Color Out of Space (TIFF 2019 Movie Review)

PLOT: A meteorite tumbles to earth bringing with it both psychological and physical changes to people living in the community it contaminates.

REVIEW: Richard Stanley is something of a folk hero in the genre community. Following a smashing breakthrough with the cult classic HARDWARE (a film which holds up nicely) and DUST DEVIL (which suffered mightily at the hands of the Weinsteins), he was the original director on THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU, starring Marlon Brando and Val Kilmer, only to be fired partway through and replaced by John Frankenheimer (who called it the most miserable working experience of his career). Rather than leave the set, Stanley used makeup to pose as an extra playing one of the film’s creatures, unmasking himself at the cast and crew party. The story is so legendary that it recently became a documentary (LOST SOULS) and after twenty years mainly focusing on documentaries of his own, Stanley is back behind the camera in the offbeat COLOR OUT OF SPACE.

Taking its inspiration from H.P. Lovecraft’s short story, Stanley takes what could have been a familiar body horror concept and gives it the arthouse treatment. Production company SpectreVision and RLJE likely hope this will have the same cult appeal as MANDY, and certainly, the films do have a few similarities, specifically a surreal, neon quality that’s both retro and contemporary plus a memorably unhinged Nicolas Cage performance.

This may prove to ultimately be a harder sell though, for as stylish and often inspired it is, the film occasionally slides into tedium. It runs a little long at close to two hours (a big ask for a midnight movie), while the horror aspect doesn’t kick in until the film is about half over. Even still, Stanley’s made a beautiful looking film on a modest budget and gets some really good performances out of his cast.

Cage will be the big draw, and sure enough, this plays to his madman appeal. By starting him off as a lovable, slightly daffy father, Cage is given the chance to be funny in a warm way, something he hasn’t been given the chance to do in years (let’s not forget he made some great comedies – like HONEYMOON IN VEGAS). He has nice chemistry with Joely Richardson, with her character being a breast cancer survivor recovering from a double mastectomy and easing her way back into intimacy with her sometime obnoxious husband, who spends an awful lot of time with his Alpacas (a scene where he milks them seems destined for YouTube fame).

Madeline Arthur, who played the daughter in BIG EYES, is enjoyable as his Wiccan daughter, who’s, refreshingly, portrayed as a human being and not mocked, while Elliot Knight is a real find as a local hydrologist, who's the everyman drawn into the madness involving the downed meteor. Tommy Chong also has a cameo playing…well…a variation on Tommy Chong.

Once the horror kicks in, there are some memorable body horror effects, but neither the CGI or makeup can hold a candle to Cage’s unhinged performance, which seems to be channeling his work from DEADFALL, VAMPIRE'S KISS and PEGGY SUE GOT MARRIED (he does the voice if you’ve seen that movie). He’s having a good time, and the folks at SpectreVision seem to get him.

While it’s maybe a touch slow and arty for hardcore horror fans, COLOR OUT OF SPACE is still a handy comeback for Richard Stanley, who hasn’t lost a beat. Certainly, it’ll rank among the top tier of the numerous movies Cage puts out every year. This is one you can safely assume will give you your money’s worth, especially when it makes to it a service like Shudder, which would be the perfect platform for this.