Not too long ago, we had the psychedelically-colored Nicolas Cage gorefest Mandy, which while light on actual story, succeeded in heightening senses and delivering vital dosages of Cageyness. Now, Cage returns with another horror piece dripping with strange chromas (well, mostly magenta in this case), but with hopefully a bit more meat to the personal side of the story. Does Color Out Of Space deliver that, or should it be washed away like some pretentiously named Dulux paints?
Plot wise, it's an adaptation of the HP Lovecraft story of the same name, albeit updated to the modern day. It's not the first one--the eighties had Whil Wheaton piece The Curse, and even Annihilation had some strong similarities--but besides the latter I haven't seen those, so I'll be reviewing this one as is. From what I understand, it more or less follows the gist of the story, with narration straight from the source placed appropriately at beginning and end.
Cage himself is the husband of the Gardner household, who live in a remote house out in the woods, with his wife Theresa (Joely Richardson), Wiccan daughter Lavinia (Madeliene Arthur), teenager Benny, and space cadet son Jack. The film does an appropriate job of making sure we get a nice hold on the personalities of the household, with everyone's quirks and habits, as well as the general layout of the land to lend a good sense of geography--all the better for the viewer to start wincing as things start changing upon the impact of a strange meteor into their front garden.
Everything starts changing gradually as the grounds are taken over by an alien force, the titular 'Color' (which, perhaps slightly disappointingly, feels a little like eighties lighting just became malevolent), and provides nevertheless some nice imagery as plants and animals change alarmingly. That the family was properly set up means we care when personalities start to shift, self-mutilations start to happen--and even side characters like the hippie squatting in the woods (Tommy Chong), or the narrator character himself as a visiting hydrologist (Elliot Knight) are easy to root for when the horror starts kicking in.
But does it deliver the Cage? Yes. Yes it does. Cage gives you everything you'd want as Nathan starts to lose his marbles, which also apparently manifests as launching into a weird voice that sounds like an impression of Donald Trump at times. Indeed, if there's one flaw to pick, it's that the mood kind of whiplashes across the place at times, with it occasionally being hard to tell if we're meant to be amused, or if it's just Cage being Nicolas 'Put Deh Bunneh Back In Deh Box' Cage. But, in the last third, this fortunately ceases to be, as things ramp up to body horror straight out of John Carpenter.
Worth a watch? Color Out of Space is slightly uneven, but otherwise a fun and visually gratifying cosmic horror piece that really cranks up at the climax when reality really starts coming apart. Between neon-induced mutation, encroaching insanity, and a steady injection of Cage, there's plenty to enjoy for the horror fan here. Get off at the stop before Dunwich and give it a gander.
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