2020's sci-fi film Color Out Of Space is a psychedelic alien invasion thriller that focuses on a family, the Gardners, reeling from some serious trauma. The mother, Theresa, is recovering from breast cancer, which resulted in a mastectomy. Father Nathan has decided to move the family to his father's old property in rural Massachusetts, where he hopes for a new beginning.
What he gets instead is an extraterrestrial meteor that alters the genetic make-up and electromagnetic energy of everything in its immediate vicinity. Full of optic brilliance and horrific experiences that cause the family to come unglued, literally, Color Out Of Space is an original and thought-provoking addition to the genre. It stars Nicholas Cage, Joely Richardson, Madeleine Arthur, and Q'orianka Kilcher. Here are 5 reasons to be excited about it, and 5 reasons it might not be for you.
No: It's Slow Pacing Isn't For Everyone
While many fans of the genre expect non-stop spectacles and over-the-top action, Color Out Of Space isn't that kind of movie. It's almost 2 hours long, and its terror builds through psychological unraveling, subtle changes to the natural environment around the Gardeners, and eerie character development.
The movie's action evolves so slowly and subtly that viewers don't realize they're submerged in the multicolored, mind-altering circus brought on by the alien invasion until it's too late. This may be unsettling for some moviegoers.
Yes: It's The Director's First Film In Over 20 Years
South African director Richard Stanley's last film was the critical and box office bomb Island of Dr. Moreau. Stanley, who'd spend years developing his adaptation of H.G. Wells's famous novel, was fired from the production due to creative differences and on-set issues.
Stanley is responsible for the 1990 cult classic Hardware, which stars Dylan McDermott as a post-apocalyptic drifter and involves a robotic killing machine he finds in the desert. Stanley is known for his artistic and bizarre approach to sci-fi, and critics have hailed his avant-garde approach to intergalactic visitors disrupting the lives of a family.
No: The Plot Can Be Confusing To Follow
There is a lot left unexplained in this film, meaning it's the kind of movie to experience viscerally instead of intellectually. As the insanity brought on by the intruders bubbles up above the surface, the logic that normally defines the world is completely eradicated.
Instead, viewers are pulled along by crazy hues and kaleidoscopic interactions between the extraterrestrial forces at play and the Gardeners. Plot and story become secondary to the aesthetics and creepy mood that infects the movie.
Yes: It's Based On A H.P. Lovecraft Story
Director Richard Stanley read "The Colour Of Out Space" by revered cosmic horror writer H.P. Lovecraft when he was a kid. It informed the style that would come to define his films, and it's a fitting return to feature films for Stanley.
In both the movie and the story, everything in Arkham, Massachusetts, where the action takes place, becomes tainted by the glowing meteorite that lands there. From the water to the plants to the minds of those nearby, everything is altered in strange and unsettling ways.
No: Nicolas Cage Gives A Very Affected Performance
Nicholas Cage does what he's known for in this movie: freaking out and acting manic. While Nathan starts the film as the image of a stable and supportive father and husband, it soon becomes obvious he has a lot of rage and anger brewing below his surface.
It seems whatever supernatural energy has taken over Arkham has also invaded Nathan's mind. From hitting the roof of a car for 15 seconds because it won't start to giving his daughter a memorable verbal haranguing in the midst of the craziness, Cage's performance isn't always very refined in Color Out Of Space.
Yes: It Has Visually Stunning Special Effects
Color Out Of Space is full of hallucinatory and insane effects that match the psychic and natural upending that happens in Arkham. Strange flowers and bugs appear weeks before spring, there's something weird in the water, and each member of the Gardner family is sucked up into the madness in different ways.
There is a magical and fairytale quality to the way the invasion inhabits the organic world, one that juxtaposes the grotesque consequences of the breach.
No: The Movie Tries To Be Too Many Things At Once
The tone of the film is confused by too many conflicting themes. It's filled with sci-fi, horror, family drama, black comedy, and climate change narratives that don't always intertwine in natural ways.
For instance, a hydrologist named Ward tests the water around Arkham to see how it's been affected by the erection of a hydroelectric dam. Ward's storyline provides plenty of hints about the effects of development and climate change as overarching themes, but none of it comes together due to the melting onslaught that takes up much of the second half of the film.
Yes: The Body Horror Elements Will Get Under Your Skin
Color Out Of Space is both psychological and physical with its horror. While the characters experience mental breakdowns, their bodies are also consumed by the forces around them in monstrous ways.
One of the most surreal and disgusting sequences follows what happens to Theresa and her youngest son Jack after they are struck by a bolt of colorful, celestial lightning. It mirrors what also happens to the alpaca on the family farm. In scenes that are reminiscent of John Carpenter's The Thing, the sickening aftermath of the invasion is on full display here.
No: The Character Development Is Uneven
The motivations of the characters in the movie aren't very well-developed before the insanity takes hold, making it difficult for viewers to grasp just how the changes around them affect each member of the Gardner clan.
When Theresa absent-mindedly cuts two fingers off while chopping carrots or when she shames her daughter for wearing a short skirt, her actions seem to miss the mark. While some of these scenes are designed to indicate trouble ahead, they feel more like weird side stories than contributing factors.
Yes: The Movie Delves Into Wiccan Rituals
The best performance in the film is given by the young actor, Madeleine Arthur, who plays the Gardners' teenage daughter Lavinia. Color Out Of Space begins with her performing a ritual to cleanse her mother of her cancer along the bed of a river.
Throughout the film, the misunderstood Lavinia engages with the occult to guide her through the insanity. From bloodletting to candle-lighting to incantations, Lavinia's spiritual traditions give the film a sense of groundedness in the midst of a mythical and uncanny sapience taking over the Gardners' land.