Filmmaker Richard Stanley has been largely absent from cinemas for decades now. His features Hardware (1990) and Dust Devil (1992), both of which he wrote and directed, seemed to announce the arrival of an exciting new genre auteur. However, disaster struck on the problematic shoot for 1996’s The Island of Dr. Moreau. Fired by the producers before the film could be completed, the inquisitive and soft-spoken Stanley went into a sort of exile. The fascinating behind the scenes details of that famous dumpster fire were recently recounted in the outstanding documentary Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr. Moreau from 2014. I’ve read that the success of that film helped Stanley decide to get back into feature filmmaking. When it was announced that Stanley was beginning work on an adaptation of an HP Lovecraft story that would feature Nic Cage as the lead, genre and cult film fans were ecstatic. Thus we arrive at Color Out of Space, due to arrive on January 24th. I was lucky enough to see the film last month.
The Gardner family has recently moved to an inherited secluded farmstead from the city. Cage plays Nathan, father, doting husband, and aspiring alpaca breeder. He’s a good man, but his relationship with his wife, Theresa (Joely Richardson), is under a little duress as it’s implied she’s undergone a double mastectomy in the recent past and her ability to continue her career has been hampered by the move to the country. Rebellious teenage goth daughter Lavinia (Madeleine Arthur) is having a harder time adjusting to her new circumstances than older brother Benny (Brendan Meyer), a budding stoner and cosmology junkie. Youngest sibling Jack (Julian Hilliard) is content to play in the family’s expansive yard. This pastoral bliss is interrupted when a meteorite crashes next to the Gardner’s house. Almost immediately, the event begins to exert a malevolent influence on the family and the substantial surrounding grounds. There are also larger roles for Elliot Knight as a young hydrologist studying the water supply of the area who has an interest in Lavinia and for Tommy Chong as an eccentric hermit squatting in the Gardner’s woods. Q’orianka Kilcher cameos as the mayor of Lovecraft’s Arkham, Massachusetts.
Performances are all pretty solid. Stanley is able to keep a lid on Cage’s more unhinged proclivities while allowing the enthusiastic actor to turn in one of his better recent turns (see also 2018’s Mandy). Richardson puts in empathetic work as a woman juggling many roles. Chong basically plays a variation on his iconic pothead persona but doesn’t go overboard. Arthur was the highlight for me, though. While the film is a bit of an ensemble piece, her character feels like the anchor and she capably maintains our attention.
Stanley and co-writer Scarlett Amaris create fairly authentic characters. All of the main cast members have nice little beats that illuminate who they are and how they interact with each other. These types of moments are emphasized throughout the first act with Stanley ensuring that we form a bond with our principals before they are subjected to Lovecraft’s trademark cosmic horror. It’s important to note that the film takes place in the modern-day as opposed to the 1920’s setting of the source short story. I have to confess that though I am familiar with Lovecraft’s work, I have not read this particular effort. So, I can’t comment on how close an adaptation it is. However, the narration that bookends the piece certainly retains the poetically ominous feel of the famous author’s writing, and there are numerous little Lovecraftian mythology Easter eggs peppered throughout.
This is a visually rich film. Stanley and cinematographer Steve Annis conjure some beautiful, and grotesque, imagery. As the proceedings become more hallucinatory, we never lose our bearings amidst the odd lighting and creepy events. There’s a distinct sense of place that inhabits the story even as the mundane setting is eventually overtaken by an alien atmosphere. The farmhouse set is convincing and brings a lived-in quality to the backdrop. The location shooting outside Lisbon, Portugal (doubling for rural New England), while not expansive, enhances the feeling of seclusion. The effects work is mostly CGI. For me, excessive CGI in a horror film can be a turn-off. However, Stanley is wise in his deployment. He never allows it to overstay its welcome, even with creature work, and it’s mostly used for atmospheric or trippy flourishes. An effects sequence involving Theresa and Jack toward the end of the film is even pretty disturbing.
Colin Stetson is quickly becoming one of my favorite composers. He delivers another memorably moody and unsettling score here. It is the perfect complement to the onscreen action. Stanley is going for pervasive creeping dread and Stetson plays a big part in achieving that tone. At 111 minutes, Stanley allows the tension to slowly build to a visually stunning climax. Never one to be in a hurry, Stanley keeps a deliberate pace but never meanders. It’s a slow burn to a certain degree but I think it’s his tightest flick.
I’m overjoyed that Richard Stanley’s Color Out of Space is so successful. Hopefully, this marks a return to regular work. The film retains the auteur’s idiosyncrasies that set him apart from his more mainstream contemporaries while still delivering his most complete and mature effort. HP Lovecraft’s notoriously difficult to translate tone is conveyed admirably and Colin Stetson drops another stunning and disorienting soundscape. I don’t foresee this as being a film for the casual cinemagoer, because it is a little quirky and there’s not a ton of action. However, certain types of fans are going to eat this up. I absolutely loved it. Highly recommended for fans of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, John Carpenter’s The Thing, and Stuart Gordon’s From Beyond.
Michael Cavender