fantastic, the editing is borderline flawless. Even the shots that don't highly emphasize the 'otherwordly' aspects of the story are visually captivating. The slow progression of the colors throughout the film really hammers home the inevitability of its subject matter. The plethora of easter eggs also makes this an excellent film for a rewatch, and the practical effects just hit a nostalgia in you brain the same way films like The Thing managed to.

ATMOSPHERE: 4

Tension, hopelessness, confusion, denial, mania. This film does it all and does all of it well. The subtleties of the construction and the prowess of the actors combine in such a way that the full potential of the film is realized, and this wild, mind-bending acid-trip of a film manages to accomplish everything one could want from a such a film. The tone is never muddled, the acting is perfect for its context, the soundscape lends itself perfectly to the points of tension. Every single aspect of this film feels like the people who made it loved the process of making it. And that's worth everything.

DELIVERY: 5

Lovecraft is basically the father of the horror genre as we know it. He was also a racist bigot (even in the context of his time), so any film that can manage to encapsulate the things that made Lovecraft a great writer while pulling them into a modern, less shitty context gets a gold star in my book. It's also refreshing to see something Lovecraftian that actually emphasizes the core tenant of what we've come to identify as Lovecraftian: Cosmicism and cosmic nihilism. Lovecraft has become a trope lately, with people focusing on Cthulu and Arkham and doing very little to explore the expanses of the library attached to those. And I'm not saying there's anything wrong with the whole dark-academia-endless-dreamer style. It's an aesthetic. But there's creativity and expertise demonstrated in managing to take one of the stories that exist somewhat outside that narrative that has no real explanation and make a fascinating and beutiful film that can capture a modern audience.