Color Out of Space (Movie Review)

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

READ OUR INTERVIEW WITH DIRECTOR RICHARD STANLEY HERE

PLOT: After a meteorite lands in the front yard of their farmstead, Nathan Gardner (Nicolas Cage) and his family find themselves battling a mutant extraterrestrial organism as it infects their minds and bodies, transforming their quiet rural life into a technicolor nightmare.

REVIEW: Like many of the rest of you guys out there, I'm a big fan of the work of director Richard Stanley. From his killer sci-fi flick HARDWARE to his horror-ish western DUST DEVIL, Stanley is someone we keep our eyes on here at AITH. And that's been kind of a shame for the past few years (decades) as Stanley has been out of the filmmaking game since his failed attempt at adapting H.G. Wells' novel THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU, which was taken over by RONIN filmmaker John Frankenheimer and starred Marlon Brando and Val Kilmer. But now Stanley is back in the game with his adaptation of RE-ANIMATOR and FROM BEYOND author H.P. Lovecraft's COLOR OUT OF SPACE starring the one and only Nicolas Cage. Was the wait worth it? Let's find out!

First off, let me say that this film more than brings back Stanley's killer eye for stunning visuals. But while his early work on HARDWARE and DUST DEVIL went more of a MAD MAX rust and sand vibe, COLOR OUT OF SPACE sure as hell makes more than good use of its title bringing us a world literally exploding with every single color imaginable. Richard Stanley goes full Dario Argento here and I loved it! The movie is described as a technicolored nightmare and really I haven't seen a movie's marketing campaign hit the nail on the head better than it did with THAT line to describe THIS film. Maybe only SAW II's "Oh, yes, there will be blood" has been better. 

Better yet, there is some seriously squishy violence on hand here ala THE THING with people and even Alpacas melting together in truly horrific fashion. The movie's visual effects worked for me. And being that most of it (seemed) to be physical, on-set make-up effects, it wins even more love for that. And another one of the things I appreciated about the film was – as a fan of Stanley – there are Easter Eggs sprinkled here and there that subtly tip their hat to his previous works, such as a large bit of writing on one of the teen character's walls that reads: "No flesh shall be spared." Got to love it.  But all that praise aside, perhaps the biggest issue with this film is that – in what seems to be a regular problem nowadays – Cage seems to be out of touch with what is going on around him most of the time.

What I mean is that the FACE/OFF and CON AIR actor will severely overreact to some things, and severely underreact to others. Examples? Okay. At one point in the film, Cage throws a full-on Cage Rage when a car refuses to start. I've been there, so on some level, I understand and empathize. But then when he sees one family member trying to "reassimilate" another into their body, he has little to no reaction. Sure this could be taken as him being stoic for his family's sake, but it didn't come across that way to this here viewer. Are your family members becoming one THE THING-style monster in front of your very eyes? What would YOU do? Cage calmly asks them if they like a glass of water. True story. Maybe it was meant to be funny. I really don't even know at this point. 

That said, Cage is not a total waste here by any means as the man keeps the strange charm and comedy coming in the earlier parts of the movie. It's just that when the color hits the fan, he kind of doesn't know how to react. Oh, well. But anyhow, let me say that the rest of the actors were spot-on with EVENT HORIZON actress Joely Richardson being the highlight for me. Richardson brings a devastating truth to her performance as the ever put upon mother and wife of this clan of crazy people and I felt for her each and every step of the way. Dear Hollywood, more Joely Richardson, please!

In the end, this is a movie most if not all horror movie fans need to see. If only for the fact that we need to celebrate the return of director Richard Stanley. While the film is not perfect, the rough edges are more than okay by me as the man hasn't been behind the camera for decades so I'm going to cut him quite a bit of slack here. But all fanboying aside, taken as just a flick directed by any filmmaker under the sun from a story written by any given Joe Schmo, COLOR OUT OF SPACE is still a sight to behold. The best way that I could pitch it to you is like this: "What if Dario Argento remade Frank Darabont and Stephen King's THE MIST?" But even that doesn't quite do it justice. Just check it out for yourself and let us know what you think!

It hits theaters on January 24, 2020, and then 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD  via RLJE Films on February 25, 2020. Pre-order HERE